TLDR: Use the Valsalva Maneuver during your down swing to gain power and decrease injury risk.
“Do you breathe in or out on your back swing” I noticed a post recently about breathing during the golf swing and thought I’d add what works for me (didn’t realize this is a common misconception on exhaling).
Let’s use Rory Mcilroy for example (turn the volume up you cowards). On his backswing, right before he reaches the apex, you can hear him inhale. Once he starts his downswing, you can hear him almost groan. This is due to him actively performing the Valsalva Maneuver, instead of exhaling all the air in his lungs, he pushes it out against a closed airway.
So why should you do this?
For starters, let’s use weightlifting as one of the wide use cases for doing something like this. When you bench, right before you start to lower the bar to your chest, you’ll see 99% of power lifters fill there chest with a deep breath and attempt to exhale against a closed airway (you may hear a grunt). What this will do is increase “Intra-abdominal pressure” IAP, which effectively assists with spine stability. By performing this maneuver, weightlifters can exert higher amounts of force and reduce their risk of injury.
To apply this to golf, swinging a golf club is a huge core reliant action and bracing your core (Valsalva maneuver) can be highly beneficial. In most cases, the stronger your core is, the faster you can swing. I’ve see a lot of “exhale on your downswing” and I don’t disagree, but actually letting air escape CAN be detrimental to swing speed and injury minimization. So give it a shot, if it works for you then awesome, minus one swing thought and you remove a mechanical aspect you will need to work on.
To add context, I don’t believe this should be used with pitching and putting, in my opinion those intricate type of actions should be treated similar to shooting a gun. Control your heart rate, breathe smoothly, and move smoothly. If you’re putting and chipping with a higher heart rate or you’re out of breath, you’re inevitably going to increase your chances of making a mistake.
Hope this helps someone, I myself have two herniated discs from the navy in my lower spine and have had zero issues with pain associated with swinging due to having this down from weightlifting.
by MoistySquirts
