TIBURON, Calif. - April 13, 2020 - Somax Performance Institute president Bob Prichard was surprised when parents of his young swimmers told him their grades improved up to a full letter grade. After researching brain physiology, he discovered why. The brain uses 10X more oxygen than any other part of the body.
"Since parents don't measure chest expansion," explains Prichard, "they have no way of knowing if a tight chest is affecting their children's grades or self-confidence."
But Prichard does measure and double chest expansion in all his athletes to improve their endurance for sports—and their success in life. A senior software engineer runner from Silicon Valley, for instance, received two promotions and three raises in pay in the three months after Prichard doubled his chest expansion. A group of ten runners tested with the Adjective Chest List by two psychologists massively improved their scores for self-confidence, self-esteem, self-control, sociability, nurturance, perseverance and dominance and equally reduced feelings of abasement, deference and sympathy-seeking.
A college golfer who was put on Ritalin when young because his grades were so poor, went from a C+ average to graduating with A's in two majors and two minors after Prichard doubled his chest expansion from 2" to 4", which increased his lung capacity 33% from 3.22 liters to 4.3 liters. As with many of his young athletes since 2000, the cause was carrying a heavy backpack to school every day, which 8 studies from around the world have documented reduce lung capacity up to 40%.
Other common causes of a chronically stiff chest are colds and allergies, bronchitis and pneumonia, vaping, sports impacts, texting, slouching, bench presses, sit-ups, auto and bike accidents, age and working long hours over a desk.
"As the chest tightens, it shrinks in size, pulling the head and neck forward, causing poor posture," says Prichard. "The gradual decline in brain oxygen often precedes age-related mental decline by a decade or more." Prichard is a good example. After an auto accident at age 16 reduced his chest expansion to less than an inch, his assistants increased it to five inches at age 33. At 76 he still works full time, has published a book and several DVD's and has started work on two new books. His YouTube channel has 6.5 million views and 9,900 subscribers.
The Somax website is www.somaxsports.com
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