I have always considered dividing the worldwide health and fitness community into two groups. The first group comprises mostly of Physiotherapists, Yogis, pilates folks etc. Majority of the people in this group would rather stay "fit" and "healthy" than lift heavy weights. In fact, some even abhor weightlifting and deem it unnatural. In other words, this is the group of people who don't lift.
The other group, almost the exact opposite, consist of people who lift. These are avid (hobbyist or professional) Olympic lifters, CrossFitters, Powerlifters, athlete-turned-coaches, or even Bodybuilders (who enjoy functional lifting from time to time). Some of these folks enjoy lifting heavy things so much that it is almost an end in itself instead of a means to an end. (For others, it could a means to build one or more of strength, size and work capacity or better their body composition).
Needless to say, there are folks who may lie somewhere in the middle and don't necessarily buy into any hard and fast beliefs purported by either.
Although the majority of folks who lift (second group), rely on active bracing of the entire abdominal wall a.k.a 360-degrees-bracing/ take-a-big-breath-and-make-your-core-tight (as we saw in part-1), most in the first group don't "brace". People in this group are told to do something called "TA isolation" (a.k.a pull-belly-button-to-spine/ make-yourself-skinny**).
I see a few reasons for this. The first is the lack of an external compressive load on the spine (and hence nothing to brace against). Second, contracting TVA alone does give one a sense of spinal protection. And third, possibly the most important, is that one can breathe through a TVA isolation which makes it appealing for holding longer poses or gracefully moving from one pose to the next.
And this brings us to the following question:
Should a lifter (or an athlete) TA-Isolate or Brace?***
Before looking into answering the question, let us look at its origin. when it comes to stabilizing the spine to minimize injury and promote long-term core health, the TA vs bracing confusion dates back to almost a decade old battle (of a sort) between two ideologies.
Julie Wiebe rightly calls this a "Family Feud" and summarizes her thoughts and opinions excellently in her post The family feud: ta isolation vs bracing. Following is an excerpt from her blog in which she addresses the same question:
"The clinical question is: TA or Bracing? How about neither! My beef with both ideas is the same – they advocate a static, simultaneous sustained hold at the center: a uniform response. Essentially activating a trunk isometric while performing peripheral arm and leg movements. An isometric is simply put: un-functional, the opposite of the growing trend toward functional patterning programs. What does a whole trunk isometric (bracing) or a TA isometric teach our clients about movement? About balance? About performance? Before we all jump from TA isolation to the bracing bandwagon, the most important question to answer is: Does a static hold train the trunk in the way that it actually produces central postural control within movement patterns?"
In our quest to explain observation #1, I kept asking the same question, frantically looking for an answer.
But when a question leads to more questions, we are often asking the wrong question.
And more often than not, when we have a narrow-minded view of things.
When we avoid something which is much harder: understanding.
When we miss the big picture and mistakenly look at the human body as a collection of multiple units working independently, to be commanded separately.
And foolishly assume that commanding the individual parts is same as commanding the unit as a whole.
Continued in part 4
Footnotes & References:
** TA isolation might be really hard for most of the lifting folks who are used to bracing only and/or have poor body awareness. But it is not impossible. Rectus abdominis should not be involved when contracting TA only.
*** Contraction of the TA alone (which is one way to narrow your "base") and/or active superficial bracing (to resist the external load), both call for a constant static hold of abdominal muscles.
The Family Feud: TA isolation vs bracing - Julie Wiebe
WHAT IS MY CORE? ABDOMINAL BRACING VS. TRANSVERSE ABDOMINIS