Breathe Damnit Breathe! (A blog about lung power)

So throughout my past bunch of years, I've always been involved in activities that required lots of air and control, so I've come up with some traditional and some non-traditional ways to improve the amount of air one can hold and control of their air support.

1.
Equipment needed : none
Place learned : Voorhees High School Concert Band

Breathe in (as if yawning) until you cannot anymore.
Hold for 10 seconds
Make a small "o" shape with your mouth
Push all the air out fast and controlled until you have no air left
Hold for 10 seconds
[Repeat multiple times]


2.
Equipment needed : A pool and a friend
Place learned : Bernardsville Swim Team

***note: Only do this when you have a friend with you. There are stories of swimmers who have died doing this by themselves***

Stand on edge of pool
Breathe in deeply and fill your lungs to maximum capacity
Slowly release all the air in a controlled stream with an "o" shaped mouth
[Repeat 3 times]
Fill up lungs to maximum capacity, jump in the pool, and swim to the bottom
Stay at the bottom for as long as you can handle and then rise back up to the top

***note : If you have a problem staying on the bottom, you can reverse this by releasing all the air from your lungs and then jump into the pool***


3.
Equipment needed : Bike (optional) and iPod
Place learned : Training by myself

Very simple and very effective
While running or biking, sing to the songs you are listening to.
Works best if you pick songs with lots of words, not techno or house music.


Hope these helped you all out. I will update as I come up with/remember other ways to help build lung strength and size.