A thread on how Steph Curry has amazing conditioning + the science behind his novel approach

An article yesterday by David Fleming of ESPN: “Curry’s second wind comes from his ability to rapidly lower his heart rate during short breaks in-game”.

In order to train this, his...

trainer (Brandon Payne) places a sandbag below his ribcage in order to overload, and train, his diaphragm.

Let’s break down why this works.

In order for respiratory function to be optimal, we need something called a Zone of Apposition.

This means the lowest ribs can stay relatively down upon inhalation, which pushes air into the ribcage and subsequently optimally expands the lungs (image credit @postrestinst).

Deep abs such as the Transverse Abs do eccentrically elongate during this time, but they should remain somewhat “tight” to push the air into the lungs & ribs.

So air will go into the belly to some extent, but it shouldn’t primarily go in the stomach.

This is also why “hands on knees” has been shown to be a more effective recovery position than “hands on head” (Michaelson et. al, 2019).

It creates a Zone of Apposition.

The sandbag also has the benefit of creating additional load pressures into the ribcage, which force the diaphragm to work harder (Chen et. al). This:

Uptake of air into the aveoli, which transfer oxygen to the bloodstream
Contraction of deep ab muscles for exhalation

Fregonezi 2009 compared a loaded breathing group to a non-loaded group and found the loaded group had considerably :

- Peak airway pressure
- Maximum continuous ventilation
- Peak inhalation airway flow
- Maximum sustained power of inhalation

The article also claims Curry could drop his heart rate below 80 during even just a single 90-second timeout.

This is because the ability for his breathing volume & control allows him to quickly facilitate his parasympathetic (rest & digest) nervous system which recovery.

Overall, it is probably fair to say that the current research indicates that resisted sandbag breathing can improve:

- Recovery
- Breathing pattern control
- Nervous system control
- Oxygen delivery to tissues under fatigue

However, we can’t forget an adequate conditioning

program is needed.

This is a complementary intervention that has value but should not be taken as a magic pill in isolation.

Breathing matters and can improve performance. I’m happy this article shed light on that.