It’s an almost identical situation in the gym when I see people doing squats or dead lifts with weight belts on, with their stomach pressing out hard against their belt?
But what does all this mean? In a nutshell, the transverse abdominas (TVA) shuts down due to injury, poor diet, poor training techniques, stressors, or all of the above. That’s when the rectus abdominas (6 pack abs) and erector (back muscles that get tight) take over. This is what we call a ‘faulty recruitment pattern’. In my experience, 80% of clients I start working with have a faulty recruitment pattern and need to reinstall the motor patterns to get the TVA to function properly again, reducing back, hip, leg and some times neck pain. This is only one part of the inner unit, which consists of TVA, multifidis, pelvic floor and diaphragm, which work together to create intra abdominal pressure.
If one of these muscles is not working with the team (muscle listed) there will be an imbalance through the chain, causing injury/pain and even incontinence.
Changing a faulty recruitment pattern can sometimes take days, weeks, months or years depending on how long the muscle has been inhibited for. I have designed a step-by-step procedure to get the quickest possible way to reinstall the motor patterns to the TVA, to get you running and strength training pain free, and to prevent future injuries.
TVA is the most common muscles of the inner unit, but it is also second to none that the multifidis, pelvic floor and diaphragm are also weak or inhibited. During our initial assessment at CTS, we undertake a full core assessment to identify theses issues.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, if the digestive system has a disfunction of any sort (e.g.: leaky gut syndrome, extended vicera, bacterial infection, excessive stress or intolerances to food, the TVA will gain no strength or activation, no matter how much you try and strengthen it. To identify and to get yourself on track with nutrition and lifestyle, firstly go through the STEP 1 process (FREE) under the CTS5N tab on this website.
Step 1: Learning how to breath and release the diaphragm.
1) Lying on your back with knees bent up, place one hand on your stomach and one on your chest. As you breath in through your nose, push your stomach out like a big full belly. As you exhale, let your belly sink down in to your spine (for 10 breaths)
To give you a better understanding of why we do this and how, I explain it to clients as this: Imagine your diaphragm as a pump and your stomach as a pond. If the pump stops pumping, then the pond will go stagnant and start storing toxins/fats, and slowing down the digestive system.
2) In between every 10 breaths, we now are going to release the diaphragm. You should be able to get your fingers under your ribs. If not, your diaphragm muscles are tight. To release these, you will put your hands under your ribs and slowly massage in small circles for 3 min.
3). Now repeat 10 breaths and massage the diaphragm in between. This will be started at 3 sets and then progressed up to 10 sets. When comfortable at 10 sets, it’s time to move onto Step 2
Step 2: Reactivating the TVA with progressing to breathing while TVA is active
2): In the horse stance position and with a neutral spine, take a big diaphragmatic breath, pushing the belly out. As you exhale, draw your belly button into the spine (be cautious not to change your spinal position, especially thoracic). Holding for 10 sec in this phase, your breath is held. Imagine a piece of string around your waistline getting pulled tight from your belly button to your lumbar spine L345 vertebras.
2A): After mastering 2 can you progress to 2A, which will seem quite difficult at first. In the horse stance position, take a big diaphragmatic breath in, pushing your belly out, and then exhale drawing your belly into the spine (you should be aware of postural position now). Hold this for 20seconds while keeping TVA tight. Try to breath through diaphragm in the first instance. You will try to push your belly out (which you don’t want to do!) You need to keep the belly drawn in, and get your pump to pump. Obviously you wont be able to belly breathe like step 1 with TVA active, but you will get better the more you practice.
Start with 20 sec contractions x 3 sets, progressing up to 10 sets. When you are comfortable at 10 sets, move onto 2B.
2B): After mastering 2A, in the horse stance position take a big belly breath in, pushing your stomach out. Exhale and draw the belly into the spine, now holding for 60 sec. You should be able to master the TVA contraction and the diaphramic breathing together.
Start with 3 sets progressing up to 10 sets.
Spend approximately 2 weeks on each phase, completing a minimum of 4 days of the week. To get the best results practice every day morning and night.
Step 3: TVA activation while weight training and running
Weight training: The best exercise to practice this at first would be dead lift with a light weight (probably just the bar). As you set your dead lift position, draw the belly into the spine. As you lift the weight, breathe out. Holding the TVA as you come to the eccentric phase of the lift, breathe in, pushing the diaphragm out, and then continue desired reps.
As you get in to any max strength training, you will change your breathing pattern to only breathe in on the completion of the concentric and eccentric phase, and exhale through the concentric and eccentric loading of the movements, keeping TVA switched on.
Running: After completing the 3 steps successfully, now it’s time to introduce running and diaphramic breathing while contracting the TVA. You should now have the motor patterns to successfully hold this. The best gauge to see if you’re improving while running, is to time how long you can hold this on for. You will find when you get tired or fatigued; you will switch off and go back to your old recruitment patterns. The goal of this exercise is to hold that TVA and breathe through the diaphragm for the whole run, without switching off…gauge your time and improve on your next run.
Cross Training Systems, Lift bigger and get stronger fast.
Yours in Health & Fitness,
Aaron Buchan
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