I can’t properly brace for the life of me. Unlike most muscles, I just can’t seem to get that mind muscle connection going. I can flex my abs, as in making my stomach flat but the typical bracing as in pushing out, zero. I mean, I can do the motion, it just doesn’t feel more stable. Sometimes I can do it but it’s too hit and miss to actually make use of it during lifts. How should I improve and get it under control?
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Great video, my wife struggles with proper core bracing as well. For some it’s not intuitive and takes work to get the right form and activation. Belts do help, provided they are used correctly, too many times I’ve seen lifters cinch the shit out of them, the belt is only to be braced against with your core not to be the support, hope that makes sense. Diaphragm breathing techniques really help with doing this.
And I completely agree with what he says, do this for every single lift that engages the whole body. Engaging the core ties the upper and lower body into one unit, why leave half your strength production on the floor?
Uhm, I might be wrong but that’s not bracing.
Look at this image, the left-most skeleton
That’s your brace, you are using your diaphragm, your anterior core, your pelvic floor, and your posterior core to create a sheath stabilising your spine. Then, you take a big belly breath that pushes out against that rigid sheath further increasing your intra-abdominal pressure.
Imagine creating a belt using your musculature (but with a bottom and top cap too) and then breathing into your stomach to push out against the “belt”.
When I get my brace (imagine getting punched, getting ready to throw a punch, or a cue that I like a little less but that seems to work for some: walking into a cold lake) and poke my abdominals they are tight and flexed and then when I get my air into that I can with my fingers tell that there is added pressure there. Try that. Maybe.
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Here’s a part 2 to Brian Alsruhe’s awesome breathing and bracing video that he just posted this week.
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Well that’s my morning treadmill viewing sorted. Thank you.
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