Anyone know of any studies or have any evidence of what the best tongue placement is for a sprinter?
I know this sounds like a pretty stupid question, but it seems to me that naturally I place my tongue towards the rough of my mouth when sprinting which limits breathing slightly, allows for unnecessary holding of the breath, and causes facial tension.
However, I recently noticed that if place my tongue curled downward below my bottom teach it seems to alleviate these problems.
Does anyone else have any information to offer on this?
ART teaches some stuff on this… I know nothing about the specifics or if it is meaningful, but I have seen some therapists who were very good overall who believed tongue placement played a role both with tension and proprioception.
I often think some factors will have little or no affect on performance and perhaps the process of trying to consciously control too many factors can have an adverse affect. For me, I would say this falls into that category.
Tongue placement - okay, is April fools over with yet? This should be under the “soft-tissue manipulation” topic! Or, “peaking when it counts!” Or, “long to short” strokes. Someone stop me…!!!
Yea you guys are right, instead of talking about the dynamics of airflow intake based on tongue position. And understanding the activation of facial muscles, we should probably just wait for another person to post a 30m video asking why they suck in the 100. Or have someone say they squat 400 or have a 45 inch vertical and run 7 for 55 thats always more beneficial. Or we could just turn another thread into a joke, that has never happened.
The real joke here is that someone suggests that sprinters find another stressor to worry about when the key to success is relaxation starting from the face down into the shoulders.
Answer- forget about it.
Hehe, the power of subconsious reasoning and applying it to biomechanic behavior… :o
If Tyson Gay spontaneously moves his tongue, he should not be told to do otherwise
Instinctive behavior relating to the 5 senses is scientifically mostly effective.
I would hope that a lot of what you learn in drills etc can be carried over somewhat easily with proper training into actual sprinting without having to consciously think about it during the race.
I don’t think that it would take much effort at all to change such a small movement.
From the few studies I could find in the couple hours I have been searching my libraries databases for answers beyond what has been posted here it seems that tongue position at least in studies relating to sleep related breathing problems, as well as during normal breathing can account for a significant increase in airflow.
I don’t really think it would be that much effort to change the positioning of your tongue during a sprint.
Also I am not saying this is correct, I was just asking for opinions about it without being attacked. If people have read studies or are in some other way informed on the matter than thats fine just tell why it is not a good idea, thats all I ask for. Just because it sounds stupid is not really a legitimate reason for not helping me here, I said in the first post that it sounded stupid.
The actions you see on the track by top sprinters are sub-conscious and individual. Frankly, it doesn’t just sound stupid- it is stupid.
I am trying to help you by telling you from first hand experience that this stuff is bogus. You can listen to the ‘studies’ (possibly with a corrective product to sell you) or you can listen to experience- your choice.
The ‘studies’ that I had looked up were from the ISI Web of Knowledge database. I am not going to look up stuff I know nothing about using Google where I cant separate crap from reality. And also so I don’t have people selling me things.
Charlie - remember that product they were selling to get sprinters to dorsi-flex (it was a strap that kept the foot dorsi-flexed). Great stuff. I’m sure someone can come up with a strap for the tongue to keep it in the optimal position. Gene Simmons would likely be interested in being the spokesperson.
