Activating the Transverse Abdominis Controversy

[Brian Lawyer]

Originally Posted by Greg Everett

It sounds like you might be a little unsure of what I'm trying to communicate (which may be my fault) - In no way am I suggesting there be no TVA activation - I want EVERYTHING activated. The difference is the position we're in when those muscles are activated. We can either suck in our gut and look skinny while tightening those muscles, or we can begin from a wider base position by first expanding to allow more air intake. In other words, we're still cinching everything down - we just will never get to that hollow position because the torso is pressurized with air to a larger girth first. We are NOT pushing the abs out during a lift - only before taking in air.

It finally dawned on me after I watched your seminar video last night. I bought the video last week. Your section on breathing in the video explained it.

Basically to sum my first post, the two options are:

1. Hollowing out and clamping down.
2. Expanding and clamping down.

I can buy into the expanding and clamping down now. Also, do I need to be concerned with hyperextension versus neutral spine. That was kind of what I was getting at in my original post.

[Greg Everett]

Originally Posted by Brian Lawyer

Also, do I need to be concerned with hyperextension versus neutral spine. That was kind of what I was getting at in my original post.

Depends on what you're doing. If you're upright, e.g. pressing/jerking, you want to be neutral. If you're pulling or squatting, you want to exaggerate the extension somewhat. The former because you're experiencing compression, and the latter because you're primarily resisting forward torque.

[Brian Lawyer]

Originally Posted by Greg Everett

Depends on what you're doing. If you're upright, e.g. pressing/jerking, you want to be neutral. If you're pulling or squatting, you want to exaggerate the extension somewhat. The former because you're experiencing compression, and the latter because you're primarily resisting forward torque.

Hey Coach, Did you see my above post where I was noting that I wasn't trying to make this a Verstegan vs. Everett thread but those were just the two books I had in the library on the subject....

Just playing devils advocate at this point...so based on your notes above, is hollowing out acceptable for a press or jerk. One of my observations above was that the hollowing out and activating the TA seemed to promote a more neutral spine position, for myself at least...

[Greg Everett]

Acceptable for sub-optimal torso stabilization. The only situation in which hollowing would be preferable is catching chicks' eyes on the beach or in gymnastics. Think of where the bar is racked relative to the only rigid support structure in the torso (the spine) in prep for a press, push press, or jerk.... What supports it?