Linking Breath and Abdominal Wall Conditioning: The 4-Point Tummy Vacuum

What is the Abdominal Wall?

HUUUUUUUUUGE and important topic here that does not get talked about enough outside of the top 5% of strength and conditioning specialists and very few know how to properly assess and condition someone with poor abdominal wall function. No worries! Because nobody knows your body better than yourself, and with the proper knowledge and application, you can learn to condition your abdominal wall and core appropriately. So, to start, a little anatomy. 

The body can functionally be broken down to the Inner Unit and Outer Unit. To simplify, the IU is turned on before the body makes any movement to provide a base of stability for the OU to move from. The IU is made up of the Transverse Abdominus or TVA which acts like a corset running from your back to your abdominal midline, the Diaphragm on the top, the Pelvic Floor muscles on the bottom and the Multifidus from the back. All together these muscles provide the support for the large movers of the OU such as the quadriceps, pecs and hip flexors to produce force. 

Without proper stability from the inner unit, we are prone to compensations in other joints and muscles which can lead to injuries in the low back, neck, shoulders, hip, knee…. Pretty much everywhere! 

“You can’t fire a cannon from a canoe!” - Paul Chek

Paul also likes to use car examples to relate to the human body which surprisingly works very well! Imagine putting a Ferrari engine in a beat-up body of a 1995 Pontiac… not going to be the safest or enjoyable ride. So we must properly condition the framework of our body, the IU, so the powerful OU does not damage our important structures. 

How to Condition the Abdominal Wall

If you haven’t already please visit my initial post on Proper Breathing Patterns before proceeding as it is a prerequisite before properly bracing with the abdominal wall. You need to understand how to use your diaphragm to breathe correctly before conditioning the abdominal wall because they work in unison with each other. 

As the abdominal wall expands during inhalation, through reflexive nature, it tells the brain to then draw the belly in and contract our inner unit for stabilization and exhalation. I would suggest bangin’ out 10-20 reps of Belly Breathing before practicing the 4-Point Tummy Vacuum to prime the body to breathe properly. 

Using String as Feedback for the Brain

To start, we need to discuss the best tool for abdominal wall conditioning - the taut string :)

This helps give a proprioceptive feedback to the brain when the abdominal wall is expanded and the string is tight and when the TVA is contracted and the string is loose.

To set this up, grab your string, and wrap it around your waist at the level of your belly button. Take a deep inhalation through the belly, and then forcefully exhale followed by the drawing of your navel/belly button inward, towards your spine like you were putting on a tight pair of jeans. 

Then tie the string in a basic bow around the waist so that when inhaling and letting the abdomen expand, it is noticeably tight. This is now your way to tell if you are properly activating your inner unit as the string will loosen up as you draw your belly button inward. 

The 4 -Point Tummy Vacuum Setup and Execution

1. Find a soft space on the ground and get into the 4-point stance, on your hands and knees making sure that you have your hands under the shoulders and knees under hips with a few inches in between them. 

2. It is important to maintain a neutral spine throughout the exercise and an excellent way to do this is to use a long pole, broomstick, hockey stick, etc. and maintain 3 points of contact with the pole: sacrum, scapula, and back of the head. The goal is to keep it as parallel to the ground as possible while maintaining a relaxed posture with the 3 points of contact (see the picture below)

3. With the string around your waist, take a deep inhale through the nose, expanding the abdomen for the first ⅔ of the breath, which will push against the string.

4. Then exhale naturally either through the nose, pursed lips, or both.

5. Followed by activation of the TVA by drawing the belly button towards the spine and away from the tight string, effectively loosening the string on your skin

6. Hold for 10 seconds if possible.

7. Inhale deeply from the belly and repeat at a comfortable pace and proper sequence.  

8. Make sure that you are not tightening up at the jaw, shoulders, chest, hips, and are maintaining a neutral spine with the 3-points of contact. 

The prescription to condition if you can complete a perfect rep is to then complete 12 in a row for 1 set. Do that for 2 days then move to two sets with a 30 second rest between for 2 days then 3 sets. 

If you can perform 3 sets with absolutely perfect form with someone watching for movement of the spine and 3 points of contact then progress towards 30-120 second TVA activation while continuing to breathe deeply instead of only on the exhale. And damn does that make it hard!!!! After owning those, you can progress to a “shortstop” bent over position while activating your abdominal wall and then standing.

Try wearing the string around the house, at work, and when working out to see when you are bracing your core appropriately and when you are breathing optimally. The results might shock you!

Until next time peeps!