I noted with great interest that the recent huge success of Novan Djokovic has been attributed to many things amongst which giving up gluten was mentioned. The other thing mentioned was improving his breathing by having singing lessons with an opera singer. I am an ex-opera singer and I do battle with my clients breathing from time to time. Unless the client sang, played a wind or brass instrument, the chances of them breathing well seem remote.
It seems to me that it all goes wrong when a child goes to school. If you observe a small child breathing, you will see a nice rise and fall of the abdomen with the in and out breath. Now with an older child or adult, as they breath in the belly goes in and when breathing out, the belly goes out. This is called reverse breathing and is very inefficient – and it is the breathing of stress, ie approaching panic breathing. If you learn how to breath properly again you will instantly calm down thus reducing stress levels, and so, on another note, a fat belly is due to stress. So there is a chance that your belly fat will start to reduce. Without a shadow of doubt the better you breathe, the faster you will go – quite simply you are getting more oxygen to the working muscles! And, of course, you feel calmer. Of course you must work on stability and strength. But more good news on good breathing is it encourages good ab function – makes your abs flatter and stronger.
Another bit of good news is that good breathing helps asthmatics. Again, more oxygen is accessible and panic levels subside.
I used to teach singing as well as sing. And I wish I knew then what I know now. From time to time I do still help singers out – and I sort their breathing problems out very quickly indeed because of what I have learnt as a highly trained personal trainer. So it is quite a combo!