Category: Breathing

The Keys to Improving Your Upper Airway

Sleep apnea, upper airway resistance, snoring, grinding your teeth, ADHD; what do all of these areas have in common? Many of these conditions can be attributed to problems in the upper airway, including tongue position, airway structure, and more. The ability to maximize your ability to breathe in this area is critical and was the topic of a podcast I did with Dr. Mike T. Nelson. Here is the list of things we discussed:  Avoiding dentures What proper mouth structure should be The connection between sleep and mouth structure The connection between ADHD and other behavior issues and airway What to ask for with a sleep study At home sleep apnea testing: Watch-PAT Addressing oral posture sooner rather than later How much can you change It takes a team to be fully optimized Recommendations on what to do and where to go This podcast will help guide you through all the steps you need to maximize your airway, sleep, and health.  Click the link below to learn more. Cranial Face Structures, Nasal Breathing, Orthodontics, Tongue Position, and More Unlikely Performance Limiters: Interview with Zac Cupples  

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Infrasternal Angle Treatment 101

I measured the infrasternal angle…..uhhh, now what?

No doubt you’ve heard a bazillion things about the infrasternal angle. You maybe even have been measuring them pretty consistently and know it’s a big deal.

You know what we don’t talk about though?

What the hell do you do about it?!?!?

You’ll find out in this post

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Breathing: Biomechanics, Exercise, and Education

Do you ever get asked why are you breathing like that during an exercise? Or worse yet, maybe you’ve gotten in ANOTHER Facebook argument with some trainer or clinician who is skeptical of breathing. Despite typing feverishly, throwing all caps on that comment, everything you can, no luck. It’s interesting to consider why some peeps think of breathing as this separate piece from movement. It’s something esoteric, different. When in reality… Breathing affects pelvic floor dynamics, impacting how your hips move Breathing influences the intra-abdominal pressure needed to move heavy ass weights You upper body and cervical mobility can be impacted by breathing. Not sure if you know this, but uh, most of your upper quadrant muscles attach to the ribcage fam! Breathing isn’t something fancy, but an integral piece of how we move and perform. If maximizing your movement quality sounds like something you want to learn how to do, take advantage of breathing. To implement breathing into your training, you’ll need to learn some biomechanics, apply airflow to your favorite lifts, and educate others so you can show them the way, the truth, and the light. Don’t worry fam, I got you with Movement Debrief Episode 126.

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What is the Best Posture?

Ever argue with someone about good posture?  Are you ready to tell them it’s all bullshit? We are meant to move, so the best posture is one that is constantly changing.  In fact, research shows movement variability, the changes we unconsciously make within movements, is a marker of health and reduced injury. How beefed up would your posture knowledge be if you knew… What “good” posture actually is? Can you really be “stuck in extension?” What “stacking” is and why it’s essential to movement? What are the best cues to change someone’s posture? Well those are just a few of the many things you’ll learn in today’s video interview I did on Phillipe Gervais’ Youtube channel. It’s time to finally silence those posture junkies. Time to have that difficult conversation with your mom (cue childhood trauma of mom telling me to sit up straight). Time to take your movement knowledge to the next level! Watch the video below and prepare to deep dive! Photo credit: Steve Leggat

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How a Six Pack Affects Movement

A deep dive into abdominal wall compensations Movement Debrief Episode 120 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: What movement compensations can occur from a concentric rectus abdominis? How can the rectus abdominis become eccentrically oriented? How does abdominal fat impact movement? How does a pooch belly develop? What is a diastasis recti? How does breathing coaching change with a diastasis recti? What breathing would be recommended for diastasis recti during conditioning? How can a pooch belly be managed in standing? What are umbilical hernias? What causes umbilical hernias? Should surgery be done? What conservative treatments can be given for an umbilical hernia?

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Assessing Compensatory Strategies

A deep dive into the practical application of respiratory mechanics When you deep dive into the biomechanics, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. You are trying to figure out how the scapula moves just so, or what is the big toe doing during this part of the squat…yikes! While greater biomechanical understanding is necessary, it’s not the most important piece. You can never lose sight of how to help your clients. That is the highest priority. Practical application. Which is why I think you’ll love my feature on the Upper Left Performance Podcast. It’s just enough of the details of movement compensations, with heaps of practical application! Topics covered include: What are the two common compensatory strategies people can present with? How does body structure influence one’s ability to move Simple assessments for determining one’s compensatory strategy How to adapt one’s training to maximize movement quality Click here or the link below to tune in! Upper Left Performance #14 Zac Cupples  Image by pisauikan from Pixabay

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All About the Spine

How to maximize your spinal movement Movement Debrief Episode 118 is in the books. Below is a copy of the video for your viewing pleasure, and audio if you can’t stand looking at me. Here is the setlist: What happens to the thoracic spine and scapulae during inhalation? What compensatory strategy is present with a Dowager’s Hump? What treatments should one with a Dowager’s Hump focus on? What sitting posture is best? Should restoring sagittal plane motion allow for rotation to occur, or must you focus on rotation? When can the spine present with excessive lumbar flexion? What is the action of the lower trapezius on the spine? When could recruiting the lower trapezius be useful? Is the cat-cow exercise useful? How does a spinal fusion impact respiration?

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