The Front Lever and the Diaphram

When working FL/PE1 I notice that I can get an extra push into the ground with my lower back when I breath in and push with my diaphragm (at least that's what it feels like is happening).

How important is it to maintain that extra diaphragm push when holding for time?  Or is it OK if I just make sure I'm pushing with my lower back the whole time (and only with the diaphragm when breathing in)?

Sorry if I jump in your thread Dynamo but I'm unclear about this exercise as well.

Are we supposed to squeeze the abs as much as possible?

I thought I was close to mastery but then I gained strength and ROM and now I can squeeze more and have more of my lumbar spine off the ground but of course not enough stamina to reach mastery yet.

What's the right form?

Thanks

Zach Armijo said:

Watch and  compare to the videos. You want shoulders coming off and rounded lower back. You will find the stronger you get, you can tuck up more. But the video demonstration is the mastery standard to follow. Match the videos, master your sets, move on.

The problem, at least for me, is that there are subtleties that are difficult to get from the video.

My plan is to do one more cycle trying to master it with more abs contraction so then I'll be able to ease in PE2.

The notes say "Keep the lower back pressed firmly to the ground", but I can press much more firmly after breathing in I guess because my lower back is getting assistance from my diaphragm on the in breath.

Should I be trying to maintain some of this assisted diaphragm push even on the exhale?

You should be able to breath freely in this position and not have to rely on a valsalva manouver to do so (the internal push your reffering too dynamo).

If your having to rely on this then the abs are simply not conditioned enough yet. When you breath in your intra-abdominal pressure rises as your abs are contracted and resist expansion and this helps you to stabilise, but you should be able to stabilise the lumbar spine and pelvis in this position with the abdominals alone. Stick with it because the conditioning your abs will receive through F1 is awesome and necessary for future progressions!

The key to keeping your lower back on the floor is to posterior pelvic tilt strongly, contracting the abdominals will do this by lifting the pubic bone superiorly and causing a posterior or backward rotation of the pelvis and hence lumbar spone too.

Hopefully this video I have just taken will clarify the breathing issue dynamo. 

Notice during the first few breaths you can see my abdominal cavity expand slightly, this because I was not actively pulling in my abdominals (not activating transversus abdominis) only using rectus abdominis.

During the second half actively engaged transversus abdominis and pulled my abdominals in toward my spine. This achieves a much better stabilisation of the lumbar spine and shifts the breathing movement into the lower ribcage. This by the way is called costo-diaphragmatic breathing and much better for a proper relationship between abdominals and diaphragm!

Thanks Bro for the great explanation and vid demo.

I concentrated on pulling my belly button to my spine, activating my core (which is pretty easy because the movement is kind of like a crunch) and keeping my core stable while allowing my upper ribs to move with my diaphragmatic breath and believe it or not I actually performed better than when I was allowing my core to fluctuate with my diaphragm.  This should help me progress to Mastery.  Thanks for the tips.

Part of my confusion over this exercise is that Stuart McGill talks about the vacuum exercise of pulling the belly button to the spine actually creating instability in the spine so I generally avoided the vacuum and as a result didn't even think to try it till you mentioned it.

Well I just watched McGills YouTube video and I have to say what a load of rubbish. This is an example of an academic who knows a lot about the body and how it is supposed to work but who has not learned how it really works through years of developing himself.

You just proved to yourself that activating transversus does add in stabilising the spine, and you DO WANT a flexible spine not a stiff one as he says... What he doesn't mention is control. We want to be mobile and strong with great control. I would much rather learn from coach how to improve my physicality and health and not McGill, that advice won't take you anywhere. Anyway, rant over :-)

Wes,

I totally agree with you...activating the transversus abdominis to flatten the stomach and pull it toward the spine is a stabilizing movement.  And more importantly I want to have a flexible spine that's strong in a wide range of motions, not one that has to be locked into a plank before I lift or do anything.  This is one reason I'm doing Foundation, to make me bullet proof in whatever comes my way.

Interestingly, my stomach was also getting in the way of progressing on the manna PE1 such that it was causing my legs to spread / knees to separate, but now that I concentrate on activating the transversus abdominis like you mentioned to flatten the stomach and get it out of the way my manna's are getting stronger as well.

Thanks again bro.