Functional Progressions

If you've been around the office long enough, you've heard us talk about diaphragmatic breathing. This kind of breath focuses on breathing into your belly, using the muscles of your core to inhale and exhale. This is an intuitive breath to us when we are babies, but as we get older and sit more frequently, we lose the integrity in our core and begin to breathe into our chests. 
Diaphragmatic breathing is an excellent way to begin to retrain your core muscles. It is the first step in a series of exercises called functional progressions. Functional progressions build the integrity and strength in your core. This helps with trunk stability, which in turn helps with your ability to balance, coordinate, and do anything really that involves your core muscles (which is basically every moment).
The functional progressions walk you through the movements that a baby does to get from laying on their back to walking in about 12 months. Think of their belly breathing which becomes rolling over to propping up on their side and then their hands and knees, then crawling, pulling themselves up on furniture, and then walking. This core stability is what allows a toddler to have an impeccable squat posture. 
So, you can either search BIRTHFIT Functional Progressions on YouTube (shout out to BIRTHFIT, the company who has developed this video series and put thousands of hours into researching and teaching functional movement) or ask Dr. Liz or myself to walk you through the exercises. Here's to a strong core and impeccable squat!

In health and wellness,
Dr. Morgan