Last time we talked about a secret that Sha’Carri Richardson uses…she’s the fastest woman on the planet right now and headed to the Paris Olympics soon.
She’s an exclusive nose breather- meaning that she breathes in and out of her nose.
So, on Monday I was at the track and the cutest little guy was doing laps with his grandma.
I will guess he was 10 years old, and did some cool power skip warmups that I rarely see anyone do, let alone a 10 year old.
Then he proceeded to bust out a 400, and finished right by my friend Heather and I.
He had his mouth wide open and was huffing and puffing in his recovery.
I couldn’t help myself.
Why build bad habits when you can learn good ones from the get-go?
I said, “Do you know who the fastest woman in the world is?”
He looked thoughtful, and then his grandma came over, and said, “Didn’t you see Sha’Carri Richardson run when you were watching the Olympic Trials?” (Ah-ha! That’s where he learned the power skip warmup??)
He smiled and said, “yes, I did see her run.”
I smiled back and said, “Do you know one of her secrets is to run and breathe all through her nose, in and out? I noticed you were breathing through your mouth and thought you might like to be fast like she is.”
He immediately closed his cute mouth and tried…but guess what happened!
His shoulders came up along with the nose breathing attempt. I pointed that out, and said, “You don’t want to breathe with your shoulders, you need to breathe with your tummy,” and showed him how to do it.
His shoulders kept popping up.
He was using his shoulders to lift his ribcage up to get more air rather than expanding his diaphragm to let more air into his lungs.
I said, “If you use your shoulders, you might make your neck sore.”
His grandmother piped up and said, “You know, he gets neck tightness!”
Neck tightness.
He’s 10!
10 years old and gets neck tightness. *sigh* My clients get younger and younger!
So, if you get neck tightness too, tap into your inner nose breather because that just might be a potential cause of the problem.
With one tweak you’re now fast(er) and you’ve figured out the cause of your neck soreness.
BOOM !
What a discovery!
If you want to watch Sha’Carri run her way to a spot on the USA Olympic team, watch the video above.
It gives me shivers and tears!
Happy FriYAY and here’s to balance, strength and no neck tightness happiness,
🙂 Laura
About the Author
I am a personal trainer specializing in injury prevention and rehab training. I train people with acute as well as chronic conditions, with surgery prevention as a goal where possible.
