Greer Childers breathing technique: bodyflex breathing technique, set of exercises from Greer Childers, benefits of bodyflex, contraindications, additional recommendations

The older a person gets, the more difficult it is for him to lose excess weight. The most common cause of this phenomenon is improper breathing.

When muscles do not receive the oxygen they need, nutritional deficiency occurs. For this reason, bodyflex gymnastics was born, developed by the American Greer Childers, who, according to legend, thanks to her training method, lost weight from size 54 to 42.

Today, the bodyflex breathing technique is very popular in America and Europe, because it is effective for reducing the volume of the entire body and combating cellulite.

Bodyflex breathing technique

The bodyflex weight loss technique is based on performing certain exercises combined with five-stage breathing.

The breathing principle is as follows:

Exhale – you need to purse your lips with a tube and completely empty your lungs, exhaling through your mouth.
Inhale – a sharp, noisy breath in through the nose until the lungs feel completely full.
Exhalation is a powerful, strong exhalation, accompanied by the sound “Groin.” To do this, you need to raise your head up at an angle of 45 degrees, make a movement with your mouth, as if you were smearing lipstick, and sharply exhale all the air, engaging the diaphragm. This is the most difficult thing in the entire bodyflex system. If at first you hear wheezing or feel like coughing, then this is completely normal. Over time, you will have the perfect “groin.”
Hold your breath for 10 seconds while tightening your stomach (Udiyana Bandha) - this is the time when the exercises are performed. It will be easier to tighten your stomach if you lower your head down.
Inhale while relaxing the abdominal muscles.

Tip for beginners: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and hands above your knees. In this position, it will be easier for you to master five-stage breathing.

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Beautiful and fit body? the dream of any woman or girl. And to achieve this dream, sometimes various techniques are used. Now there are many articles on the topic “bodyflex: pros and cons.” What kind of method is this?

We are talking about a system of special diaphragmatic breathing that saturates the body cells with oxygen. With this, lipids and fats are burned, and various toxins are removed. Of course, bodyflex has pros and cons. An impressive number of positive reviews, for example, can be found on a number of forums. However, these are personal opinions and do not reflect the whole picture. When planning to adopt this method, it is advisable to find out what doctors say about bodyflex. And their opinions are traditionally divided into two: “useful” and “dangerous.”

First opinion: bodyflex? this is useful

A number of experts claim that the benefits of bodyflex are obvious. Firstly, the whole technique is based on enriching the body with oxygen, which normalizes metabolism, tones muscles, and improves blood circulation. If you add a set of sports exercises here, you can feel for yourself how bodyflex is useful for people trying to lose weight: the weight goes off and the body becomes more toned. This technique also affects the functioning of the heart, blood vessels, intestines and stomach, improves skin color, reduces swelling, and relieves shortness of breath. Doctors also note the fact that this method is quite effective, and bodyflex has a very important plus: it is suitable for people of any age group and with different health conditions. Thus, some experts have no doubt about whether bodyflex helps to be healthy.

Second opinion: bodyflex? Is it dangerous

However, among doctors there are representatives of a completely different opinion, who note that bodyflex has more disadvantages than advantages. Particular debates unfold around diaphragmatic breathing. According to the method of the complex, breathing is held for a long time? 8 or 10 seconds. This is precisely the reason not for saturation of the body, but for oxygen starvation. The consequences of this phenomenon, according to doctors, prove the harm caused by bodyflex and include:

- deterioration of brain function;
- increased pressure;
- arrhythmia;
- weakened immunity;
- increased risk of cancer.

These are just a number of points that answer the question: “Do doctors recommend bodyflex, why is this type of exercise dangerous?” Most experts tend to support a second opinion, a negative one, and this should not be neglected. After all, knowing the opinion of doctors about bodyflex, you can avoid making irreparable mistakes. Any exercises, no matter how effective they are, should be suitable for a person and only improve his condition. But bodyflex has contraindications, as has already been described. That is why you can choose this technique for yourself only after the advice of a doctor.

Of course, numerous websites will tell you how many people achieve excellent results even without consulting specialists. But, if you are worried about your own health, you should not skip the thematic sections “bodyflex reviews from doctors.” In any case, you need to take two opinions into account and, when starting classes, answer several important questions for yourself, among which the main one will be: “Is bodyflex harmful for me?” Only after carefully weighing everything can you apply this technique.

A set of exercises from Greer Childers

Exercise "Lion"

Place your feet 35 cm wide, bend your knees slightly and rest your hands slightly above your knees.
Practice five-step breathing.
While holding your breath, open your eyes wide and lift them up. Gather your lips into a circle and lower them down, stick your tongue through your lips as much as possible. At the same time, the cheeks and neck will tense, and all the facial muscles will stretch from the eyes to the chin. Stand in this position while holding your breath (8-10 seconds).
Return to the starting position and repeat the exercise 5 times.

Exercise “Ugly grimace” with a rejuvenating effect

Place your feet 35 cm wide, bend your knees slightly and rest your hands slightly above your knees.
Practice five-step breathing.
While holding your breath, push your lower jaw forward as much as possible and protrude your lips (as when kissing). Stretch your neck until you feel a strong tension in your neck muscles. Raise your head up, reach your chin towards the ceiling. Straighten your body without lifting your heels from the floor. Stay in this position while holding your breath.
Return to the starting position and repeat the exercise 5 times.

Exercise “Side stretch” - perfectly tightens flabby muscles of the hips and waist.

Place your feet 35 cm wide, bend your knees slightly and rest your hands slightly above your knees.
Practice five-step breathing.
While holding your breath, bend your left knee and lower your left elbow onto it. Pull your right leg to the side, pointing your toes, without lifting your foot off the floor. Shift your weight to your left knee and raise your right arm above your head until you feel tension in the muscles of your arm from your armpit to your waist. Keep your arm straight. Do this exercise while holding your breath.
Return to the starting position and take a few restorative deep breaths.
Repeat the exercise 3 times on each side.

Exercise “Pulling the leg back” to correct the buttocks.

Get on your knees, leaning on your elbows, place your palms down.
Stretch your leg back, without bending, with your toes toward the floor.
Raise your head and look forward.
Practice five-step breathing.
While holding your breath, lift your extended leg up, pulling the toe towards you, and tighten your buttocks
Do this exercise while holding your breath.
Lower your leg and catch your breath.
Return to the starting position and repeat the exercise 3 times on each leg.

Exercise "Seiko" for tightening sagging skin of the thighs

Kneel down and put your right leg to the side at a right angle to the floor, without bending it at the knee, place your foot on the floor.
Practice five-step breathing.
While holding your breath, stretch your right leg without bending the knee and lift it to body level. Pull your leg as high as possible towards your head.
Do this exercise while holding your breath.
Lower your leg and catch your breath.
Return to the starting position and repeat the exercise 3 times on each leg.

Exercise “Diamond” for working with sagging skin of the hands

Stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. Stretch your arms forward, rounding your back, and interlock your fingers, creating a circle in front of you. Keep your elbows as high as possible.
Practice five-step breathing.
While holding your breath, press your fingers against each other as hard as you can, while tensing all the muscles from your chest to your wrists.
Do this exercise while holding your breath.
Return to the starting position and do several cycles of restorative breathing.
Do the exercise 5 times.

Note for beginners: three rules for bodyflex training

Firstly
, without
systematic training
you will not be able to achieve literally anything.
This system involves strict exercise - fortunately, this will only require 15-20 minutes a day
, and each person can safely allocate them for exercise in the morning, when the stomach is still empty.
Secondly
, if you are overweight, then at the very beginning of classes you should perform
general exercises aimed at reducing weight
, and then start doing exercises for certain problem areas of the body. This sequence is mandatory, otherwise there will be no obvious results.
Thirdly
, when starting to do bodyflex gymnastics,
you do not need to simultaneously start a strict diet
aimed at reducing body weight. It is necessary to take food in fractions, often, little by little, so that hunger does not bother you and does not take away the last strength necessary for exercise. As a rule, after some time after starting classes, appetite decreases significantly, and a person simply cannot eat in the volumes in which he ate before.

Breathing technique Greer Childress: contraindications

Pregnancy
Epilepsy
Esophageal hernia
Cardiovascular diseases
High degree of myopia
Recovery period after abdominal surgery
Exacerbation of chronic diseases
Ovarian cyst
Adenomyosis
Acute inflammatory processes of the small pelvis
Myomatous nodes

Taking antidepressants and contraceptives is not a contraindication to exercise, but it significantly reduces the results.

A healthy liver is the key to quick results.

Contraindications

Doctors warn: breathing practices based on holding your breath are not suitable for all people and cannot be used equally effectively. Bodyflex is based on the method of increased saturation of tissues with oxygen by 30–40% due to diaphragmatic breathing. For this reason, the following may occur:

a drop in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood, which is necessary for proper metabolism;
a significant decrease in blood pressure and cell membrane permeability;
spasms of the bronchi and blood vessels;
oxygen starvation as a result of vasospasm, which can lead to the death of brain cells.

Check out the "vacuum" exercise.

Before starting classes, you must be examined by a doctor. Those who are found to have:

blood pressure problems;
increased intracranial pressure;
presence of head injuries;
pathologies of the respiratory system (asthma, allergies);
diseases of the cardiovascular system, arrhythmia, heart failure;
open bleeding;
high fever, infectious diseases;
oncological diseases;
implants, hernias in the spine, surgical interventions on it, after which less than a year has passed;
vision problems, glaucoma.

At the beginning of the training process, you may experience slight dizziness, during which you need to stop and take a short break.
If all the rules are followed, it should gradually disappear. Find out also what are the benefits and harms of bodyflex for women.

It is necessary to pause Bodyflex exercise if you find:

nose bleed;
increased incidence of headaches;
insomnia;
the appearance of discomfort and pain in the heart area.

Separately, it is worth noting: aerobic gymnastics cannot be done during pregnancy. However, Bodyflex after childbirth is especially popular because it does not take much time and exercises can be done at home while the baby is sleeping. If labor progresses normally, you can begin training with diaphragm breathing already 1.5–2 months after it.

First, you should pay attention to proper breathing techniques, gradually incorporating stretching exercises and tension of individual muscle groups. However, with diastasis, which most often appears in women after the second and subsequent births, Bodyflex is ineffective and can even aggravate the situation.

Do you do bodyflexing - do you need a diet?

So, who will have to restrain his urge to use this breath? What are contraindications for bodyflex exercises?

First of all, these are pregnant women. But here you still need to look at the lifestyle of a pregnant woman. If she practiced this breathing before pregnancy and led an active lifestyle, then, in principle, before the fourth month, she can practice a set of exercises, but only with the permission of doctors, who have ruled out the threat of miscarriage.
Contraindications for bodyflex include uterine fibroids. For women who have uterine fibroids, aerobic breathing can have a negative effect. It activates all body systems, including reproductive. Due to this, fibroids can begin to bleed profusely.
Problems with the thyroid gland are also contraindications to bodyflex. For those who have a weak thyroid gland, it’s not that it’s completely impossible to exercise using this system. The fact is that with this problem, the metabolism is very slow, so breathing practice is unlikely to bring results. And if usually after this technique you feel a charge of energy, then in this case you may, on the contrary, be overcome by severe fatigue.
When practicing this technique, holding your breath actively tenses your muscles, which helps increase blood pressure. Therefore, people with chronic hypertension are also not recommended to practice these exercises.

How long after you can eat after Bodyflex?

How to eat while doing Bodyflex has already been discussed above. A special feature of this fitness complex is that it can be performed on an empty stomach. However, when practicing Bodyflex, a person spends a lot of energy, which must certainly be replaced after training, so 30–40 minutes after the lesson you can already start eating.

Did you know? Drinking plenty of fluids helps you lose weight; It is beneficial to drink two liters of water a day. As strange as it may sound, absorbing water speeds up fat burning. The reason is the activation of metabolism.

Both after the first and after the second workout of the day, half an hour later you should eat normally, without limiting your access to food to restore strength. Thus, the unique Bodyflex fitness complex is a versatile and powerful tool in the hands of people who want to change their lives for the better, lose excess weight and improve their health.

Where to start

The main thing that is required to start practicing Bodyflex is an adamant desire to lose weight. This means that training must take place regularly, otherwise the achieved results may quickly fade away. First of all, you should make sure that you have:

comfortable sports uniform made of jersey, without a very tight elastic band on the waist. The suit should not restrict movement - for example, leggings and a T-shirt or cotton tank top may be an excellent option;
a mat or fitness mat that you will need to perform exercises on the floor. It is convenient because it prevents your feet from slipping on the floor and does not wrinkle during work;
watch to control the time you hold your breath;
computer for watching videos with the correct technique;
a notepad and a measuring tape to monitor changes in body volume and record the results obtained.

Shoes are not required in Bodyflex; exercises are more effectively performed barefoot or in socks.

Bodyflex gymnastics for ill health

BF exercises can be an excellent “path to a healthy life” for those who are physically unable to engage in traditional fitness, for those whose bodies are in poor shape. The author of the system says that she was quite trained and tried everything before she invented bodyflex.

However, a more careful reading of the book allows us to conclude that Greer’s actual fitness level was low: after all, she did not complete a single program, did not train systematically, but simply tried programs for a month or two, then her muscles began to grow, it seemed that she was getting fatter, training was abandoned.

Note that experienced fitness practitioners can use bodyflex exercises as a catalyst for recovery in order to burn more fat; it’s a good idea to do the bodyflex complex before a morning jog or on a day of rest from strength training.

A fly in the ointment in a sea of benefits of bodyflex

Doctors, physiologists and fitness instructors of traditional sports programs do not share the joyful enthusiasm of millions of women. And there are several reasons for this.

First of all, the nature of bodyflex does not allow those whose muscles are toned to achieve significant results in burning fat. Indeed, stretching and isotonic exercises are pleasant and easy to perform; you do not have to jump or lift heavy weights, but at the same time, the muscles of a trained person will not receive the stress that is necessary for the development of muscle tissue and fat burning.

The bodyflex training itself only triggers the fat burning mechanism. It works like this. During exercise, a person stretches and tenses his muscles, while at the same time enriching the tissues with oxygen.

Muscles must be stressed and require nutrients, water and oxygen to recover. The recovery process is a big part of the success of the workout. But what if a person is sufficiently prepared, and simple stretching poses are not able to “break through” his muscles, bring them to a state of stress, and cause the need for recovery?

This means the training is ineffective. A person spends energy only in those short 20 minutes while he performs bodyflex exercises. Then nothing happens. This is why experienced fitness specialists and instructors do not like bodyflex.

Bodyflex lessons for beginners: free videos for home workouts

The unique bodyflex gymnastics arose thanks to the American housewife Greer Childers. The system is based on a combination of simple training with a special breathing method. The powerful effect of such practices on the body is known all over the world: when combined with muscle strengthening and stretching exercises, deep intense breathing has an almost instant fat-burning effect.

Gymnastics is ideal for home workouts and takes minimal time. ALL ONLINE COURSES have selected the best bodyflex video lessons with effective sets of classes for beginners that will help pump up the body.

Bodyflex: benefits and harms

Reviews from doctors are cautious; they are critical of bodyflex breathing, since many women, in pursuit of results, begin to practice such weight loss without thinking about whether it has any disadvantages. Everyone only hears about the benefits: that the system allows blood circulation to accelerate, thereby saturating the tissues with oxygen. Yes, oxygen is the main fighter against fat, but this sharply increases the load on the heart, which can lead to a significant increase in blood pressure.

You cannot treat bodyflex and oxysize as fitness, and think that the alarming signals that arise during exercise are due to the fact that the body is simply not trained, and everything will soon pass. Cardiac dysfunction, poor sleep, frequent headaches, nosebleeds are symptoms that may indicate that bodyflex breathing may be harmful to a particular person. In this case, you should take a break from the exercises and repeat them after a while: if it turns out that the signs of illness are repeated, then the system is not suitable.