How To Stiffen Your Core During Lifting (Is Breath Holding While Lifting Always Bad?)

Strength training is getting a lot of attention from all quarters: health researchers, the media, baby boomers, the young.

Specifically, lifting heavy weight is under the spotlight (where “heavy” is defined as: “heavy for you”).

But there is some risk of injury when you’re lifting heavy weights. 

If you don’t control your movement and positioning, and if you select loads which are inappropriate for you, you could hurt yourself.

One aspect of staying safe during weight training is learning to brace your core muscles to protect your spine.

Bracing your spine is also an important aspect of performance, because when we impart rigidity to the spine we can enhance balance, body positioning and efficiency.

Now, it is important to note that for most of the time you don’t need to pay attention to the state of your core muscles. 

In everyday life you can just move in a way which feels natural and comfortable. 

(You can find excellent podcasts by Body Logic Physio on these topics. Here for “the myth of core stability” and here for posture - episode 1, here for posture - episode 2).

Also, when you’re lifting light and moderate weights, you don’t need to focus too much on bracing your core. Other elements are much more important: execution of the movement (!), balance, range of motion, joint position, posture/body position etc.

But when the load increases relative to your maximum, it becomes more important to employ deliberate strategies to protect your back from injury, and to impart rigidity to your spine so your arm and leg muscles can pull effectively on a rigid platform.

An example of when breath holding is desirable and necessary

How do you brace your core when lifting a heavy weight?

A good method to impart stiffness to your core without needing to hold your breath too much is as follows (NB: excessive breath holding can have some risks):

1/ Inhale deeply, expanding your rib cage a decent amount. You can do this before you lower the weight, or during the lowering phase

2/ Tense your abdominal wall and back, as though you were about to be punched in the stomach

3/ As you raise the weight, slowly let the air out through your teeth or pursed lips. Note: A short period of breath holding when you make the transition from lowering to raising is appropriate to impart rigidity to your spine. You don’t need to breathe out the instant you start to raise the weight.

4/ When you finish the movement, take a moment to breathe and reset your core bracing

What’s the deal with breath holding anyway? Is it bad for you?

In my PT training, I was taught to always discourage any form of breath holding. Why?

As far as I can tell, this was the thought process:

• Breath holding increases blood pressure. 

• This is always bad. 

• Especially for people who already have hypertension.

Now, I think this is pretty sloppy reasoning and a form of safety-ism (which occurs when safety concerns are overblown or disproportionate risk mitigation strategies are employed). Let me explain why.

Many safe and beneficial things raise blood pressure. Like …. exercise! 

It is not logical to say that people with hypertension should never exercise or do anything else which raises blood pressure (like poo-ing or having sex!).

The point is that a temporary rise in blood pressure is a tiny risk worth taking for the health benefit on offer. And, arguably, it is an unavoidable risk anyway. 

We need to bear in mind that people who exercise regularly (including strength training) will LOWER their average blood pressure, which is what matters.

This advice (to never ever breath hold) concerns me because some degree of breath holding is needed in order to stiffen the spine during heavy weight training.

If breath holding is demonised, it makes it harder for people to access the benefit of pushing their limits during strength training.

But, it is true that excessive breath holding carries some risk - especially for people experiencing hypertension. Excessive breath holding may very rarely cause a cardiovascular incident or some other event (like a detached retina).

How can this be resolved?

We need to impart stiffness and rigidity to the spine when lifting heavy weights, or when lifting light or moderate weights repeatedly, under physical fatigue. 

But we also need to pay attention to risks associated with hardcore breath holds (aka “the Valsalva manoeuvre - which is when you breathe in and then try to force air out against a closed airway - like trying to clear your ears on an aeroplane).

Here’s a potential resolution for this problem.

The vast majority of the time, the necessary stiffness can be achieved by using the method outlined earlier in this article.

This mitigates the risk associated with a complete breath hold/Valsalva, as air is slowly let out while the weight is raised. And it still allows for the back to become rigid.

Occasionally though, it will be appropriate to do a Valsalva manoeuvre.

This should be reserved for very heavy lifts, and for people who have sufficient experience to execute such a movement with skill and safety. It will often be done with a lifting belt in place, too.

Finally, anyone doing regular strength training and who has an issue with hypertension should seek advice from their doctor.

Hypertension should be sufficiently controlled before commencing weight training. 

Also, a person new to strength training (including those experiencing hypertension) should slowly and progressively build up to heavier weight training. 

This way, they can be confident that their body can handle increases in load. Lifts which necessitate a huge amount of core bracing using the Valsalva manoeuvre are not for new lifters.

Often, hypertension lives hand in hand with other conditions that require a slow, steady and safe progression in loading - conditions like obesity, diabetes, back pain and other musculoskeletal issues.

For people experiencing these issues (and really just for everyone) it is best to take the long view: don’t be in a rush to lift heavy weights too soon. It is best to set yourself up with good technique and appropriate loads, then allow the improvement to come to you as you settle into a habit of consistent, sensible strength training. 

But if you ARE experienced, you can derive a great deal of benefit from strenuous strength training. Go for it!

Essentially, I encourage people to do what is natural and what is physiologically appropriate. Brace yourself when it’s heavy - for you. When the weight is light (for you), don’t think about your core too much. When the weight is moderate, take some time to tighten your core muscles before lifting as you get to the end of a long set and your form starts to fall apart.

Many people do just fine by following their intuition, and you ought to expect this approach will work just fine for you as you become more experienced.

Don’t try to lift any sort of weight that you’re unaccustomed to, though. If the maximum leg press you’ve done recently is 50kg, don’t jump up to 80kg. Start with a smaller jump up.

Try to progress in little increments. Imagine you’re climbing a ladder onto a tall building. If you try to skip rungs on the ladder, you may fall and break your leg.

Happy lifting, team.