Warped Trampolines

Would this even be my newsletter if I didn’t attend a weekend training and nerd out about all the cool stuff I learned? No, it wouldn’t, so that’s what I’m sharing with you today. I spent this past weekend learning from Jen Poulin, a physical therapist and educator for the Postural Restoration Institute, talking all things pelvis, its patterns, and pressure management.

Let’s apply what I’m learning to squatting. I know that squatting can feel like a huge, fuzzy ball of questions. What should I be feeling? How should I position myself to squat? When do I breathe? Why does any of this matter?

Let’s start with the last question, because it’s the most important. Studies have shown that populations that squat regularly in daily life demonstrate stronger and denser connective tissue that interweaves at the bottom of the pelvis, creating what is commonly known as the pelvic floor. These people also reported a lower incidence of incontinence. This is because squatting helps protect the nerves that control the prostate, bladder, and uterus from becoming stretched. For this reason alone, we should consider squatting as necessary a movement in every day life as taking a step or breathing. But there are still more benefits. Squatting makes it easier to go the bathroom, #1 and #2, with less strain and greater completion. It reverses hemorrhoid development and decreases pressure on the uterus. It can also decompress the lower back vertebrae if pressure is managed well with breathing.

Onto breathing. Every human body is a pressurized tube. The degree of pressure is constantly changing as we breathe. On inhale, air pressure increases in the tube, on exhale it decreases. Within the pressurized tube of the abdomen, we have two very important pumps that move up and down with breath, our respiratory diaphragm in our ribcage and the pelvic floor at the bottom of the pelvis.

Think of these pumps like trampolines. When we inhale, and air pressure increases in our system, the diaphragm and pelvic floor sink down as they receive the weight of that pressure. When we exhale, and air pressure decreases in our system, both of those trampolines recoil upwards, helping to squeeze the air out. However, these trampolines, and their ability to sink and recoil properly, are influenced by their frames, the bones of the pelvis and ribcage. Imagine that the metal frame of a trampoline has become curved or warped; this compromises the structural integrity of the trampoline and risks collapse under heavy pressure.

Image representative of many respiratory diaphragms and pelvic floors: not well supported by the bone structure and patterned in a descended state under heavy pressure.

So, how should we breathe when squatting? There are three really great options:

1. EXHALE DOWN, FINISH EXHALE UP

With the warped frame limitation in mind, I like to start most bodies squatting with the easiest breathing pattern for regulating pressure: exhale partially as they squat down and then exhale the rest of the way as they lift up out of the squat. Exhaling through the whole squat helps people 1. feel the ab muscles that position the ribs, straightening out the “frame” of the trampoline, 2. creates a stronger relationship between the ribcage and pelvis and between the two trampolines, and 3. helps those trampolines to recoil upwards. All of these benefits support the body internally under load and control air pressure.

2. EXHALE DOWN, INHALE AT THE BOTTOM, EXHALE UP

As it becomes easier to feel the abs throughout the squat, I like to transition to exhaling as they squat down, inhale at the bottom or for a few cycles of breath, and exhale as they lift up out of the squat. The inhales at the bottom of the squat allow the trampolines to sink down fully within the newly straightened “frames.” This not only supports the body weight and control of pressure but also prepares the body for maximal power coming out of the squat.

3. INHALE DOWN, EXHALE UP

Finally, in the most challenging pattern, inhale to squat down, while maintaining a sense of the ab wall and a relationship between ribcage and pelvis, and exhale to lift up out of the squat. When standing up from the bottom of the squat, the trampolines recoil upwards, allowing the body to push and utilize the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and abs to properly to manage the internal pressure. We should be able to feel all of these muscles integrating when we stand up from a squat.

If you struggle to feel quads, hamstrings, glutes, and abs working together, try moving through the above breath patterns for squatting. Changing the pressure can change how the trampolines move, how the bones of the frames are positioned, and which muscles have available leverage to push out of the squat. If you try some of these breathing patterns, hit me back and tell me what it shifted for you!

If you made it this far, thanks for rocking with me. For so long I couldn’t feel what I was told I should feel, not only in squatting but really under any load. No amount of cueing or changing my foot position or wedges or bracing could change it. If this is you, there is hope. Squatting is still a necessary movement. Understanding more about pressure management changed my whole internal experience of movement, and I hope it can for you too.