There’s an abundance of men and women around the globe who, no matter how hard they train, no matter how tight the diet, just can’t seem to shift that spare tyre.
Extreme training and dieting hasn’t helped much either... Yes, it’s true that if you eat like a t*** you can’t possibly expect to possess the abs of a Greek God, and true, if you live on the sofa and don’t follow an intelligent movement practice you can’t possibly expect to be in superhero shape… But the problem remains: there is an abundance of men and women around the globe who eat well and train intelligently, but just can’t seem to shift that little bit of fat around their mid-section…
If this [genuinely] sounds like you, I may have the solution…
Accumulating belly fat is often a product of stress, or more accurately, belly fat storage is often your body’s defence mechanism against stress… Poor breathing, bad sleep habits, traffic, work, children, long duration training, poor recovery, etc, these all create a stress response in the body keeping your flight-or-flight turned on and your cortisol through the roof... As a result, the body wants to hold on to body fat to prepare for the fight-or-flight situation that it thinks you’re involved in… All the f***ing time, even while you sleep…
Life stress isn’t something your coaches / PTs can manage for you.
If your training and nutrition are on point but you still struggle to lose belly fat, it’s time for you personally to dial in on your stress management… And Ol’ Coach Collins knows just the trick to get you started…
Breath Through Your Nose…
Would you consider someone who didn't breath correctly "fit" or "healthy"?
I suspect probably not...
You were born breathing through the nose, and it has been our primary instrument for breathing for thousands and thousands of years. Only when faced with dangerous situations would our ancestors resort to mouth breathing to take in larger quantities of air in preparation for intense physical activity. It is for this reason that mouth breathing is synonymous with emergency [activating the same fight-or-flight stress response that accumulates belly fat] only these days without the accompanying physical exercise that allows our systems to reset / return to normal...
Nasal breathing results in abdominal breathing. This is good. This is relaxed, natural and very beneficial, resulting in:
- Easier breathing with reduced breathlessness during exercise
- Stress reduction
- Improved sleep and recovery
- Improved oxygenation of working muscles and organs
- Naturally increased production of red blood cells
- Reduction of lactic acid build up and fatigue
- Improved running economy and V02 max
- Improved anaerobic and aerobic performance
Mouth breathing activates the upper chest. This is bad, unless a bear has just walked in the room… Chronic mouth breathing [overbreathing] means:
- Negative effects to overall health
- Stress response
- Limited sports performance
- A reduction of C02 in the blood (you need C02 in the mix, before anyone asks…)
- Under utilisation of nitric oxide
- Impaired release of oxygen from red blood cells
- Reduced oxygenation of working muscles and organs (including the brain and heart…)
- Adverse effects on blood PH
- Increased lactic acid and fatigue during exercise
By changing the breathing alone [nothing else] overweight individuals typically lose from just under 1kg to 2.5kgs in just 2 weeks…
I have a whole pile of cool tricks and drills for breathing [nasal unblocking, improved health, stress management, sports performance, etc] most of which I’m not happy to give out over the internet... Someone will misinterpret it or do something incredibly stupid and end up blacking out… If you want them, come talk to me in person… But I will leave you, my internet readers, with this nifty little activation technique for your diaphragm that will help you breath better…
- Lie down on your back.
- Place one hand lightly on your stomach.
- When you breath, is your chest rising, or your stomach?
- Concentrate on breathing through the nose, into the stomach, not using the chest - feel your stomach and hand rise as the lungs fill from the bottom.
- Let the stomach fall naturally when breathing out by relaxing the diaphragm.
Now, chances are if you normally breathe using your mouth and chest and you changed your pattern to breathe into the stomach, you used your abdominals not your diaphragm… It’s ok… I did it too at first… Luckily I have a diaphragm activation tip for you, right here:
Lie down on your back.
With both hands:
- Locate your bottom rib - just above your abs
- Apply pressure with your fingers and rub the area for around 20 seconds
(If you struggled to use your diaphragm earlier, this may be tender…)
- Place your fingers on your sternum (breast plate / cleavage…) and move ½ an inch towards the chest each side
- Apply pressure and rub the area for around 20 seconds
Retest your diaphragmatic breathing - it should be a lot easier and feel more natural
Repeat as needed.
If your training and nutrition are on point but you still struggle to lose belly fat, it’s time for you personally to dial in on your stress management… I have only touched on breathing [briefly] today - that's step one - but you will likely find that with better breathing habits comes a reduction of stress and improved sleep... Combine breathing through your nose into your belly with a deload week and it could yield the greatest body composition benefits you’ve ever experienced.
"Sit the f*** down and have a beer..."
~ Coach Collins
Copyright 2017
