Links about bracing?

777's link is great. More if you're interested:

Juggernaut Training specific to squat:

LINK

Chris Duffin:

LINK

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ATG

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If this is your preferred method for squats, you'll have a harder time developing your posterior chain. Not bad, just not efficient for Max strength gains.

Basically, you should be so tight that you are uncomfortable. This is hard with higher reps but still true.

For Max lifts, you should be so tight that you could be out of breath just holding that position. Same in bodybuilding with posing.

Bar drift usually comes from improper setup and bracing.

Core strength is big but most over do it. Proper setup negates a bunch of unnecessary bar drift which taxes the bracing aspect of the lift.

Absolutely but what I'm trying to get out is that priority should be setup and execution. A lot of people over do the bracing muscles to the lift performed trying to over compensate bad technique.

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Technique should absolutely be a priority. I've said here before, but learning bench technique did more for my bench than any exercise or program.

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I think we are going in circles as we are both in agreement.

Being strong enough to brace correctly means your bracing muscles are up to par and the deciding factor if you lift the weight is the strength of the driving muscles and nothing else. However, if you can't brace properly and hold it, you have to increase the brace muscles.

Typically in a trained individual with any type of strength program, the core and supporting muscles are worked adequately for bracing. No additional work is necessary outside of the program.

So the cycle is get strong enough to properly brace for the weight allowed by strength of driving muscles -> Work driving muscles until failure -> repeat cycle

I want priority to setup and execution because it is a base of the cycle and should not be a factor of the cycle of progressive overload. If the lifter doesn't have the base to the cycle correct, the cycle will die earlier than its peak.

The reason I say in the other thread that if squats are done correctly with proper bracing and technique, the lower back won't have to work harder than it has to. Your core will be strong enough to handle the weight because the lifter primarily did heavy weight to produce enough CNS response to progress. Hip drive is more of pushing the hips through and a spring action occurs. The act of timing that spring and forcing it is usually enough to drive through and use the hips. Doing hip thrusts has been said by a few high level lifters who attempted to incorporate it into the program that it doesn't translate to more power in the lift. This is likely because they already had the strength to push through properly and that any additional strength in the muscles had no measurable difference.

It is of my upmost opinion that if you want to lift heavy weight, you have to lift heavy weight. The muscles might be strong enough to lift the weight but the CNS doesn't know what to do with the heavy load and your mind tells your body to shut down and not lift. So doing all these KB swings and stuff will likely help do KB swings better, it is unlikely that it will help with pushing heavier weights in the big 3.



Side thought......I have a theory and it is that newbie gains in weights lifted are mainly CNS adaptation and not really muscle growth as most weight lifted as a newbie is largely obtainable to the mass population at any point due to leverages in the body. Once the leverages of that individual has reached maximum, muscle is the largest factor. The muscles make only incremental gains compared to CNS adaptation. This is why smaller lifters have a better weight to lifted weight ratio.

Ever find anything op?