You Should Be Doing Breathwork for Health and Stress Control

You ever talked to Wim Hof? I know Wim. Do you know Wim? Absolutely. He doesn't give a fuck if you breathe out of your nose or your mouth. He's like, just breathe man! I know, I know. He doesn't give a... Just breathe motherfucker! He's so crazy, I love that guy. He's comedy. No, I've had a few... I've... Him, Wim and I have had a few... We've had a few experiences, let's just put it that way. But we've had him at a couple of experiences and I've done some stuff with Wim. I've known Wim for... I don't know, like four or five years now, maybe a little longer. So he comes... Usually when he was in town, I think the last time, maybe when you saw him, he comes to visit. So I get him. Usually when I go with Wim, I usually translate for him. When he goes to one of his classes, I'm usually like trying to... Oh, right. In case people don't understand. No, I know. But I'm just saying, sometimes I'll be with somebody and they'll be like, what'd he say? I'll be like, what he means is, take a deep breath. Don't believe me! He's such a character, man. He is a character. The guy went to fucking the top of Everest barefoot. Oh, yeah. Like what? Oh, yeah, I almost lost his toes, too, yeah. Like what? Yeah, yeah. No, he goes. Yeah. Well, his art actually is Tummo, is a derivative of Tummo. And I'm not sure if you know what Tummo is, but Tummo is a Himalayan breathing technique that the monks have, that they have this one thing where they dry sheets. So they have this thing, a ceremony where they go at night in the Himalayas when it's frozen in snow. And the guy sits there and they put wet sheets, wet blankets on him. And they breathe and get their bodies so hot that they dry the blankets. And then the guy that can dry the most blankets at the end of the night is like the guy. But it's a... Yeah, and it's called Tummo. And you can go online and look it up. Tummo is a Himalayan breathing technique that was never exposed to Westerners until just as of recently. But WIM's work is a derivative of Tummo. But nose breathing, it's all about nose breathing. It's all about nose breathing. And when you understand the science of it. But he's right about getting people to just breathe because people are not breathing. We just had, in fact, we had another, Melissa, what's her, I want to say, it's a Russian name, but she has a great book. She trains fire, fire and police and military breathing. We just had her at, we did an XPT in Miami about a week, two weeks ago. And she came as a guest speaker and was working on really trying to create more volume. And then a lot of people's rib cages aren't moving. And so they have a whole, you know, there's ways to try to increase your movement of your rib cage. Your rib cage should actually open. Like you could take a tape and measure your rib cage when you're fully exhaled. And then when you inhale, it should expand like, you know, three inches or more for you to be really optimally breathing. And a lot of people, I mean, part of it has to do with the whole six pack abs and what's aesthetically pleasing. But meanwhile, when you have a real nice six set of six pack abs, you're not able to diaphragmatically breathe. You're not able to use your diaphragm. You're not using your diaphragm when you have that. Yeah, because the tightness isn't allowing the diaphragm to push down the diaphragm and the pelvic floor, actually squeeze your organs together. And that is actually massaging the organs, which influences your digestion and everything. And it deals with a bunch of acid reflex and a bunch of other things. But when the abs are so tight that the stomach can't expand, the organs can't push this belly out, then you have a limitation in your, and then the ribs aren't moving. I mean, it's just... But guys are going to hear this and go, good, I'm going to stay fat. I don't need a six pack. Well, but no. I know what you're saying though. But actually, if you're really using your lungs, you'll strengthen your core in a way that you'll get core. You can have six pack abs and not have core stability. And you know this, when you look at a lot of, not every single great fighter is just ripped. No. Some of the best ones ever are not ripped at all, like Fedor. Exactly. So let's talk about that for an example of that aesthetic isn't always function. And of course, the mind is always ahead of everything. I don't care what the car looks like if the got no motor, doesn't do anything. So the body only goes where the brain tells it. But the fact is that you see some of the best athletes, when you look at certain athletes, you're not like, they're not the physical specimens that you've ever seen. You're like, that guy is the most ripped and shredded. And a lot of times those guys get knocked out. You see the guy come in and you just go, this guy's going to kill this guy. And then he just gets annihilated by the guy that looks maybe not quite as hard. Right? Right. Part of his genetics. Max Holloway is a perfect example, Hawaiian guy. Yeah. He's not shredded. I mean, he's strong, obviously, but he looks more like a swimmer. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and you might find that his breathing, he might have better air volume. Because at the end of the day, a lot of it's about oxygen. Cardio. Yeah. Yeah. And Max's cardio is off the chart. Exactly. I mean, again, we've created these aesthetic things in our culture, like, oh, six pack abs is a sign of this and da, da, da. But when you look at real breath work and how the diaphragm works and how the ribs expand, you realize this is like where none of us are really doing it right. And you can actually create more volume. You said you like cordyceps mushrooms. Yes. Well, those are actually a vasodilum. Those help you absorb oxygen. Those can up your VO2 max. Right? And those are things that you can, how to increase your VO2 max. But cordyceps is one of them. Beats. Beats is another one. You can create more volume by expanding your lungs. So by opening the rib cage and creating more room, that can create, promote your VO2 max. Now, when people are hearing this and they're hearing breath work, folks who have never done anything like that, they really don't understand what you're saying. Like what do you mean by breath work? Like give us an example of like a protocol. Well, I mean, a real simple, I mean, they do it in pranayama. They have it in apnea. There's a thing called holotropic, but breath work really is, is when you isolate the breathing system and, and you know, the simplest way. And that's why Wim says, Hey, I don't give a shit how you breathe. Just breathe motherfucker. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, like we'll do a breath routine and we'll sit somebody down and we'll say, okay, breathe like you're running. Breathe like you're running. And he will tell the guy, breathe like he's running. And they'll go, I go, that's a slow run, buddy. Like breathe like you're running, like, you know, like, like anytime, any, any movement in any air in and out is going to, is a form of breath work. Right. And especially when you isolate the system and you're not doing it because of an activity. The fact is that when you use that system and you work it and you're not detracting from it by doing an exercise, if you're doing the assault bike where your arms are working and your legs are working. So all the oxygen that you're absorbing is going into your arms and legs. When you're isolated and you just do the breathing alone, now the oxygen is going into that system and that system is going to develop and get better. Then when you do your assault bike after you develop that system, so we'll isolate breath work and we'll just do it alone. Well, whether we're doing, you know, whether we're doing breath holds, we're doing some kind of apnea breath work, which is, you know, we can do a pattern where you're doing like you hold for 30 seconds and then you breathe in for 15 and then you breathe out for 15. Then you hold again. Then you go in and out and hold in and out and hold. That's one pattern. Another pattern is in hold, out hold, in hold, out hold, in hold, out hold. Like, you know, again, those are, there's, you know, and then there's pranayama apnea holotropic. There's just some where you're oxygening the system where, you know, like whims would be where you just get that rhythm going and do that for five minutes and people go, oh my, I feel lighted. And I go, yeah, because you haven't had oxygen like that in your head. You haven't had oxygen in your system like that. Right? So again, conscious, bringing consciousness to your breath, we're not just walking along in life, like not thinking about breathing. That's the beginning of breath work, just awareness of, Hey, I need to, you know, I just need to breathe in and out. Right? Stay conscious. Yeah. And that's a big one with martial arts. You see in jujitsu with beginners when they first start sparring for the first time, they panic and they have shallow breath. And you got to tell them, okay, stop right now. Just breathe. Oh yeah. Breathe. Oh yeah. Well, fight or flight. Yeah. Fight or flight. They have deep breath. Yeah. They hyperventilate. Yeah. Well, you will put somebody in the ice for the first time that has a headache. Oh yeah. That's the craziest. You want to see it? That's an instantaneous. Oh yeah. Yeah. You can't breathe. Oh yeah. But you eventually learn. Well, the system, the system turned, that's actually an involuntary response to get out. Right. Strike. You have the option. So you should exercise that option. Well, that's an involuntary response. That's your, that's your subconscious mind protecting the organ, organism like, Hey, this your body intuitively knows this is dangerous environment. Get out. And so that reaction is to get you to get out. When you, when you make a conscious effort to not leave that environment, then the body goes, okay, you're not going to get out. Okay. Well now I'll organize. I'll bring the blood to the organs. I'll adjust everything. I'll, I'll boost your hormones. And so, and then pretty soon you don't get that response anymore. Once you do it on a regular basis, the body just goes, Oh, we're here we are again. Back to that ice thing. Bring the, you know, boost the hormones, bring all the blood and the organs, you know, that so, but that, that's, that's a similar thing to what you're talking about in jujitsu where people are the stress on the system. They're stressed. And so they're involuntarily, you know, and that's fight or flight. One thing you can really do to calm, like calm a kid down is, is the way you get yourself into parasympathetic, where you bring your thing down is when you extend your breath for seven seconds on the inhale and the exhale, that reduced, that'll bring everything down. Like if you want to calm down in your, or your kids, stress your little kids just all, and you get them to just breathe in for seven seconds. Yeah. And I tell people, think about a sigh. My youngest daughter, when she would get upset, she would do that. And I'd try, like, you gotta breathe, you gotta breathe, calm down. But seven seconds is a magic number. If they, if you can extend the breath for seven seconds and the body goes into parasympathetic and totally that's, that's what you do to like go to sleep at night. Like if you're having a hard time. So there's a bunch of stuff to learn about the breath, which is amazing. I think the reason why the breath has always been so important to me is just because of the ocean. Sure. Because, you know, growing up when you almost drowned, you know, a thousand times, you, you, you, air is important. You get to, no, you just get to appreciate like there's none down there and it's all up there. And so be cool down there. So when you see, you can get back up. Well, I learned breath work because of Hicks and Gracie. Watching Hicks and Gracie practice yoga. He's a friend. Oh, you know, he does that. What is that called? That stomach thing? What is that stomach you call? Well, that's, that's the, uh, panayama. Yes. But there's a name for it. Yeah. Where you twist the, yeah. Yeah. He really sucks his organs up in. His son can do it amazingly. Crohn can do it amazingly. Yeah. Yeah. It's super good for you. Well, that's good for the organs. Yeah. And that the ability to control your breath like that is so critical when you're sparring. So critical to get oxygen, these long training sessions. Well, for your life. Yeah. For your life. Anytime you're in the stress, if you can control your breath, that controls your heart rate. Yeah. Do you ever do 30 seconds in, 30 seconds out? Do you ever do that? Yeah. Just slow, deep breaths in, slow, deep breaths out. That's an amazing exercise. Yeah. Well, that's the extension of that. That's parasympathetic. That's bringing it seven, just a minimum amount. So whenever you go into any of those long extended stuff and then those breath holds, anytime you hold the breath, then you get that CO2 level. And that's what gives you the angst to, you know, what's interesting because you know, Wim's done like some record breaking stuff and you have that freediving stuff where they scrub oxygen, you know, where they hyperventilate and scrub the CO2 and get that real low, but you have to be careful about shallow water blackout. So we don't really practice any of that stuff. We do more like a salt bike, jump in the pool and see how long you can hold your breath. And then it's, and then, and then, you know, five, 10 seconds is like, that's big time. 15 seconds. You're like, wow, that was amazing. At maximum heart rate, how long can you hold your heart? I mean, how long can you hold your breath? That's some, that's a challenge. So you're keeping a salt bike right next to the pool? Yeah. Yeah. See that one roll, you roll it into the salt bike. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Wow. And then, you know, twist to the pretzel.