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Optimal breath timing for the swing?

sudseh

sudseh

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Preface: I did a bunch of searching and could find info for breathing prior to the swing, keeping calm, oxygenating, but not during the swing.

During my short foray into competitive powerlifting (squats, deadlifts, bench press) we were taught to inhale deeply and press the air down before each lift attempt. This would help firm up the core and give us a bit of bounce.

While swinging a club I've tried that method with some success for the driver, but it has not transferred over to the irons as well. For less than max effort I can usually inhale on the backswing and exhale smoothly on the downswing. At max effort, however, that turns more into an inhale on the backswing and hold through the downswing with exhalation occurring after the full follow-through.

Any thoughts would be great so I can start to implement them in the off-season.

Thanks!
 
I've never thought about it... There is an old story about Ben Hogan (I believe) rattling his opponent during match play by asking him "do you breathe in or out during your downswing?".
 
I know I take a deep breath and exhale before I start my back swing. I think I breathe in on the backswing and out on the downswing. Damn you! hahaha
 
I don't think about it at all. Look at the target and swing
 
Off-topic: It is annoying that I need to subscribe to a thread I've created so I can keep up with it in Tapatalk. :(
 
Smallville said:
I know I take a deep breath and exhale before I start my back swing. I think I breathe in on the backswing and out on the downswing. Damn you! hahaha
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I just did a quick Google search and found that Morgan Pressel works on inhaling in the backswing and exhaling on the downswing. She says it smooths out her transition and provides more power (but she is known as a short-knocker, so...). It does seem like a good way to improve tempo.
 
I hold my breath thru the swing. I only notice it when I try to hold my finish. It never affected my swing.
 
Thanks for the input, guys.
 
I take the same approach as I was taught during pitching. Breathe through your eyelids.

In other words, don't think about it, the swing itself is already hard enough.
 
Yeah, I've tried not thinking about it, but I get really tense (unsmooth) during the swing.
 
I've been taught to breathe out throughout the swing. Holding your breath increases tension in the swing. I found it made a huge difference and really improved my tempo.
 
How did you get yourself to breathe out? I swung a club a few times and on hard swings was still holding my breath.
 
TexasHacker34 said:
I don't think about it at all. Look at the target and swing
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The only time I think about breathing is prior to nervous shot. A couple of deep breaths and let the tension go. The it's almost auto pilot. Unless I'm in the first tee at the Clive course of course.
 
TexasHacker34 said:
I don't think about it at all. Look at the target and swing
Click to expand...

This is me as well. I don't think about anything other than having an image in my mind of what I want to happen.
 
Breathing is a natural act that the body does all by itself. It breathes heavy when we exert ourselves and softly when resting. What ever your breathing pattern is over the golf is more than likely fine. Searching for an optimum breath is more than likely not the answer. Let the body do what it does natually.
 
I can honestly say I never thought about it
 
cwmonroe87 said:
I can honestly say I never thought about it
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Me either. I overthink things bad enough, thinking about breathing is just doing that even more for me.
 
Thanks for the thoughts, gents. Freddie, thank you for the insight. I will try to not think about it and try to find the source of my tension elsewhere. In the past I had been: gripping the club hard; setting my shoulders and back trying to maintain the same angle of attack on the ball; and crowding myself by not having the ball far away enough.
 
sudseh said:
Thanks for the thoughts, gents. Freddie, thank you for the insight. I will try to not think about it and try to find the source of my tension elsewhere. In the past I had been: gripping the club hard; setting my shoulders and back trying to maintain the same angle of attack on the ball; and crowding myself by not having the ball far away enough.
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If you want to release tension before you swing, take a deep breath and release it down through your fingers. This will help with tension.
 
I tried it yesterday on a few shots to mixed results - I would think that if your mind is cluttered with swing thoughts, it might help distract you from those. I try to think about 2 things on each swing, so for me, it was adding a third which didn't really feel too good.
 
I ever noticed it I think I just breath normal during my swing. I just watched a Colin Montgomerie video where he said you should never hold your breath when you swing but alot of people do.
 
Coincidentally enough, I watched a short video about swing tension yesterday...the instructor in the video recommended slowly exhaling through the whole swing sequence, and keeping your mouth open while doing so. The idea is that it is much more difficult to be tense overall with your mouth open and exhaling instead of clenching and holding your breath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhA2W0Lm1mA the breathing stuff starts around 2:10.

I tried it at the range yesterday, and I have to say - at least for me - it seemed to actually make a difference...before I'm certain I was holding my breath and clenching. As a former hockey player, going from swift exhale and huge tension in a slapshot to something more refined was/is a challenge....haha
 
Thanks for the video link. I'll check it out later. :)
 
Just got a chance to look at the video, and his breathing is pretty interesting. I'll try that out next time. I've been doing breathe in on backswing and out on downswing.
ironcondor said:
Coincidentally enough, I watched a short video about swing tension yesterday...the instructor in the video recommended slowly exhaling through the whole swing sequence, and keeping your mouth open while doing so. The idea is that it is much more difficult to be tense overall with your mouth open and exhaling instead of clenching and holding your breath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhA2W0Lm1mA the breathing stuff starts around 2:10.

I tried it at the range yesterday, and I have to say - at least for me - it seemed to actually make a difference...before I'm certain I was holding my breath and clenching. As a former hockey player, going from swift exhale and huge tension in a slapshot to something more refined was/is a challenge....haha
Click to expand...
 
Never really thought about it. To me it just seems like another thought that doesn't need to get in my head!
 
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