Squatting: Core Engagement Techniques, Benefits, and Common Mistakes

How do you engage your core when squatting?

Engaging your core when squatting primarily involves a technique known as "bracing," which creates intra-abdominal pressure to stabilize the spine and enhance force transfer throughout the movement.

Understanding the Core's Role in Squatting

The "core" is more than just your abdominal muscles; it's a complex system of muscles that encase your torso, providing stability and facilitating movement. When squatting, these muscles act as a natural weightlifting belt, protecting your spine and allowing for efficient power transfer from your lower body to the barbell.

Key Core Muscles Involved:

• Transverse Abdominis (TVA): The deepest abdominal muscle, acting like a corset to compress the abdominal contents.
• Rectus Abdominis: The "six-pack" muscle, primarily responsible for spinal flexion.
• Obliques (Internal and External): Located on the sides of the torso, involved in rotation and lateral flexion, and crucial for resisting rotational forces.
• Erector Spinae: A group of muscles running along the spine, crucial for spinal extension and posture.
• Diaphragm: The primary muscle of respiration, which also plays a role in creating intra-abdominal pressure.
• Pelvic Floor Muscles: Support the pelvic organs and work in synergy with the diaphragm and TVA.

Proper core engagement ensures a rigid, stable trunk, preventing spinal flexion or extension under load, which can lead to injury and reduce lifting efficiency.

The Valsalva Maneuver: A Core Engagement Technique

The Valsalva maneuver is a powerful technique used primarily during heavy lifts to maximize spinal stability. It involves taking a deep breath, closing the glottis (the part of the larynx consisting of the vocal folds and the slit-like opening between them), and attempting to exhale forcefully against the closed airway.

How to Perform the Valsalva Maneuver:

1. Inhale Deeply: Take a large breath, filling your lungs.
2. Brace: Contract your abdominal muscles as if preparing for a punch, expanding your abdomen outwards in all directions (360 degrees).
3. Hold Breath: Close your glottis and push outwards against your tightened core. This dramatically increases intra-abdominal pressure (IAP).
4. Perform Rep: Maintain this pressure throughout the eccentric (descent) and concentric (ascent) phases of the squat.
5. Exhale: Once the most challenging part of the lift is complete or at the top of the movement, slowly exhale.

Considerations for Valsalva:

• Benefits: Provides maximal spinal rigidity, allowing for greater force production and protection against spinal compression.
• Cautions: Can temporarily increase blood pressure. Individuals with cardiovascular conditions, high blood pressure, or glaucoma should consult a physician before using this technique. It is generally reserved for heavier loads.

The "Bracing" Technique: A Practical Approach

For most training scenarios, especially with lighter to moderate loads, a sustained "bracing" technique is more appropriate and safer than a full Valsalva. Bracing focuses on creating stiffness around the trunk without necessarily holding your breath for the entire rep.

How to Perform Abdominal Bracing:

1. Imagine a Punch: Before you initiate the squat, imagine someone is about to punch you in the stomach. Your natural reaction is to stiffen and brace your abdominal muscles.
2. Expand 360 Degrees: Instead of "sucking in" your stomach, focus on pushing your abs outwards against your waistband, as if trying to expand your belly in all directions (front, sides, and back). This engages the TVA and obliques effectively.
3. Breathe into Your Belly: Take a deep breath, allowing your diaphragm to descend and your abdomen to expand.
4. Engage: Maintain this outward pressure and stiffness throughout the squat. You should feel tension around your entire midsection.
5. Maintain Breathing (Controlled): For lighter loads, you can maintain shallow breathing while keeping the brace. For heavier loads, you might hold your breath briefly at the bottom and exhale through the sticking point or at the top.

Difference from "Sucking In":

• Sucking in (hollowing): Primarily engages the rectus abdominis and can reduce intra-abdominal pressure, potentially compromising spinal stability.
• Bracing (360-degree expansion): Engages the deeper core muscles (TVA, obliques, diaphragm, pelvic floor) to create true intra-abdominal pressure and a rigid core.

Step-by-Step Core Engagement for Squatting

Let's integrate the bracing technique into your squat setup:

1. Approach the Bar: Stand directly under the barbell with your feet hip-to shoulder-width apart, ensuring a stable base.
2. Grip the Bar: Take a firm, symmetrical grip on the barbell, pulling it down onto your traps/upper back to create tension.
3. Take a Deep "Bracing" Breath: Before un-racking, take a large, deep breath into your belly. Focus on expanding your abdomen outwards – imagine pushing your belt out 360 degrees around your waist.
4. Engage and Brace: As you take that breath, actively contract your abdominal muscles, creating a solid, rigid cylinder around your spine. This is your "brace."
5. Un-rack the Bar: With your core fully braced, un-rack the bar. Take 1-2 small steps back to your squat stance, maintaining your brace.
6. Initiate the Squat: Before descending, re-affirm your brace. Keep the core tight throughout the entire movement.
7. Descent (Eccentric Phase): Maintain the intra-abdominal pressure and core rigidity as you lower into the squat. Think of your torso as a solid unit.
8. Ascent (Concentric Phase): Drive up from the bottom, continuing to push outwards against your core. Avoid relaxing your core until you've completed the rep and are back in the upright position.
9. Reset: At the top of each rep, take another deep bracing breath and reset your core engagement before initiating the next repetition.

Benefits of Proper Core Engagement

Mastering core engagement during squats offers numerous advantages:

• Enhanced Spinal Stability: Creates a protective "corset" around your lumbar spine, significantly reducing the risk of disc injury or excessive spinal flexion/extension.
• Increased Power Transfer: A stable core allows for a more efficient transfer of force from your legs and hips through your trunk to the barbell, leading to stronger lifts.
• Improved Squat Depth and Form: A rigid core helps maintain an upright torso, preventing the dreaded "good morning" (where the hips shoot up faster than the chest) and allowing for deeper, safer squats.
• Reduced Risk of Injury: By stabilizing the spine and controlling movement, proper core engagement minimizes stress on vulnerable joints and tissues, particularly the lower back.
• Better Balance and Control: A strong, engaged core improves overall proprioception and balance, crucial for handling heavy loads.

Common Core Engagement Mistakes to Avoid

• "Sucking In" (Hollowing): This reduces intra-abdominal pressure and can destabilize the spine. Always aim for outward expansion.
• Holding Breath Too Long: While Valsalva is useful, holding your breath for multiple reps or for an excessively long time can lead to dizziness or excessive blood pressure spikes. Exhale strategically.
• Forgetting to Reset: The core brace needs to be re-established for each repetition, especially on sets with multiple reps. Don't let your core relax between reps.
• Lack of Awareness: Many individuals simply don't understand how to engage their core properly. Consistent practice and conscious effort are key.
• Over-Reliance on Belts: A lifting belt is a tool to assist core engagement by providing something to push against, but it doesn't replace the need to actively brace your own muscles.

Integrating Core Training into Your Routine

To improve your core engagement for squatting, incorporate specific core strengthening exercises into your training program. Focus on exercises that train the core for stability and anti-movement, rather than just flexion.

Recommended Core Exercises:

• Planks (and variations): Develops full-body core stability.
• Side Planks: Targets the obliques and lateral stability.
• Dead Bugs: Teaches anti-extension and coordination of the deep core.
• Bird-Dogs: Improves spinal stability and contralateral limb control.
• Pallof Presses: Trains anti-rotation, crucial for resisting twisting forces.
• Abdominal Bracing Drills: Practice the 360-degree brace in various positions (standing, kneeling, supine) without external load.

Remember, the goal is not just to have strong core muscles, but to be able to activate and utilize them effectively under load. Consistent practice of the bracing technique during your warm-ups and lighter sets will translate to better core engagement during your heavy squatting.

Conclusion

Engaging your core effectively during squats is a fundamental skill that underpins both performance and safety. By mastering the 360-degree bracing technique, you create a robust internal support system that protects your spine, enhances power transfer, and allows you to squat with greater confidence and efficiency. Integrate these techniques into every squat, and dedicate time to specific core stability training to build a strong, resilient foundation for all your lifts.