September 26, 2024 • 27 mins
Have your athletes ever come to you saying, “I tried the breathing, but it didn’t work”? In this episode of Coaching Minds, we tackle exactly that—what to do when athletes struggle with using breathing techniques during competition. We’ll break down why diaphragmatic breathing sometimes feels ineffective and provide practical solutions to help athletes stay calm under pressure.
From refining breathing exercises to understanding how to use them in high-stress moments, we share real-life examples and proven strategies to make these techniques work. Whether it's adjusting timing or mindset, we’ll teach you how to guide athletes through the common challenges of breathing and focus control. Plus, we'll explore additional strategies like muscle relaxation and mental resets to enhance their overall performance.
If you're looking for ways to help athletes unlock the full potential of their breathing techniques, this episode is for you!
Are you an ATHLETE looking to take your training to the next level? Check out our website to learn more about 1-on-1 training opportunities:
mentaltrainingplan.com/athletes
Are you a COACH looking for an affordable year-round mental performance training program? Check out the MTP Academy available through our website:
mentaltrainingplan.com/academy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, welcome to the Coaching Minds podcast, the
official podcast of MentalTraining Plan.
We're here to help you performat your best, no matter the
situation.
Today we're diving in a littlebit deeper into the physical
side of focus cycle.
If you have not listened toepisode 119, I would encourage
you to pause this episode rightnow.
(00:21):
Go back and listen to the focuscycle, where we basically teach
you how to implement this, howto use this framework, how to
come up with your plan, whetherthat's for you as an individual
or that's your team as a coachand basically, what we're trying
to do next is say, okay, wehave this plan, we went and
(00:41):
tried to put it to work, butmaybe something didn't go as
well as we would have liked.
So, episode 120, if you'rehaving a hard time focusing on
the next play or the nextpossession or whatever you said
you were going to be focusing onin that big moment, you figured
out, okay, what are some waysthat we can dive in a little bit
(01:03):
deeper and help you with that?
Figured out, okay, what aresome ways that we can dive in a
little bit deeper and help youwith that?
Episode 121, what if theself-talk isn't working or I
don't believe my go-to statementor we need to change.
How do I know if I need tochange?
And then today really want todive in.
If you've got an athlete thatcomes up and says, hey, I tried
the breathing, it didn't make mefeel better, what do I do?
(01:27):
And just want to give you somepractical ways that you can have
a conversation with thatathlete and you can help that
athlete.
The first thing that reallycomes to mind is are they
actually doing diaphragmaticbreathing?
This summer I don't know if youguys have seen the YouTube video
(01:48):
, but Kalen Henderson and Iactually went out onto a golf
course and I was kind ofcoaching her on the course and
at one point she was goingthrough her pre-shot routine and
she said, all right, I'm goingto do my breathing, and I
actually pulled out my phone andopened up my stopwatch the
second time.
She did it because it was likethere's no way you're doing your
(02:11):
diaphragmatic breathing, likemaybe you're taking a big deep
breath, but you're not.
You're not doing what you wrotedown.
Um, so that that's the firstplace that I would start.
I've even got a another golferthat I'm working with right now
who's at a power five conferenceschool has worked with a sports
psychologist in the past, knowsthe power of breathing and how
(02:35):
that can help your bodyphysically, help you think,
clear all that stuff.
And this athlete has been toldmultiple times, even on the
course, by their college coachhey, take a deep breath, which
has always been, and that that'snot the same as diaphragmatic
(02:56):
breathing.
And I will say, you know, afterthe, after this particular
golfer started using it, it waslike, oh my goodness, I feel so
much more in control of my bodyphysically.
So that would be the first oneI would.
Maybe, you know, if an athletethat I was working with,
one-on-one, said this isn'tworking, I would say, all right,
(03:16):
well, I want you to do yourbreathing for me and just kind
of count off in my head and getan idea.
For how long are they inhaling,how long are they holding, how
long are they exhaling, and thenwhat's that pause like?
Because ideally we want theinhale and the hold to last at
least eight seconds and we wantthe exhale and the pause to be
(03:40):
at least eight seconds.
We also want to make sure thatthey're not turning this into.
You know, I've had, like somemiddle school boys before that I
think, thought this was one ofthose competitions that you have
in the deep end of the poolwhere you see how long can you
hold your breath underwater.
We're not doing that either.
There's some diminished returnIf you hold onto that air longer
(04:02):
than I don't know four to 10seconds you're not really
getting a whole lot after that.
That would be the first placethat I would start.
Are you actually doingdiaphragmatic breathing or are
you just taking a big breath?
The second thing that I wouldwant to know is do you think
this is actually going to work?
(04:23):
Is do you think this isactually going to work?
Because if they don't reallydeep down, believe that, yes,
this is going to do somethingfor me, I think you're going to
have a really.
You got an uphill battle infront of you getting your mind
and your body to be on boardwith something that you think is
bogus to begin with.
I'll never forget the firsttime that I heard about
(04:46):
diaphragmatic breathing.
I'm sitting at this coachingconference and I'm listening to
Dr Jason Winkle, who had donemilitary training with special
ops, with SWAT teams.
He had a military backgroundand he was talking about how the
United States military did agiant study and they spent
(05:09):
millions and millions of dollarson how do we help our soldiers?
Let's say we're in a situationin Iraq and there's a roadside
bomb that goes off and all of asudden we start taking fire from
this building and so now we'rein fight or flight.
We've got all this adrenalinecoursing through our body, our
(05:30):
heart rate is jacked.
How do we control our mind andbody, be able to stack up on the
door, bust down the door, throwin a flashbang, enter the room
with four people, clear all thecorners, check for any bad guys,
make sure that we shoot the badguy, don't shoot any hostages.
(05:52):
I mean, you've got to havesuper high precision to be able
to control your body in thatsituation, to be able to make
split second decisions in thatsituation.
And I'm like on the edge of myseat thinking, yes, give me this
secret.
What is it?
And he said they figured outyou need to breathe.
(06:12):
And I remember just being sodisappointed because it was like
there's got to be more.
And I think too many times we'veheard in society, whether it's
a teacher, whether it's a parent, whether it's a coach, that
means well, we're upset, we'refrustrated, we're flustered, and
(06:33):
they say, hey, just take a deepbreath and you're like take a
deep breath, that's not going to.
What do you mean?
Take a deep breath, that's notgoing to do anything, that's not
going to fix the problem, let'sfix the problem.
Going to do anything, that'snot going to fix the problem,
let's fix the problem.
And it turns out that as youdive deeper into that science,
that the vagus nerve isconnected to that lower part of
your brain.
It goes through every majororgan in your body.
(06:55):
So your athletes that havebutterflies in their stomach, or
your athletes that haveadrenaline just coursing through
their body, or you know,they've got all kinds of extra
energy and there's muscletension, or maybe there's muscle
weakness or they're kind ofshaky, or all of these different
physical things can beaddressed by basically turning
(07:19):
down that fire alarm that'scoursing through our vagus nerve
.
We can stay, stop, relax.
I think there's a lot of powerin talking about the science
behind that, you know, you canmaybe even dive into.
There was an article that waspublished in Neurological
Sciences that talked about howdeep breathing can induce
(07:43):
effective improvement in quotemood and stress, both in terms
of self-reported evaluation andof objective parameters such as
heart rate and salivary cortisollevels.
So the science behind this issolid, and maybe your athlete
(08:05):
just needs to know a little bitmore about that, just enough to
realize there's a differencebetween hey, the next time
you're stressed, take a deepbreath.
And look, these people that didthese breathing exercises not
only did they self-reportfeeling better, but they also
(08:27):
had biological changes that wecould track, like heart rate and
the amount of cortisol that waspresent in their body.
That's a place that, if myathlete wasn't on board with yes
, I think this is going to workI would start there.
The next thing I would maybedive into is like well, tell me
(08:48):
a little bit more what's notworking, because there's a lot
of times that an athlete willsay to me well, I took a deep
breath, but I didn't feelconfident.
And I think it's important topoint out like those are two
different things.
The, the breathing, is going tohelp your body's physical
(09:09):
reaction.
It's going to address yourheart rate.
It's going to address cortisollevels.
It's going to address physicalthings that are happening in
your body.
It's also going to address somemental things.
It's going to give you theability to use a different part
of your brain, think critically,things like that, but it's not
(09:30):
always necessarily by itselfgoing to just make you feel
confident.
That's not how it works.
But if I'm flustered and I cantake a deep breath to get my
body under control, and then Ican say my go-to statement and
then I can focus on the thingsthat I can control, that matter
(09:51):
right now, and then I can gotake action and go do whatever's
next in the process.
And I've put in the time andI've put in the work and I've
earned the right to be confident.
Well, now, in combination withall of this, now I'm starting to
feel confident.
So I think it's important thatthe athletes know this isn't.
(10:13):
This isn't again just.
You know we talked about in thelast episode that the go-to
statement isn't just a magicalspell that poof.
You say it once and all of asudden you feel exactly the way
you want to feel.
But this can turn off that firealarm that's sending us into
panic mode.
This can help us think moreclearly.
This can help our bodies be alittle bit more under control so
(10:37):
that we can continue throughthe rest of the focus cycle.
Another thing that's kind of notworking sometimes with athletes
has been they're not able tothink clearly.
We know that cognitive overloador tunnel vision starts to kick
in depending on the person,their age, how in shape they are
(10:59):
, but somewhere in like that 140to 150 beats per minute.
So I think it's important tonote the athlete, especially
like in a sport like basketball,where there's just constant
motion and constant movementsport like basketball, where
there's just constant motion andconstant movement, we don't
have to go from 140 back down to60.
(11:19):
In fact that's not going tohelp you play at your best.
But maybe we need to go fromlike 150 just back down to like
130 so that I can make decisionsin the game, I can think
clearly, I can do my job, Idon't have tunnel vision, I'm
able to observe what's going onon the field or the court around
(11:39):
me.
I think it's important that theathlete has an understanding
that we're not trying to get ourheart rate all the way back
down.
We're just trying to bring itdown a little bit so that we're
back in control.
We're just trying to bring itdown a little bit so that we're
back in control.
(12:00):
Some athletes need to increasetheir heart rate is another
problem that I've run intofrequently.
Where I have this athlete, youknow like I'm thinking like a
middle linebacker in footballwho just gave up a play, just
got hit in the mouth, is kind oflike oh man, what, what's?
I don't know what to do, andit's like all right, well, we
need to get in the game and youneed to get going, you need to
be ready for the next play.
(12:20):
We need to shake that off.
We need to figure out what'sour assignment, what's our
alignment.
Boom, we need to go execute.
So maybe in certain times thatathlete needs to do some some,
some faster breathing, insteadof you know, the big, deep, slow
, diaphragmatic breaths that aregoing to slow everything down.
(12:43):
Maybe we need to get amped up alittle bit, and there's
certainly a time for that.
There's certainly a time where,hey, we've come out flat and
we're not playing at our bestand we need to get ourselves
moving.
Some knee tuck jumps, someburpees, some fast breathing,
maybe a couple sprints, thingslike that can help out.
(13:07):
Moving on, another one that'skind of in the physical realm
still is muscle tension, muscleweakness, shakiness, anything
that has to do with musclesfeeling extremely tight or even
like loose and uncontrolled andshaky things like anywhere in
that range.
I always practice the forcedmuscular relaxation with the
(13:31):
athletes.
That's something that when I'veslowed down and done that with
athletes one-on-one and we do it, you know, and we tense up and
we tighten up during that inhaleand we stay nice and tight
during the hold and then as weexhale, you know, we can loosen
(13:52):
everything up.
I have not had an athlete sayto me oh well, that just didn't
work.
So I'm not saying that thatcould never happen.
But when done correctly, Ithink that the athletes can feel
OK, just like the breathing.
I can either let the lower partof my brain do it automatically
(14:14):
or I can use the front and toppart of my brain to take back
control and be intentional aboutmy breathing.
The muscle tension is the samething.
You can allow the lower part ofyour brain to dictate that or
you can use the front and thetop part of your brain to take
(14:35):
back control.
I would say what's more commonis you know, sometimes I have
athletes who only use it afterthey've gotten tight, so after
they miss a putt, and then it'slike, oh, now I'm starting to
tighten up and now I use myforced muscular relaxation and
now maybe it's not working aswell.
(14:56):
I think another option there iswell, let's be preventative.
Let's maybe incorporate it aspart of our pre-shot routine
that we do every time we take aclub out of our bag, or every
time we're walking up to theball, or maybe, hey, this is a
two-minute situation, or I'm atthe free throw line.
(15:19):
I know that I've had a tendencyto tighten up here in the past,
so what I'm going to do is beproactive and I'm going to use
some forced muscular relaxationon the front end to prevent that
from happening in the firstplace.
Another one that you know wedidn't.
We didn't even get intohydration, sleep, nutrition
(15:44):
there's, there's all kinds ofthings that you know.
If I've got an athlete who'sstruggling physically, uh, that
that's going to be somethingthat certainly needs addressed.
Now I would say the focus cycleis a little bit more reactive.
(16:04):
The focus cycle is a little bitmore.
This situation happened, oh no.
Now what do I do?
An example would be car lays onthe horn as I'm stepping off a
curb.
I jerk back up onto the curb,take a deep breath.
It's okay, the car is gone, I'msafe.
(16:24):
I'm going to look both ways,not be on my phone, all right.
Now let's go.
So you know, in football, howcan I take back control or
whatever sport you're playing?
What we're doing over a morelong term is how do we change
the reaction in the first place?
So the car example would be ifyou move to New York City and
(16:48):
you live there for two and ahalf years where a car is laying
on its horn all day, every day,then when you come back home or
you go somewhere else andthere's not really very many
cars, and now you step off thecurb, car lays on its horn, it's
not going to have that sameeffect, or at least not to the
(17:10):
same degree.
And so you know that that's alittle bit more of a long term.
I would say if you're cominginto competition not hydrated,
you haven't eaten properly andyou haven't gotten any sleep,
it's too late at that point.
So, yes, I do think that weshould address all of these
(17:30):
things, but these are almosteven their own separate topic
where, if I have an athletewho's trying to use the focus
cycle and things physicallystill just don't feel right,
maybe okay, now we need to divea little bit deeper.
We need to figure outhydration-wise.
This is something super commonwith golfers especially.
(17:52):
Maybe all of a sudden they'rein the middle of a tournament in
the middle of summertime andthey're sweating a lot more than
what they usually do.
Strength and conditioning divesinto a study where they
specifically looked at golfersand it said, quote this study is
(18:15):
the first to show that milddehydration can impair distance
accuracy and distance judgmentduring golf performance.
They took some 20 somethingyear old golfers with handicaps
from one point two to three so Imean pretty good golfers, from
1.2 to 3.
So I mean pretty good golfersand they looked at their shot
distance and their shot accuracyor kind of their dispersion
(18:39):
pattern with 9-iron, 7-iron and5-iron, both in a hydrated and a
dehydrated state, and theyfound a 10.9% decrease in shot
distance, with just milddehydration, which they defined
as, I think, like 3% dehydrationand a 92.7% worse on target
(19:08):
accuracy.
So the dispersion gotexponentially larger.
This isn't like a driver either.
I mean a seven iron and a nineiron.
These golfers should be able toput that club where they want,
but in a dehydrated state theycouldn't perform at their best.
I think sports like football aremore on board with this because
(19:31):
, especially in the summertime,athletes have literally died
from heat exhaustion, from nothaving proper hydration.
You know those types of things.
I think runners know theimportance that you're going to
reach a physical limit and nolonger be able to do what you
need to do if you get toodehydrated.
(19:51):
But in a sport like golf, wheremaybe that emphasis hasn't been
placed on there and it should,and no matter the sport I mean,
distance, accuracy and judgmentduring performance for the most
part is going to be prettyimportant.
I'm not going to start passingout advice, because that differs
(20:14):
depending on the age of theathlete, the size of the athlete
, the temperature or the climatethat you're participating in,
how intense your sport is, but aquick search on Google should
be able to come up with somepretty specific suggestions.
When I'm working one-on-onewith individual athletes, we
(20:35):
have a plan where it's like okay, if I'm a golfer, at this point
in the round I should have hada bottle of water, or 20 ounces,
out of my water bottle by thispoint in the round.
I should be refilling thiswater bottle because you know
I'm taking sips here and therethroughout the throughout the
entire round.
So whatever sport you play,whatever that looks like, that's
(21:00):
that's something that I wouldcertainly address.
Nutrition is kind of along thesame lines.
You know, nutrition won't makean average athlete great, but it
can make a great athlete.
Average is a quote that Ipulled out from that same study
that I was talking about.
You know, it's one of thosethings that I'm.
I'll be honest, I'm not a greatgolfer.
(21:21):
I wouldn't be able to just gohydrate myself and have
impeccable nutrition and all ofa sudden become a phenomenal
golfer.
But I can tell you a list ofgolfers who I have worked with
that they weren't replacingcarbohydrates.
Uh, they, there wasn't enoughprotein in their system.
(21:41):
What we'll do a lot of times isthere.
There's all kinds of differentapps out there where you can put
here's what I ate, here's howmuch I ate, and it'll spit out
All right, this is how manycalories you've burned, based on
your, your age, your height,weight, all that.
And I worked with athletesbefore who think you know I'm
(22:04):
eating what I should be eating,I'm doing a pretty good job.
I've, I'm eating pretty healthy.
But then, when we add in fourhours of walking and playing
golf, all of a sudden they'relike 1100 calories short on the
day and it's like well, nowonder you're not playing well
down the stretch, because youdon't have enough nutrition in
(22:27):
your body to fuel your body toperform.
So again, I'm not going to giveout real specific advice here
on this podcast.
This could be its own entirecomplete episode.
But just know that if yourathlete isn me, every time I
suggest this is sleep.
I had an athlete who he was apitcher at Ohio state.
(23:04):
He's a, he's in the majorleagues now, but at the time he
calls me and he's like Ben.
Have you ever read this book whywe Sleep by Dr Matthew Walker?
Because it changed my life andyou know.
This book talks about thedifference between people that
get enough sleep and people thatare sleep deprived.
(23:26):
Talking about enhancingphysical recovery, because sleep
is essential for muscle repair,tissue growth, recovery from
physical exertion, things likethat.
How deep sleep is where werelease growth hormones.
That aids in faster recoveryand muscle development.
There's improved motor skilland reaction time, because sleep
(23:49):
strengthens neural pathways, itcan improve motor coordination,
it can improve reaction timeand lack of sleep can impair
fine motor skills.
So if you're playing golf ortennis or basketball and you
need to be able to do somethingprecise, that's going to be
difficult.
Boosted mental performance anddecision-making, because REM
(24:12):
sleep improves cognitiveprocessing and critical thinking
and decision-making.
There's a decrease in injuryrisk, because adequate sleep can
prevent you having impairedreflexes or slower reaction time
or reduced focus that can leadto injuries.
(24:34):
When you get adequate sleep,there's enhanced endurance.
It improves cardiovascularefficiency, mood regulation and
stress management.
Faster learning and skillacquisition, because sleep
enhances the brain's ability tolearn and consolidate new
techniques or strategies.
(24:55):
It's unbelievable what somethingas simple as sleep can do.
Yet how many of our athletes,when we say, hey, it would be a
good idea for you to put yourphone down and turn the video
games off an hour before you'regetting ready to go to bed.
You should try to go to bed atabout the same time each night.
(25:17):
You should try to wake up atabout the same time even on the
weekends.
Don't sleep until 11 o'clock.
Even on those days where maybewe don't have school that day
but we have a game in theevening, you still need to get
up at a normal time.
You still need to go to bed ata normal time.
Like if we could just tellpeople hey, pop this pill and
(25:39):
watch this YouTube video or thisTik TOK or Instagram reel, like
they would be all for it.
But how many times do we get aneye roll or a yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, I'll, I'll do that, noproblem, I'll take care of that,
but then it never happens whenwe talk about sleep.
So again, that that's an entireepisode in and of itself that
(26:04):
maybe we can we can dive into atsome point in the future.
But that is, that's another oneof the things that, if an
athlete is struggling with thephysical side of implementing
the focus cycle and thebreathing and the forced
muscular relaxation aren'taddressing it and there's still
some underlying issues, sleep isabsolutely something else that
(26:26):
I would do a deeper dive on.
So hopefully this helps.
This gives you some direction.
If you've been listening andmaybe there's something else,
there's something that goes alittle bit deeper and you've got
some questions.
Feel free to send those my way.
This has just been, you know, inmy experience working with a
whole bunch of athletes over thelast 16 years, these are some
(26:50):
of the most common ones thathave come my way, so happy to
help out.
If there's specific answersthat I can give you or you know
I can point you in the rightdirection for some other
resources, don't hesitate toreach out.
One last thing I would ask ofyou if you got anything out of
this episode.
If you think that these focuscycle episodes could be
(27:14):
beneficial for an athlete youknow or a coach that you know
would really love for you guysto continue to share the podcast
.
That's how we grow.
This is just a free resource.
We don't have some giantmarketing budget for the podcast
.
We only grow through word ofmouth, so really appreciate you
(27:35):
guys continuing to share thiswith other folks who might
benefit from it.
If you've got questions, thingsthat you want to hear about in
future upcoming episodes, pleasedon't hesitate to reach out and
until next time, make your planand put it to work.
Hey, welcome to the Coaching Minds podcast, the
official podcast of MentalTraining Plan.
We're here to help you performat your best, no matter the
situation.
Today we're diving in a littlebit deeper into the physical
side of focus cycle.
If you have not listened toepisode 119, I would encourage
you to pause this episode rightnow.
(00:21):
Go back and listen to the focuscycle, where we basically teach
you how to implement this, howto use this framework, how to
come up with your plan, whetherthat's for you as an individual
or that's your team as a coachand basically, what we're trying
to do next is say, okay, wehave this plan, we went and
(00:41):
tried to put it to work, butmaybe something didn't go as
well as we would have liked.
So, episode 120, if you'rehaving a hard time focusing on
the next play or the nextpossession or whatever you said
you were going to be focusing onin that big moment, you figured
out, okay, what are some waysthat we can dive in a little bit
(01:03):
deeper and help you with that?
Figured out, okay, what aresome ways that we can dive in a
little bit deeper and help youwith that?
Episode 121, what if theself-talk isn't working or I
don't believe my go-to statementor we need to change.
How do I know if I need tochange?
And then today really want todive in.
If you've got an athlete thatcomes up and says, hey, I tried
the breathing, it didn't make mefeel better, what do I do?
(01:27):
And just want to give you somepractical ways that you can have
a conversation with thatathlete and you can help that
athlete.
The first thing that reallycomes to mind is are they
actually doing diaphragmaticbreathing?
This summer I don't know if youguys have seen the YouTube video
(01:48):
, but Kalen Henderson and Iactually went out onto a golf
course and I was kind ofcoaching her on the course and
at one point she was goingthrough her pre-shot routine and
she said, all right, I'm goingto do my breathing, and I
actually pulled out my phone andopened up my stopwatch the
second time.
She did it because it was likethere's no way you're doing your
(02:11):
diaphragmatic breathing, likemaybe you're taking a big deep
breath, but you're not.
You're not doing what you wrotedown.
Um, so that that's the firstplace that I would start.
I've even got a another golferthat I'm working with right now
who's at a power five conferenceschool has worked with a sports
psychologist in the past, knowsthe power of breathing and how
(02:35):
that can help your bodyphysically, help you think,
clear all that stuff.
And this athlete has been toldmultiple times, even on the
course, by their college coachhey, take a deep breath, which
has always been, and that that'snot the same as diaphragmatic
(02:56):
breathing.
And I will say, you know, afterthe, after this particular
golfer started using it, it waslike, oh my goodness, I feel so
much more in control of my bodyphysically.
So that would be the first oneI would.
Maybe, you know, if an athletethat I was working with,
one-on-one, said this isn'tworking, I would say, all right,
(03:16):
well, I want you to do yourbreathing for me and just kind
of count off in my head and getan idea.
For how long are they inhaling,how long are they holding, how
long are they exhaling, and thenwhat's that pause like?
Because ideally we want theinhale and the hold to last at
least eight seconds and we wantthe exhale and the pause to be
(03:40):
at least eight seconds.
We also want to make sure thatthey're not turning this into.
You know, I've had, like somemiddle school boys before that I
think, thought this was one ofthose competitions that you have
in the deep end of the poolwhere you see how long can you
hold your breath underwater.
We're not doing that either.
There's some diminished returnIf you hold onto that air longer
(04:02):
than I don't know four to 10seconds you're not really
getting a whole lot after that.
That would be the first placethat I would start.
Are you actually doingdiaphragmatic breathing or are
you just taking a big breath?
The second thing that I wouldwant to know is do you think
this is actually going to work?
(04:23):
Is do you think this isactually going to work?
Because if they don't reallydeep down, believe that, yes,
this is going to do somethingfor me, I think you're going to
have a really.
You got an uphill battle infront of you getting your mind
and your body to be on boardwith something that you think is
bogus to begin with.
I'll never forget the firsttime that I heard about
(04:46):
diaphragmatic breathing.
I'm sitting at this coachingconference and I'm listening to
Dr Jason Winkle, who had donemilitary training with special
ops, with SWAT teams.
He had a military backgroundand he was talking about how the
United States military did agiant study and they spent
(05:09):
millions and millions of dollarson how do we help our soldiers?
Let's say we're in a situationin Iraq and there's a roadside
bomb that goes off and all of asudden we start taking fire from
this building and so now we'rein fight or flight.
We've got all this adrenalinecoursing through our body, our
(05:30):
heart rate is jacked.
How do we control our mind andbody, be able to stack up on the
door, bust down the door, throwin a flashbang, enter the room
with four people, clear all thecorners, check for any bad guys,
make sure that we shoot the badguy, don't shoot any hostages.
(05:52):
I mean, you've got to havesuper high precision to be able
to control your body in thatsituation, to be able to make
split second decisions in thatsituation.
And I'm like on the edge of myseat thinking, yes, give me this
secret.
What is it?
And he said they figured outyou need to breathe.
(06:12):
And I remember just being sodisappointed because it was like
there's got to be more.
And I think too many times we'veheard in society, whether it's
a teacher, whether it's a parent, whether it's a coach, that
means well, we're upset, we'refrustrated, we're flustered, and
(06:33):
they say, hey, just take a deepbreath and you're like take a
deep breath, that's not going to.
What do you mean?
Take a deep breath, that's notgoing to do anything, that's not
going to fix the problem, let'sfix the problem.
Going to do anything, that'snot going to fix the problem,
let's fix the problem.
And it turns out that as youdive deeper into that science,
that the vagus nerve isconnected to that lower part of
your brain.
It goes through every majororgan in your body.
(06:55):
So your athletes that havebutterflies in their stomach, or
your athletes that haveadrenaline just coursing through
their body, or you know,they've got all kinds of extra
energy and there's muscletension, or maybe there's muscle
weakness or they're kind ofshaky, or all of these different
physical things can beaddressed by basically turning
(07:19):
down that fire alarm that'scoursing through our vagus nerve
.
We can stay, stop, relax.
I think there's a lot of powerin talking about the science
behind that, you know, you canmaybe even dive into.
There was an article that waspublished in Neurological
Sciences that talked about howdeep breathing can induce
(07:43):
effective improvement in quotemood and stress, both in terms
of self-reported evaluation andof objective parameters such as
heart rate and salivary cortisollevels.
So the science behind this issolid, and maybe your athlete
(08:05):
just needs to know a little bitmore about that, just enough to
realize there's a differencebetween hey, the next time
you're stressed, take a deepbreath.
And look, these people that didthese breathing exercises not
only did they self-reportfeeling better, but they also
(08:27):
had biological changes that wecould track, like heart rate and
the amount of cortisol that waspresent in their body.
That's a place that, if myathlete wasn't on board with yes
, I think this is going to workI would start there.
The next thing I would maybedive into is like well, tell me
(08:48):
a little bit more what's notworking, because there's a lot
of times that an athlete willsay to me well, I took a deep
breath, but I didn't feelconfident.
And I think it's important topoint out like those are two
different things.
The, the breathing, is going tohelp your body's physical
(09:09):
reaction.
It's going to address yourheart rate.
It's going to address cortisollevels.
It's going to address physicalthings that are happening in
your body.
It's also going to address somemental things.
It's going to give you theability to use a different part
of your brain, think critically,things like that, but it's not
(09:30):
always necessarily by itselfgoing to just make you feel
confident.
That's not how it works.
But if I'm flustered and I cantake a deep breath to get my
body under control, and then Ican say my go-to statement and
then I can focus on the thingsthat I can control, that matter
(09:51):
right now, and then I can gotake action and go do whatever's
next in the process.
And I've put in the time andI've put in the work and I've
earned the right to be confident.
Well, now, in combination withall of this, now I'm starting to
feel confident.
So I think it's important thatthe athletes know this isn't.
(10:13):
This isn't again just.
You know we talked about in thelast episode that the go-to
statement isn't just a magicalspell that poof.
You say it once and all of asudden you feel exactly the way
you want to feel.
But this can turn off that firealarm that's sending us into
panic mode.
This can help us think moreclearly.
This can help our bodies be alittle bit more under control so
(10:37):
that we can continue throughthe rest of the focus cycle.
Another thing that's kind of notworking sometimes with athletes
has been they're not able tothink clearly.
We know that cognitive overloador tunnel vision starts to kick
in depending on the person,their age, how in shape they are
(10:59):
, but somewhere in like that 140to 150 beats per minute.
So I think it's important tonote the athlete, especially
like in a sport like basketball,where there's just constant
motion and constant movementsport like basketball, where
there's just constant motion andconstant movement, we don't
have to go from 140 back down to60.
(11:19):
In fact that's not going tohelp you play at your best.
But maybe we need to go fromlike 150 just back down to like
130 so that I can make decisionsin the game, I can think
clearly, I can do my job, Idon't have tunnel vision, I'm
able to observe what's going onon the field or the court around
(11:39):
me.
I think it's important that theathlete has an understanding
that we're not trying to get ourheart rate all the way back
down.
We're just trying to bring itdown a little bit so that we're
back in control.
We're just trying to bring itdown a little bit so that we're
back in control.
(12:00):
Some athletes need to increasetheir heart rate is another
problem that I've run intofrequently.
Where I have this athlete, youknow like I'm thinking like a
middle linebacker in footballwho just gave up a play, just
got hit in the mouth, is kind oflike oh man, what, what's?
I don't know what to do, andit's like all right, well, we
need to get in the game and youneed to get going, you need to
be ready for the next play.
(12:20):
We need to shake that off.
We need to figure out what'sour assignment, what's our
alignment.
Boom, we need to go execute.
So maybe in certain times thatathlete needs to do some some,
some faster breathing, insteadof you know, the big, deep, slow
, diaphragmatic breaths that aregoing to slow everything down.
(12:43):
Maybe we need to get amped up alittle bit, and there's
certainly a time for that.
There's certainly a time where,hey, we've come out flat and
we're not playing at our bestand we need to get ourselves
moving.
Some knee tuck jumps, someburpees, some fast breathing,
maybe a couple sprints, thingslike that can help out.
(13:07):
Moving on, another one that'skind of in the physical realm
still is muscle tension, muscleweakness, shakiness, anything
that has to do with musclesfeeling extremely tight or even
like loose and uncontrolled andshaky things like anywhere in
that range.
I always practice the forcedmuscular relaxation with the
(13:31):
athletes.
That's something that when I'veslowed down and done that with
athletes one-on-one and we do it, you know, and we tense up and
we tighten up during that inhaleand we stay nice and tight
during the hold and then as weexhale, you know, we can loosen
(13:52):
everything up.
I have not had an athlete sayto me oh well, that just didn't
work.
So I'm not saying that thatcould never happen.
But when done correctly, Ithink that the athletes can feel
OK, just like the breathing.
I can either let the lower partof my brain do it automatically
(14:14):
or I can use the front and toppart of my brain to take back
control and be intentional aboutmy breathing.
The muscle tension is the samething.
You can allow the lower part ofyour brain to dictate that or
you can use the front and thetop part of your brain to take
(14:35):
back control.
I would say what's more commonis you know, sometimes I have
athletes who only use it afterthey've gotten tight, so after
they miss a putt, and then it'slike, oh, now I'm starting to
tighten up and now I use myforced muscular relaxation and
now maybe it's not working aswell.
(14:56):
I think another option there iswell, let's be preventative.
Let's maybe incorporate it aspart of our pre-shot routine
that we do every time we take aclub out of our bag, or every
time we're walking up to theball, or maybe, hey, this is a
two-minute situation, or I'm atthe free throw line.
(15:19):
I know that I've had a tendencyto tighten up here in the past,
so what I'm going to do is beproactive and I'm going to use
some forced muscular relaxationon the front end to prevent that
from happening in the firstplace.
Another one that you know wedidn't.
We didn't even get intohydration, sleep, nutrition
(15:44):
there's, there's all kinds ofthings that you know.
If I've got an athlete who'sstruggling physically, uh, that
that's going to be somethingthat certainly needs addressed.
Now I would say the focus cycleis a little bit more reactive.
(16:04):
The focus cycle is a little bitmore.
This situation happened, oh no.
Now what do I do?
An example would be car lays onthe horn as I'm stepping off a
curb.
I jerk back up onto the curb,take a deep breath.
It's okay, the car is gone, I'msafe.
(16:24):
I'm going to look both ways,not be on my phone, all right.
Now let's go.
So you know, in football, howcan I take back control or
whatever sport you're playing?
What we're doing over a morelong term is how do we change
the reaction in the first place?
So the car example would be ifyou move to New York City and
(16:48):
you live there for two and ahalf years where a car is laying
on its horn all day, every day,then when you come back home or
you go somewhere else andthere's not really very many
cars, and now you step off thecurb, car lays on its horn, it's
not going to have that sameeffect, or at least not to the
(17:10):
same degree.
And so you know that that's alittle bit more of a long term.
I would say if you're cominginto competition not hydrated,
you haven't eaten properly andyou haven't gotten any sleep,
it's too late at that point.
So, yes, I do think that weshould address all of these
(17:30):
things, but these are almosteven their own separate topic
where, if I have an athletewho's trying to use the focus
cycle and things physicallystill just don't feel right,
maybe okay, now we need to divea little bit deeper.
We need to figure outhydration-wise.
This is something super commonwith golfers especially.
(17:52):
Maybe all of a sudden they'rein the middle of a tournament in
the middle of summertime andthey're sweating a lot more than
what they usually do.
Strength and conditioning divesinto a study where they
specifically looked at golfersand it said, quote this study is
(18:15):
the first to show that milddehydration can impair distance
accuracy and distance judgmentduring golf performance.
They took some 20 somethingyear old golfers with handicaps
from one point two to three so Imean pretty good golfers, from
1.2 to 3.
So I mean pretty good golfersand they looked at their shot
distance and their shot accuracyor kind of their dispersion
(18:39):
pattern with 9-iron, 7-iron and5-iron, both in a hydrated and a
dehydrated state, and theyfound a 10.9% decrease in shot
distance, with just milddehydration, which they defined
as, I think, like 3% dehydrationand a 92.7% worse on target
(19:08):
accuracy.
So the dispersion gotexponentially larger.
This isn't like a driver either.
I mean a seven iron and a nineiron.
These golfers should be able toput that club where they want,
but in a dehydrated state theycouldn't perform at their best.
I think sports like football aremore on board with this because
(19:31):
, especially in the summertime,athletes have literally died
from heat exhaustion, from nothaving proper hydration.
You know those types of things.
I think runners know theimportance that you're going to
reach a physical limit and nolonger be able to do what you
need to do if you get toodehydrated.
(19:51):
But in a sport like golf, wheremaybe that emphasis hasn't been
placed on there and it should,and no matter the sport I mean,
distance, accuracy and judgmentduring performance for the most
part is going to be prettyimportant.
I'm not going to start passingout advice, because that differs
(20:14):
depending on the age of theathlete, the size of the athlete
, the temperature or the climatethat you're participating in,
how intense your sport is, but aquick search on Google should
be able to come up with somepretty specific suggestions.
When I'm working one-on-onewith individual athletes, we
(20:35):
have a plan where it's like okay, if I'm a golfer, at this point
in the round I should have hada bottle of water, or 20 ounces,
out of my water bottle by thispoint in the round.
I should be refilling thiswater bottle because you know
I'm taking sips here and therethroughout the throughout the
entire round.
So whatever sport you play,whatever that looks like, that's
(21:00):
that's something that I wouldcertainly address.
Nutrition is kind of along thesame lines.
You know, nutrition won't makean average athlete great, but it
can make a great athlete.
Average is a quote that Ipulled out from that same study
that I was talking about.
You know, it's one of thosethings that I'm.
I'll be honest, I'm not a greatgolfer.
(21:21):
I wouldn't be able to just gohydrate myself and have
impeccable nutrition and all ofa sudden become a phenomenal
golfer.
But I can tell you a list ofgolfers who I have worked with
that they weren't replacingcarbohydrates.
Uh, they, there wasn't enoughprotein in their system.
(21:41):
What we'll do a lot of times isthere.
There's all kinds of differentapps out there where you can put
here's what I ate, here's howmuch I ate, and it'll spit out
All right, this is how manycalories you've burned, based on
your, your age, your height,weight, all that.
And I worked with athletesbefore who think you know I'm
(22:04):
eating what I should be eating,I'm doing a pretty good job.
I've, I'm eating pretty healthy.
But then, when we add in fourhours of walking and playing
golf, all of a sudden they'relike 1100 calories short on the
day and it's like well, nowonder you're not playing well
down the stretch, because youdon't have enough nutrition in
(22:27):
your body to fuel your body toperform.
So again, I'm not going to giveout real specific advice here
on this podcast.
This could be its own entirecomplete episode.
But just know that if yourathlete isn me, every time I
suggest this is sleep.
I had an athlete who he was apitcher at Ohio state.
(23:04):
He's a, he's in the majorleagues now, but at the time he
calls me and he's like Ben.
Have you ever read this book whywe Sleep by Dr Matthew Walker?
Because it changed my life andyou know.
This book talks about thedifference between people that
get enough sleep and people thatare sleep deprived.
(23:26):
Talking about enhancingphysical recovery, because sleep
is essential for muscle repair,tissue growth, recovery from
physical exertion, things likethat.
How deep sleep is where werelease growth hormones.
That aids in faster recoveryand muscle development.
There's improved motor skilland reaction time, because sleep
(23:49):
strengthens neural pathways, itcan improve motor coordination,
it can improve reaction timeand lack of sleep can impair
fine motor skills.
So if you're playing golf ortennis or basketball and you
need to be able to do somethingprecise, that's going to be
difficult.
Boosted mental performance anddecision-making, because REM
(24:12):
sleep improves cognitiveprocessing and critical thinking
and decision-making.
There's a decrease in injuryrisk, because adequate sleep can
prevent you having impairedreflexes or slower reaction time
or reduced focus that can leadto injuries.
(24:34):
When you get adequate sleep,there's enhanced endurance.
It improves cardiovascularefficiency, mood regulation and
stress management.
Faster learning and skillacquisition, because sleep
enhances the brain's ability tolearn and consolidate new
techniques or strategies.
(24:55):
It's unbelievable what somethingas simple as sleep can do.
Yet how many of our athletes,when we say, hey, it would be a
good idea for you to put yourphone down and turn the video
games off an hour before you'regetting ready to go to bed.
You should try to go to bed atabout the same time each night.
(25:17):
You should try to wake up atabout the same time even on the
weekends.
Don't sleep until 11 o'clock.
Even on those days where maybewe don't have school that day
but we have a game in theevening, you still need to get
up at a normal time.
You still need to go to bed ata normal time.
Like if we could just tellpeople hey, pop this pill and
(25:39):
watch this YouTube video or thisTik TOK or Instagram reel, like
they would be all for it.
But how many times do we get aneye roll or a yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, I'll, I'll do that, noproblem, I'll take care of that,
but then it never happens whenwe talk about sleep.
So again, that that's an entireepisode in and of itself that
(26:04):
maybe we can we can dive into atsome point in the future.
But that is, that's another oneof the things that, if an
athlete is struggling with thephysical side of implementing
the focus cycle and thebreathing and the forced
muscular relaxation aren'taddressing it and there's still
some underlying issues, sleep isabsolutely something else that
(26:26):
I would do a deeper dive on.
So hopefully this helps.
This gives you some direction.
If you've been listening andmaybe there's something else,
there's something that goes alittle bit deeper and you've got
some questions.
Feel free to send those my way.
This has just been, you know, inmy experience working with a
whole bunch of athletes over thelast 16 years, these are some
(26:50):
of the most common ones thathave come my way, so happy to
help out.
If there's specific answersthat I can give you or you know
I can point you in the rightdirection for some other
resources, don't hesitate toreach out.
One last thing I would ask ofyou if you got anything out of
this episode.
If you think that these focuscycle episodes could be
(27:14):
beneficial for an athlete youknow or a coach that you know
would really love for you guysto continue to share the podcast
.
That's how we grow.
This is just a free resource.
We don't have some giantmarketing budget for the podcast
.
We only grow through word ofmouth, so really appreciate you
(27:35):
guys continuing to share thiswith other folks who might
benefit from it.
If you've got questions, thingsthat you want to hear about in
future upcoming episodes, pleasedon't hesitate to reach out and
until next time, make your planand put it to work.
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