For anyone who lifts weights, as you progress in the gym, you’ll realize there are more and more things that are important for your success.
It’s important that you continue learning these new things as they’ll become important for your progress.
Bracing your core is one of these things you should learn. However, learning how to correctly brace your core can be difficult.
And, since it’s not talked about enough, bracing your core is commonly overlooked among weightlifters.
That’s why I’m writing this post. To help you learn everything you need to know about bracing your core while working out.
You might even be bracing your core during your lifts without even knowing yet.
Because bracing your cure provides stabilization for your body, if you’ve been lifting heavy, you’ll need to have been bracing your core and might have started doing it on your own.
Let’s get into it.
Why it’s important to brace your core
Bracing your core means that you are engaging all of the muscles in your core.
These would be muscles in your lower back, sides, and deep in your abdomen.
These muscles are crucial for any type of physical activity you do. They make up the center section of your body, which powers and coordinates every movement you do.
Because of this, properly engaging and stabilizing these muscles during heavy lifts can provide a ton of benefits.
Improves balance
For starters, your core muscles are what provide your body with balance and stability.
The muscles that make up your core are called your core for a reason. They are the central part of your body that’s essential for stabilizing the rest of your body.
Because of this, these muscles are what allow you to be active and lift weights in the first place.
This is the main reason you want to brace your core when you work out. To condense your core and make a hard, stable center.
Doing this will then provide you with stability and balance allowing you to safely and effectively lift heavy weight.
Improves performance
Since your core plays a huge role in your bodies ability to move, properly engaging your core allows you body to move better.
Having a hard stable core allows your body to move in unison and allows you to generate more power when working out.
The more power you have, the heavier you can lift and the better you can perform in the gym.
Additionally, bracing your core helps to strengthen your core muscles, without having to do any specific ab or core exercises.
Because a strong core is essential for physical activity, having a stronger core will allow your performance to skyrocket.
Prevents injury
Bracing your core allows you to have a stronger, more engaged center of your body.
This strong center acts as a natural protection for your spine and lower back muscles during certain exercises.
For example, bracing your core while squatting or deadlifting allows your core muscles to take over most of the heavy load. Meaning that your muscles will be covering almost all the weight in your midsection.
If your muscles are working, that means your bones and joints are not.
This will take a tremendous amount of tension off of your lower back, helping prevent back injuries.
Improves physique and athleticism
The whole point of bracing your core is to engage your core muscles.
When you engage these muscles, it’s like you’re training them. The more you work them out, the more they grow.
As a result, the more often you lift heavy and brace your core, the more it’s like you’re training abs without actually training them.
Bracing your core can actually help you get stronger, more defined abs just like you would from training abs.
When to brace your core
Because the purpose of bracing your core is to provide stability, you most often will want to brace your core when you’re performing compound exercises.
Exercises like squats and deadlifts are prime examples of compound exercises that would require you to brace your core.
But really, I find that you can brace your core with almost any exercise that you perform while standing.
For example, you can brace your core while doing things like dumbbell lateral raises and bicep curls.
You’ll want to brace your core through the entirety of the movement to allow yourself to generate power for the entire rep.
How to start bracing your core
When you’re first starting out learning how to brace your core, things can seem pretty difficult.
But, there are some things that can make this easier.
Don’t suck in
A common misconception is that when you’re bracing your core, you’re breathing all the air out of your stomach and sucking in.
However, this does the opposite of what you want to do, making your core muscles less engaged and your midsection more flimsy than before.
Instead, you actually want to fill your stomach up with air. Not completely, but enough to be able to push your stomach down and and your muscles in.
Brace like you’re preparing for a punch
A great way to learn how to correctly brace your core is to pretend someone’s about to punch you in the stomach.
If you do this, you’ll most likely do a scrunching up, hardening motion.
This is exactly what it should be like when you’re correctly bracing your core.
Practicing this is a great way to envision how your core should feel when you brace correctly.
Keep your spine neutral
Like I was saying earlier, when you correctly brace your core, you actually suck air into your stomach.
Since you fill your stomach with air, your stomach will slightly push out.
While you’re doing this, it becomes easier for you to tilt your pelvis as your stomach pushes out.
This can make it difficult for your spine to stay aligned and put more tension on your lower back.
To avoid this, try to make sure you aren’t arching your back. Additionally, try to tuck your stomach in more so your back doesn’t bend.
Keep practicing
Actually learning how to brace your core can be pretty hard, especially in the beginning.
It’s difficult to know whether to breath in or out, how deep of a breath to take, and how to continue breathing while your core is braced.
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