The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s NEW Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.
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The Importance of Proper Breathing Techniques
“Proper breathing boosts performance.”
Josh, a witty student of mine said, “Come on Frank! It sounds a bit silly that you are reminding me to breathe. What next? Reminding me to blink? Look, coach, no offense, but I’ve been breathing my whole life effortlessly!”
Without oxygen freely flowing to the muscles, lungs, and brains of our athlete’s, catastrophe is likely to strike. The following scenarios result when deep breathing routines and rituals are not implemented:
- Fluid strokes stiffen
- Athlete’s body tightens up and often cramps
- Fatigue sets in prematurely
- Core stability lessens
- Anxiety levels increase
- Concentration levels diminish
- Problem-solving skills decrease
In match play, there are two phases of correct breathing techniques.
During Points Phase: Educate the athlete that inhaling begins while tracking the incoming ball and during the coiling phase of the stroke. This energizes the uncoiling links into impact. Exhaling at impact relaxes and loosens their “swoosh” swing, as it grounds the athlete and stabilizes their strike zone.
During the Between Points & Changeovers Phase: Educate the athlete to switch their focus on the benefits of applying calming, deep breathing techniques. By slowly breathing through their nose, the athlete will lower their heart rate as they take in greater amounts of oxygen into the bloodstream.
This, of course, provides physical, mental, and emotional benefits such as increased energy, sharper memory recall, relaxed muscle exertions, reduced anxieties, calmer nerves, improved judgment, and decision-making ability.
Breathing properly during match play has emotional benefits as well. Athletes focused on their breathing techniques ward off contaminating anxiety that can creep into an empty mind. Correct breathing significantly improves performance under pressure.
Ask your athletes to play a few practice sets while focusing their attention on their breathing techniques. By simply paying attention to correct breathing, they are sure to boosts performance under pressure.
