When we get into stressful situations in our daily lives our bodies tend to tense up. At the end of a long, busy day you may notice that your neck or jaw hurts from the muscles being tight with strain all day. Exercise is somewhat of a stressful situation and sometimes our bodies will tighten up like they would when you have dead-lines to meet. This can be detrimental to our mental state during a workout. These are the times when you say to yourself, "I hurt. I'm tired. Why am I doing this to myself? I"m just going to stop now". The physical signals effect our mental confidence and motivation.
If the physical state can effect the mental state, then we just have to change the physical state to be something desirable, i.e not tense. Here are some tricks that I have learned to help me relax and calm down during any workout. Once you can tame the tension you will find exercise to be a release, enjoyable and even relaxing.
First of all Don't Stop! Keep going until you've tried all of these things and others you may think of yourself.
Next, check 4 areas of your body to see if they are tense and need relaxing.
#1-Stomach. We all want to be lean runners with no jiggling, but unless you are doing an ab workout, you have to let go of those muscles. If you are clenching your stomach muscles you are restricting your ribs from expanding to let more air into your lungs. When you are exercising your stomach should rise and fall naturally with your breath. Focus on letting go or your abs and this will help you breathe easier.
#2-Shoulders/Back. The best way to breathe easier is posture, posture, posture! Stand up straight with your shoulders back and down. This will open up the chest allowing your ribs to expand again to help you breathe deeper. You don't want to be straight as a board, but if you are feeling like Quasimoto with your shoulders hunched up to your ears, take a moment to relax them down and back. You will feel much better and have more confidence. Shaking out your arms, wrists and shoulders can help with this tension as well.
#3- Neck/jaw. Clenching your jaw and neck muscles can not only restrict your airways but give you a headache too. Neither of which are good for working out. Movement will always help loosen your neck. Look from side-to-side, shake your head and shoulders, or just nod a couple times and feel the tension ease. Your mouth should be open if you are working hard, meaning your teeth should not be grinding while you exercise. Drop your jaw and move it from side-to-side, or even open it really wide to stretch those muscles out a little. Your cheeks and lips may flap in the wind, but you will be relaxed and breathing easy.
#4- Throat. Even though our shoulders, neck and stomach may be relaxed we might still be closing off our airways with our throat. My Aunt Margaret is an amazing vocal coach and she taught me a great technique to help open your throat. Swallow hard. Imagine you are trying to swallow an orange and need to make room for it all the way down your throat. Swallow and think about making space in your mouth/throat for the air to flow freely.
Here are two visuals to help you.
The Wicked Witch of the West (I know I'm a nerd, but bare with me). She is the epitome of stress and tension and a great example of what NOT to do. She is hunched over, with tight arms, hands and shoulders. She also talks in a strained voice ("I'll get you my pretty.."). She obviously doesn't have a relaxed, open airway.
Glenda the Good Witch. Her shoulders are back and down with her chest out. Her hands and arms are useful but still relaxed. When she talks it is in a calm, smooth voice which means her throat is open and she is breathing easily. She is more confident and happier than her sister to the West.
As cheesy as these examples are, it does help to visualize what we want to look like. So now when you exercise you can check yourself by asking, "Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?" (Haha. I had to through that in there).
These visuals and techniques should help you let go and loosen up so you can breathe. If you have tried all of these and still can't breathe easy take a tiny break. Stop and stretch or shake out a couple major muscles that are bugging you and then get going. Make this break less than a minute and get back to enjoying your workout!
Here is one more example to help you visualize.
Chrissie Wellington is one athlete that truly enjoys what she does! She is one of the fastest triathletes in the world. Look at how she runs. Her shoulders are back and down, she is standing up straight, and her mouth is open with a relaxed (and smiling) jaw. What a perfect example and great inspiration!Compare this to the picture at the beginning of this post. That poor guy is not enjoying himself because he is way too tense!
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