Kettlebell How to brace properly?

[Deleted member 6651]

Hello,

Just wondering about the right way to brace at the end of each lift/push if you will.

Maybe I have complicated things but saying "brace for a punch" can be done 2 ways so saying that in and of itself does not help much.

For example: When you are laying down on your back... if you take a deep breath in, your stomach, belly button, and below the belly button will come out creating a balloon in front of you. This can also be seen when standing if you take that deep/low breath which expands that entire area (making you look fat if you will)

At this point... you now 'brace'.

What I am trying to technically work out is... when you brace, are you keeping that balloon shape... does it feel internally in your body that you are creating an 'open' feeling/space... (feels like going to the toilet if you will), nothing is held 'inward' but open and being pushed downward which results in the stomach being 'pushed' out (like the big breath in) or is it something else where you are holding in, you are not pushing out etc...

Do you brace with a flat stomach, or one that looks like a balloon? - In music/singing the Idea is to capture your 'low' support which is all the low abdominal muscles which results in the balloon shape. I tried to watch some youtube stuff and it seems by doing that your are lengthening your abdominal muscles (since they are stretching) which results in weaker muscles than short muscles and etc... So i am a little confused what goes where and is this where music/gym is different, one is balloon and one is flat, or is it supposed to be the same and what I seen on youtube is wrong or what.

This is little hard to explain but I hope someone here had the same issues and worked it out.

 

[watchnerd]

Just wondering about the right way to brace at the end of each lift/push if you will.

It depends on the lift.

Bracing during a KB swing (quick at the top, with an exhale) is not the same kind of bracing as the Valsalva maneuver used during barbell squats.

During a KB swing, it's a short contraction on exhale, not a balloon.



The Valsalva maneuver is used to create intra-abdominal pressure for a more extended period:

I wouldn't hazard a guess on how this maps to anything in singing....

 

[Don Fairbanks]

My train of thought on the brace is to be able to take a decent punch to various parts of the body while being able to talk/breathe. Sometimes I will smack a student with a foam roller, lightly, during a set.

@watchnerd said depends on lift. Yep. No foam roller smacks during heavy squats,deads, and the like. And I use the StrongFirst cue of Breathing Behind The Shield all the time for several of the KB skills.

Another cue I like. What you naturally do when opening the lid on a jar that is screwed on very tight.

 

[Anna C]

Do you brace with a flat stomach, or one that looks like a balloon?

I would say flat. Note that does not mean "pulled in" (unless you're doing Pilates). So you take air in - a big breath with an active diaphragm, but not a big belly breath - and the diaphragm isometrically contracts right along with the trunk muscles which creates a stable torso. You can hold or breathe behind the sheild this way. When breathing behind the sheild the diaphragm will be moving, but again not trying to create a big belly breath.

 

[Mark Limbaga]

The amount of tightness in the completion of the lift depends as well on the lifter.

Here in strongfirst, we have a principle called dominanta. The dominant thought process is safely making the lift.

The amount of bracing, tension must be just enough for the individual to make the lift, not shift focus to the bracing and tension.

Hope that makes sense

 

[Deleted member 6651]

I may have worked it out today.

By releasing the air as the hips pop through on the swing... even doing that when just sitting there/standing there, I notice that the support is like a donut ... I feel things move around the back, the sides and corners 'below' the belly button. It pushes out each time you "tss", that pressure I guess naturally does that, it is like inflated but rather than the stomach going balloon its more about that lower support 'expanding' so that you feel it from the front all the way around to the spine.

I think that may be the correct thing I been missing, its not about just making the stomach pop out because by doing that, it will not engage the muscles right around the torso.

And I am glad KB training is not about the valsalva manoeuvre because in singing, the worst thing you can do is close the throat.