Clarification on Breath

[SanjayNait]

Hello Coach Rip,

I have a question regarding breath. In all the exercise in SS:BBT3 we're told to take a nice full deep breath right before doing a complete rep. Now as a singer, I have been trained to take full deep breaths in such a way that it doesn't make the chest look inflated, but rather take them in such a way that my gut comes out (much in the same way a baby that is lying down does). Singers are taught to do this because apparantly this helps us keep control of our voices and keep them sounding powerful as well as it is supposedly (according to singing coaches) a deeper breath.

When doing our exercises, are we supposed to breath 'from the gut' in a way that makes the stomach bulge out, like a singer or baby would? Or are we supposed to take a breath in a way that makes the chest look more inflated? So far I have been breathing 'from the gut'

Sincerely,
Sanjay

P.S. Thanks for SS:BBT3, so far it has been one of the most confidence and all-round performance boosting experiences in my life.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You do know where the air goes when you inhale, right? It goes into your lungs. Your lungs are separated from your gut by your diaphragm. You can inhale a full breath and tighten your abs, or you can inhale a full breath and not tighten your abs. Which sounds better to you under 405?

[Brian Harlin]

Diaphragmatic breathing is taught to vocalists to counter the prevalence of lifting and tightening the chest when breathing. It is taught this way because lifting and tightening the chest is a learned action and really has nothing to do with breathing. the thinking is that the tight chest adds tension to the neck and throat as well and constriction is bad for singing. Not sure what your concern is regarding lifting, just take a deep breath, tighten up, and get it done.

[SanjayNait]

Thank you Coach Rip and rumblefish,

Yes, I'm quite aware that air goes into the lungs and that the lungs are separated from the gut by the diaphragm. Colloquially, diaphragmatic breathing is referred to as breathing 'from the gut.' Honestly the question came because in this youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mygns0H6Ok4

Coach Rip mentions that the benchist should take a deep breath and this makes the chest bigger. Typically, when I take a deep breath, I don't feel my chest getting bigger but I do feel my abdomen sticking out and was wondering if I was doing that part wrong. But after the replies, I'm fairly certain that I'm just overthinking this, and I should indeed just concern myself with taking a deep breath, tighten up, and get it done, which is how I've been doing it so far.

[mcclamic]

You do know where the air goes when you inhale, right? It goes into your lungs. Your lungs are separated from your gut by your diaphragm. You can inhale a full breath and tighten your abs, or you can inhale a full breath and not tighten your abs. Which sounds better to you under 405?

Having been there using Rip's advice via his books, I suggest you take a full breath and contract your abs hard!

[Alexis]

I'm a trained vocalist too. The way I perceive it is this:
When singing I use the diaphragm to control the airflow and I only fill my lungs conveniently so no pressure occurs. This should not even happen concsiously, overfocusing this will just distract you and do more bad than good. It's pretty natural for me after playing trombone for 10 years.
When lifting I breathe into my belly as well but with max force and tension from belly up to throat.

[stef]

Typically, when I take a deep breath, I don't feel my chest getting bigger but I do feel my abdomen sticking out and was wondering if I was doing that part wrong. But after the replies, I'm fairly certain that I'm just overthinking this, and I should indeed just concern myself with taking a deep breath, tighten up, and get it done, which is how I've been doing it so far.

Yes, you're overthinking. A full breath will have both getting bigger. Yawn. Or imagine that you're taking a big breath before swimming underwater. Either one ought to disinhibit someone who is concentrating on one aspect or another of the process of taking a full breath and preventing it from getting done correctly. And you're probably already just fine if you've been focusing on taking a full breath. Don't worry about "feeling" your chest getting bigger. If you really think it isn't, put a tape measure around it and find out you're wrong.

[MightyJoeYoung]

You can't breathe in without your chest expanding because that is how we breathe. The chest expands, the pressure drops and so air rushes in from the higher pressure outside of the thorax.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

"the benchist"

I like this.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You can't breathe in without your chest expanding because that is how we breathe. The chest expands, the pressure drops and so air rushes in from the higher pressure outside of the thorax.

The chest expands as the diaphragm contracts, creating negative pressure inside the lungs, causing the higher pressure outside to fill them. The chest expands because the diaphragm contracts. Intercostal muscles do not expand the chest, since muscles contract.