Most people naturally brace when they pick up something heavy. Have you ever held your breath when you have to pick up an awkward object? That’s bracing. Most people can just breathe or just brace, but few people can do both well in our evaluations. The body is constantly negotiating the somewhat competitive tasks of breathing or bracing. The tug and war of respiration and stability. To achieve the maximum at either end, the diametric opposite must be sacrificed. This is why competitive power athletes take a huge breath in and hold it during a maximum lift. They are choosing to maximize their stability at the expense of respiration. This is fine for a single lift, but most of life is not a single lift. Most of life is a combination of needing both respiration and stability. In fact, nearly ALL sports require both.

Through organic logic, the body will always prioritize breathing, as the breath is life itself. So if a person does not know how to breathe AND stabilize the midsection, the body will sacrifice stability for respiration. This is a significant problem for most people, especially athletes and those that need to use their body for their profession. The body is constantly adapting to the use of ineffective systems of stability because it has forgotten the skill of bracing. Once this skill can be taken online again, the body can effortlessly up or down-regulate the amount of bracing based on the tasks at hand. Until a safe and stable midline can be established, all rehabilitative processes are rendered minimally effective. If the center is faulting, all other systems will fail as well.