Barbell Zercher squat form correction

[Madboi]

DD first edition says this:

"Wedge yourself under the bar, take a breath,
tighten up, and aggressively squeeze it off the pins. Keep your shoulders down throughout.
Lock your lats to make your back more stable and to make your glutes contract harder.
Walk out and set up in a stance slightly wider than your shoulders. Take a breath, which will
not be easy with the bar compressing your diaphragm, and squat till the bar touches your
knees and your thighs are below parallel. Pause momentarily with the bar on your knees without relaxing and drive up."

 Up until now ive just been 'breathing into the groin' and stopping jut before my chest fills up, then unracking and then taking a shallow breath before commencing the lift- this was due to the back squat form saying take a big breath into your belly(never said breathe into groin) and get tight(telling you to brace specific muscles) and then take a shallow breath before starting the lift


Is my way of breathing right or wrong since breathing into the groin's something only advised to be used in the book for the deadlift- its not said that you shouldnt use it for anything else. And it makes your back safer. And the ZSQ form doesnt say breathe into your belly, it just says take a breath, tighten up, take a breathe, do the lift



The second edition may be more clear with the explanation though. I dont really have it so please share your thoughts about the second edition's take

 

[Madboi]

Is there a way to breathe that is general for all exercises

 

[Anna C]

Is there a way to breathe that is general for all exercises

Since you literally can't bring air below the diaphragm, all you are really doing with your breathing for any lift is compressing air in the lungs by taking a big breath and holding it (Valsalva), or pressurizing the exhale (power breath), while contracting the diaphragm to create downward pressure while also tightening all the muscles of the torso including the pelvic floor to increase intra-abdominal pressure, all in an effort to make the torso more rigid for effective force transfer and support for the spine while loaded. There are many ways to describe and cue this, but ultimately that's what it always comes down to.

 

[Sasa Rajnovic]

@Madboi , there are many ways to learn this.
1. I would recommend you learn how to activate your diaphragm in general.
2. After that it would be good to learn how to activate pelvic floor.
3. Also, it is very important to activate your abs generally speaking. That would include transversus abdominis. That part is let's say "easy". Just hiss.
4. Final stage would be to all three in coordinated way. Any of these just for itself will not bring you stabile midsection. All three together will do the job.
...
For the time being, nice way to at least know how it feels would be to tie a rubber band around your waist tightly. It will give you a pointer on how to activate your diaphragm and abs at the same time and how to create some abdominal pressure.