THURS: Death by 23,040 Papercuts

The old proverb of death by a thousand papercuts is known by most. The metaphor that it’s usually not the single act that is our downfall, but slow jabs that add up to one day result in our death. Before this takes on a terribly morbid tone, I want to use this metaphor to illustrate how this general concept is likely happening with you every single day, only it’s not a thousand, it’s 23,040.

The average breaths a person takes a in day.

We have 23,040 opportunities a day to either support good movement or fortify a stronghold against it. Some things to consider.

1. Mouth Breathing – There is a reason that El refers to people she believes as beneath the ability to understand her powers as “mouth breathers” in Stranger Things. Mouth breathing is our secondary form of inhalation and tends to activate our sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for fight or flight. Mouth breathing never allows us to relax and be parasympathetic.
2. Chest Breathing – When we chest breathe, we elevate the rib cage and we completely disengage our obliques, diaphragm, and lower abdominals, all muscles that are critical to the strength of our core and the health of our movement in spinal loading.

Try and focus your breathing in through your nose, into your belly and obliques, and nice slow breathes throughout the day. It takes hard work to re-train this if you are part of the above mouth and chest breathing crowd, but it may just be the single biggest factor in keeping you healthy in movement, sitting at your desk, and in all facets of life.

-Dave

Thursday, 12.28.17

First, for Technique.
12 Minutes of Snatch Practice.
—
Then, for Conditioning.
20m Sled Pull Through
6 DB Thrusters
4 Burpees
100m Run
(x15 Min)
—
To Finish:
60 Ring or Supine Rows