Bracing is the act of contracting your abdominal muscles or "core" before you are about to engage in an act that threatens your postural integrity. Which, for a given range of motion is your ability to maintain proper posture throughout, as you go from one position to the next. Postural integrity is ABSOLUTE KEY in order to stay injury free and avoid learning incorrect movement patterns.
Proper bracing also allows an efficient force transfer from the source (muscle or muscle groups) to the target (muscle or object).
For instance, the efficiency of a Jerk in weightlifting would be directly impacted by how much of the lower body force is "available" at the clavicle/shoulders to be transferred to the barbell. A strong and proper brace would allow for less waste of energy in any direction other than vertical.
And say in in boxing, a superior "cross" punch is one that involves not only the strong backing of the lower body but an inpenetrable brace that efficiently transfers the force through the torso, the shoulder, the arms, the fist and finally to the oponent.
Sadly, most bracing tutorials and video instructions available on the internet today are flat-out useless. The articles linked in the previous statement are the ones that show up if you google search "how to brace squat". You know what's common with these articles?
They are all ineffective.
They completely miss the point.
I will be surprised if it applies to even a single reader of this post.
Infact, bracing like that is more of a stop-gap solution until you really learn how to brace.
You want to know how to correctly brace?
But to know the HOW, you first have to know the WHAT.
WHAT makes you want to get to the gym and train?
WHAT makes you want to put on > 2x of your BW on your back?
WHAT makes you want to keep the bar closer on your Snatch and Clean and Jerk?
WHAT makes you feel okay with feeling it in your legs and back when trying to move the next day?
Until you really know your what, the how is pointless and most likely add more frustration to your lifting problems.
And here's the truth, if the answer to the WHAT does not include "I lift to move well, get stronger and feel like a human being" you will most likely not succeed with the HOW.
Continued in part 2