Short podcast episode (+1 #105) in which Brian Johnson highlights the diaphragm as the most underappreciated muscle and teaches a simple practice called resistance breathing (nose breathing, deep but light, slow, repeated reps) to strengthen it. The episode closes with a promotion for Brian's Philosopher's Notes summaries and Optimal Living 101 classes and an invitation to join the Optimize membership.
Chapters
You're listening to the Optymyze with Brian Johnson podcast. Unlock the full Optymyze experience and join over 10,000 premium members at Optimize Me. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. We'll start today with a question. What do you think is the most important underappreciated muscle in your body? Think about that for a moment. What's your guess? If you had to guess, what would you guess? Well, get this. Breathing experts tell us that the award for the most underappreciated muscle in the human body goes to your diaphragm, that little super important muscle down there right below your lungs. Recall, you can live for weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without oxygen. Which makes breathing pretty important, huh? Yet, how often do you think about it? And do you specifically train your breathing to make sure it's optimized? If you're like most people, the answer to the above questions is never and no. Today's plus one. Let's hit the diaphragm gym. The simplest way is to practice something called resistance breathing. Breathe through your nose all the time. Period. If you're a mouth breather, you'll notice that breathing through your nose takes a little more work. That's a good thing. Through your nose. Deep but light. Nice and slow. Repeat one rep after another. Let's get that diaphragm in shape. Isn't it a bit odd that we went from math to science to history, but somehow missed the class on how to live? For some wacky reason, optimal living 101 never made the schedule. Of course, it's too late to go back and change that and you're too busy to read full time to catch up. But if you're like us, you're all about optimizing your life and actualizing your potential. So imagine this. Imagine having someone read the best books on how to optimize your life and pull out the big ideas that can really change your life. You know those sections you underline and asterisks and mark all up? Then imagine that guy me connecting those awesome ideas to other great books and helping you actually apply the wisdom to your life today. Well, that's what I do with something we call Philosopher's Notes, where I've distilled hundreds of great books into 20 minute super practical summaries. Then imagine me taking the absolute best big ideas from those great books and sharing them with you in hour long Optimal Living 101 classes on everything from productivity, purpose and confidence to nutrition goal setting and conquering procrastination. Helping you optimize every facet of your life so you can actualize your potential. You've got a personal trainer? I'm kind of like your personal philosopher. Ancient wisdom plus modern science plus practical tools. That's what our optimized membership program is all about. If you're feeling it, we'd love to have you join us.
