Before I reveal the trick to performing better, let me explain how you are damaging your body without you even knowing it. In order to help you improve at your sport, I first need to share with you why your body is not functioning optimally.
It’s safe to say that if our spine is being abused every day, our ability to perform at a high level is jeopardized. I think most people would agree with that simple assessment.
A majority of us sit too much, look at a cell phone repeatedly and use a laptop or PC every day.
Those things alone don’t sound problematic to most people and that’s why this issue is so scary. When we total up all that time spent in poor posture, it is much easier to understand why we might be causing our body some serious stress.
This poor posture is commonly known as forward head position or forward head posture. Sadly enough it also has another less medical sounding name, “texting neck.”
If you’re an athlete or attempting to become one, this message could make or break how you approach your training.
In order to move the body effectively, things like your joints, organs, muscles and nervous system need to respond to what your brain is telling them. Ultimately, our physical output is compromised due to prolonged periods of forward head posture and our performance will come up short of what it could do.
But why?
Because the ONE thing you must do every day all day long to perform and survive is you must BREATH.
Breathing doesn’t sound sexy or groundbreaking but I can promise you that if your lung capacity is not where it could or should be, you’re costing yourself physical excellence.
Here’s how:
In studies it has been concluded that Forward Head Posture has been linked to a decrease in respiratory muscle strength which in turn affects your ability to breath and significantly reduces your lung capacity by an astonishing 30%.
Without sounding too medical, FHP causes the muscles in the neck area to be compromised and this actually limits the function of the first rib when breathing. If you can’t inhale very well you’re not going to break any records in your sport.
So that means that even if you only have a subtle issue with FHP, you’re still robbing yourself of achieving peak performance. Oxygenated the blood is crucial in order to supply your muscles with everything they need when it counts.
