Learning how to brace is important because it stabilizes the core this in turn allows the intended joints to be trained. This helps prevent injuries from occurring and allows the more force to be transferred.
Learn how to brace in three steps
Step 1: Press your fingers into your belly
Step 2: Take a big Breath into your fingers, you should feel your fingers push out until your lungs are full
Step 3: Flex your ab muscles
Trouble shooting
You don’t feel your fingers push out when breathing in.
Cause: Unable to use diaphragm
Solution: Follow this progression, Crocodile breathing, Supine belly breathing, Standing belly breathing
Crocodile breathing - lay on your stomach, breath in, feeling your low back rise, then exhale
Supine belly breathing - lay on your stomach, place a hand on the belly and one on the chest, breath into the hand on the belly. Try not allow the hand on the chest rise.
Standing Belly Breathing - do the supine version but standing.
Note: the goal of these exercise is to learn how to use the diaphragm, If you are lifting and cannot fill your belly, taking a big breath in any way you can, will pressurize the torsos cavities and provide more stability then if you didn’t.
You cannot flex the abdominals
Cause: low motor recruitment, weak abdominal muscles
Solution: Isometric core exercises, RKC Planks, and the McGill big three (curl up, side plank on the knee, bird dog hold) that focus on maximum abdominal contractions. While doing these exercises use full and forceful exhales to contract harder. You may want to add these in to your warm up to get your core “firing”
Note: Using a belt helps you contract your abdominal better because it provides proprioceptive feedback giving you something to contract against.
Getting dizzy when bracing during lifting
Cause: The glottis is pinching the carotid artery
Solution: Let a little bit of air out to during the lift. This will allow the blood to return to the brain. This can be done in quick exhale spirts. DO NOT LOSEN YOUR BRACE, stay tight until you are done.