Breathing Suggestions

Breathing Suggestions

nick landes fourkast

Article by Nick Landes

While looking into my own freestyle and the way that I execute concepts, I found that during longer strings or when I do a "hard" link, I wouldn't breathe regularly. At first, I thought that it was natural to hold my breath at times to keep my core muscles tighter, so a question pushed me into further analysis. When is the best time to breathe during freestyle?

During freestyle, your body needs oxygen to perform at it's peak, but I've always had the feeling that exhalation made me more steady. I tighten my core muscles, which helps me exhale and ground my balance, so I related this to landing and stalling the footbag. I figured, as I completed the stall, if I exhaled I would gain more control over the stall and it would help my body cushion the impact of landing. In contrast, taking a breath gave me a lighter, kind of floating feeling, so the peak of the footbag's arc seemed an appropriate time to take in a breath.

It occurred to me later that there are actually four stages of breath, just as there are four seasons* and they are:

1) Inhale, build up, Spring
2) Full Breath, peak, Summer
3) Exhale, decline, Fall/Autumn
4) Rest, stop, Winter

Upon being told this information, I decided to pick the four best points during bag's cycle of stalls and peaks that would correlate with the breathing cycle. It seemed obvious to me that I needed to have the rest part right as I take the time to delay the footbag. I feel that this is the biggest reason my style has changed as much as it has in the past two years, I take time to stall the bag a little more, and I exhale while I do it to synch up my breathing with my freestyle.

So, the pattern of breathing that I use is I exhale as I'm completing the downtime component(s) of the trick. I take time to stall the bag and finish exhaling. As I set the bag I push off the ground and start to inhale after any dex components. I finish inhaling as the bag peaks, using the breath to prepare for the downtime component(s) and the stall. I suggest that if you try controlled breathing during freestyle you find a rhythm that fits you best. Some people may have a natural cycle that is reverse of mine, or they would exhale as the uptime and inhale on the downtime. I have tried that method, and it's not as natural or easy for me, but I believe that some may find it so.

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*I feel it is important to make the connection between seasons and breathing, and by extension, footbag tricks. The purpose is that there is a direct and even pattern to the cycle. I feel that if you are able to master breathing during footbag, you can further master the flow of freestyle. If you allow yourself to breathe and relax into freestyle, you will be able to hit more tricks and harder links... or you can play for longer and enjoy it more, which is a more positive goal to achieve.

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