For a long time, we have always adopted the traditional breath method in teaching and training of the middle distance running. That is one breathing out every two or three steps running, and one breathing in every two or three steps running. In this way, the athletes usually have a bad reaction in their bodies, and the sports result is not good. So the writer has begun to reform the breath method of the middle distance running in teaching practice, and select the method of regulating breath in Chinese qigong to make an experimental study of the athlete who is engaged in the middle distance running. At last we have obtained a better sports result.
In the experiment group we have adopted the new breath method. That is two short breathing in in every one or two steps running, and one long breathing out in every three or five steps running. When athletes breathe in, they will prop their upper jaws in their tongues; when they breathe out, they will utter a word of 'hush.' In the bilingual group we have still adopted the traditional breath method to train.
The experiment data of the two groups have been processed through the statistics. The result shows that there is no marked difference between the biggest breathing capacity aerating capacity and the result of 800 meter sprint of two groups before training. After three months training, there is a marked difference between the biggest aerating capacity and breathing capacity of two groups (p<0.01). Although there is no marked difference between the result of 800 meter sprint in two groups (p>0.05), the raised percentage (30%) of the sports result in the experiment group is obviously higher than the percentage (17.2%) in the bilingual group. This shows that the new method of 'inhale, inhale and exhale' not only raises the breathing function of the athlete engaged in middle distance running, but also raises the sports result more quickly. Going into the reasons, there are four points:
1. The method of 'inhale, inhale and exhale' requires close coordination between breathing and action. It also has a clear-cut rhythm and established regularity. When the athletics begins, at first the athletes will have two short and powerful actions of continuous inhaling so that they can inhale large quantities of fresh air, which supplies their bodies with sufficient oxygen. At the same time the method can postpone the appearance of the extreme, and guarantee the normal exercises of all organs of human body, thus raising the sports ability.
2. The method of 'inhale, inhale and exhale' requires that athletes should utter a word of 'hush' as they exhale, if so the suitable airflow which is spat out of shouting can excite the liver, pancreas and intestine to secrete a great deal of digestive juices, and promote the digestion of food. In addition it can also promote the capillary inside the abdominal cavity to assimilate nutriment and get rid of the waste matter, so as to better the function of digestive system.
3. The method of regulating breath in Chinese qigong can impel the breath to move inside the whole body, to speed up the circulation of blood, to get rid of the fatty deposit inside of blood vessel wall and avoid the vascular sclerosis, so as to improve the function of the heart blood vessel system. Modern medicine proves that qigong training can make human body be in a 'flabby condition' cause the exercise of sympathetic nerve system to be weakened and the function of the vice-sympathetic nerve system to be strengthened relatively. At the same time it can reduce the organism reaction to outside stimulus, thus making the physiological reaction inside of the body be in a best condition.
4. It has been proved that the power coming from muscular atrophy while inhaling is weaker than that exhaling. So the method of 'inhale, inhale and exhale' wants athletes to inhale air in every one or two steps running, and exhale air in every three or five steps running . The method is conformed to the law of the sports physiology.
The sports experiment proves that the method of regulating breath in Chinese qigong is a kind of effective way in teaching and training of middle distance running, and it also has the fixed practical value. So we suggest to popularize the method in physical teaching.
