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Valsalva maneuver

weighted chinup

weighted chinup

Member
I'm curious how many of you use the valsalva maneuver on squats or any other movement instead of the traditional inhale / exhale technique that you are 'supposed' to use.

I've always done this instinctively on front squat and I thought it was considered bad technique but I see it's actually preferred by some strength coaches.

From Rippetoe Below -

It behooves us to understand the function of the Valsalva maneuver, the breath held against a closed glottis while pressure is applied by the abdominal and thoracic muscles, during the squat. The Valsalva is a technique the vast majority of humans will use anyway until "professionally trained" personnel interfere.

If your car runs out of gas at an intersection, and you have to push it out of the way or get killed, you will open your car door, put your shoulder on the doorframe, take a great big breath and push the car. You will probably not exhale except to take another quick breath until the car and you are out of the way.

Furthermore you will not even think about this, as millions of years of your species pushing on heavy things has taught your central nervous system the correct way to push. "Professionally trained" personnel probably do it this way too, yet they insist on ignoring the advice of their own DNA while in the weight room.​

It makes sense - I get much more intra-abdominal pressure and tightness on front squat when I breath this way - If I tried the inhale/exhale approach I would suspect my core would be less tight and back would be less upright.

Any of you guys use this technique for squats too?
 
I will mention though that it has caused me to drop the bar once after deracking and almost blacking out. I was still 'awake' enough to somewhat control it on the way to the ground but fuck that was a horrible feeling. I had another close call too but that was a while back, I've improved my use of this technique and haven't had any issues since.

2 fuck ups out of all the sets I've ever performed on front squat using this technique is a damn good ratio though.
 
I use it for basically every compound lift. The risk is ridiculously low while the benefits it provides is very beneficial.

The more intra thoracic and abdominal pressure you can create the better off your spine is being braced and protected from the front, less load your back has to support without it's antagonist muscle, and the better off your kinetic force transfer is throughout your body. Unless I'm doing 15-20reps on a lift.....I'm using the valsalva.
 
weighted chinup said:
I will mention though that it has caused me to drop the bar once after deracking and getting in the rack position and almost blacking out. I had another close call too but that was a while back, I've improved my use of this technique and haven't had any issues since.

2 fuck ups out of all the sets I've ever performed on front squat using this technique is a damn good ratio though.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly from past experience, if you continually allow the pressure to push up into the head, a black out is surely coming - its only a matter of time. I've had to hold on to the racked bar while I momentarily lost my vision.

Try to keep it contained in the mid to upper abs and not leak up into your face. Even still, it's bond to happen again.
 
weighted chinup said:
I will mention though that it has caused me to drop the bar once after deracking and almost blacking out. I was still 'awake' enough to somewhat control it on the way to the ground but fuck that was a horrible feeling. I had another close call too but that was a while back, I've improved my use of this technique and haven't had any issues since.

2 fuck ups out of all the sets I've ever performed on front squat using this technique is a damn good ratio though.
Click to expand...

I did a little digging into the Valsalva for you WC. Here's some posts by Rippetoe from the starting strength forums

"Several things are interesting about your post.

First: "However I wonder if the positive effects of the Valsalva maneuver are good enough reason to use the technique considering the possible negative implications such as syncope, stroke, blown aneursym (sic) or death. I assume that these possible implications are the result of heightened blood pressure."

The incidence of training-associated cerebrovascular accident (CVA) in the weight room is so low as to be statistically unmeasurable. We have done a thorough search of the literature and there is a complete absence of any documented case of stroke during barbell training. There are, however, lots of back injuries. Which eventuality would you rather prepare for? As for a blown aneurysm, first you have to have an aneurysm to blow one out, and THAT is always just plain old bad luck (despite the fact that the incidence of weight training-associated aneurysm dissections is also statistically insignificant).

Second: "I have definitely had a headache after heavy deadlifts before and have most definitely seen stars after a set of squats. Were those occurrences a result of the Valsalva?"

I don't know. But headache and death are certainly two unrelated phenomena. I've had lots of headaches that were associated with Guinness, during the consumption of which no Valsalva or deadlifting occurred.

Third: "By the way, you said in your book to hold your breath during each of your heavy reps, but I have heard differing opinions on the matter. I have heard the ever common "inhale as you go down, exhale as you go up", "only use the Valsalva for 2-3 seconds as your go through your sticking point", and "do not consciously think about breathing or the Valsalva during exercise as it will come naturally".

Which one do you think Andy Bolton used during his world record 1003 lb. deadlift? It makes absolutely no difference what the NASM, the ACSM, the NSCA, AFAA, ACE, the YMCA, or Pat Robertson thinks about how one ought to breathe during exercise. The fact is that every heavy deadlift that has ever been pulled off the floor was done with some form of a Valsalva, and the death toll fails to mount. What does this tell you about the safety of the Valsalva for your workout this afternoon? The last remark about the Valsalva coming naturally is correct, but a 1003 deadlift is not "natural" in the commonly understood sense of the word, and the Valsalva that accompanied it was not "natural" either -- it was deliberate, thorough, and lasted for the whole deadlift. The inexperienced, lawyer-spooked fools at the certification organizations can issue any position papers they like, but the fact remains that as long as heavy weights are being lifted, people will be holding their breath while they do it, and everybody will be just fine if they don't hurt their backs or pull a hamstring.

Furthermore, Mr. Bolton was adapted to both a very goddamn heavy deadlift and a deliberate, thorough, and long Valsalva manuver, because he'd trained for it. He didn't just wander in off the street, and neither have you. Since tissues adapt to stress, the stress of a Valsalva is adapted to by whatever structures are subjected to the stress as the intensity of the load accumulates, just like the spine, the ligaments holding the spine together, and the muscles that keep the spine straight have that make the deadlift possible. This fact -- that adaptation occurs in response to exercise in all affected tissues -- along with the fact that lots of people have lifted heavy weights with no known incidence of stroke, even in the absence of an explanation for why, should provide solace and balm for your furrowed brow."
 
Again from Rippetoe's forum:

"And as an added treat, here is the abstract from a paper presented in 2005 at the American Society of Exercise Physiology National Conference


The Valsalva Manuver: Risk or Risk Management?

Becky Kudrna, Lon Kilgore, PhD, and Mark Rippetoe


Within the clinical community, the major risk associated with the Valsalva maneuver is cerebrovascular accident. The term cerebrovascular accident can refer to stroke, aneurysm, or hemorrhage of the blood vessels of the brain. It has been suggested that the extremely high, although transient blood pressures created when an individual utilizes the Valsalva maneuver are simply too high for the vessel walls to handle (Linsenbardt et al., 1992). Thus conventional wisdom states that the Valsalva maneuver causes cerebrovascular accidents by raising blood pressure beyond a safe level.

There have been documented cases of cerebrovascular accident occurring while weightlifting. Haykowsky et al. (1996) reported three case studies of subarachnoid hemorrhage in otherwise healthy individuals during weight training. These authors noted that all of the individuals recovered and returned to normal activities within 3 months. Cayen & Cullen, report an additional case of cerebral hemorrhage during resistance exercise in 2002. A fifth occurrence was reported in an anabolic steroid user who suffered both a myocardial infarction and cerebral hemorrhage during resistance exercise, (Kenedy et al., 1993). This individual died as a result of his injuries. In deceased populations, one case of a cerebral hemorrhage occurred in a preexisting brain tumor during resistance exercise, (Goetting & Swanson, 1987). Finally, one case of an effaced lateral ventricle and one case of a subdural hematoma were reported in two males performing sit-ups with the Valsalva maneuver (Uber-Zac & Venkatesh, 2002). It is important to note here that of all the reported cases of CVA in both healthy and diseased populations only one resulted in mortality.

Whereas Narloch & Brandstater (1995) and Uver-Zac & Venkatesh (2002) interpreted the cause of the cerebrovascular hemorrhage in two male recreational lifters as transient vascular hypertension caused by the Valsalva maneuver, Haykowsky et al. (1996), attributed the three cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage in resistance-exercised individuals to preexisting, but undetected aneurysms. Haykowsky (1996), and McCartney (1999) suggest that the few incidences of CVA that do occur with resistance exercise may be linked to undetected cerebral aneurysms and thus are not entirely attributable to resistance exercise or the Valsalva maneuver. According to McCartney, approximately 1% of the population has cerebral aneurysms and the response of such individuals to the transient stresses of weightlifting should not be viewed as the normal or typical response. With millions of people participating in resistance exercise daily, the small number of reported CVA events actually represents a frequency that is statistically insignificant.

When considering exercise induced CVA it is important to understand that aerobic exercise, an exercise modality that is not associated with the Valsalva maneuver is also associated with a small number of CVA incidences, (Cayen & Cullen, 2002).

Not all researchers hold that the Valsalva maneuver during resistance exercise is dangerous. McCartney (1999) and Hughes et al., (1989) acknowledged that the Valsalva maneuver is an instinctive response and should be used particularly in lifts above 85% of 1 repetition maximum. Further, there is compelling evidence suggesting the Valsalva maneuver actually prevents catastrophic cerebrovascular injuries rather than causes them.

The work of Haykowsky et al. (2003) suggests that elevated vascular pressure is only dangerous to the delicate vascular walls of the brain if intracranial pressures remain low, and thus transmural pressure is high. Essentially, if the pressure surrounding the vessel increases and pushes back against the vessel wall, the blood pressure within the vessel will not be transmitted across to the cranial tissue, meaning thattransmural pressure is low. The measure of the difference in pressures between vascular pressure and intracranial pressure should therefore be a better indicator of the stress the vessel walls are under and thus be a better indicator of the danger of cerebrovascular accident. Haykowsky et al, (2003) found that performing the Valsalva maneuver decreased the pressure differences across the cerebrovascular wall, theoretically decreasing the risk of aneurysm or hemorrhage. This finding corroborated the much earlier and ignored work of Hamilton et al. (1944). These studies strongly suggest that performing a heavy lift without the Valsalva maneuver places individuals at greater risk of CVA than performing the same lift with the Valsalva maneuver. This is directly contrary to the conventional wisdom.

The mechanism through which the Valsalva maneuver raises intracranial pressure is theorized as follows: (1)The Valsalva maneuver directly increases thoracic pressure by attempting to force air through the closed glottis. (2)This elevated thoracic pressure is transferred to the cerebrospinal fluid in much the same way that thoracic pressure increases abdominal pressure. Because the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the spinal cord is continuous with fluid of the subdural space in the skull, intracranial pressure also rises. The rapid nature of fluid pressure transfer within this system means that arterial pressure and intracranial pressure rise at the same rate, yielding a balanced transmural pressure from the beginning to the end of the lift. Thus the lifter is protected throughout the entire lift so long as the Valsalva maneuver is performed."
 
And from Justin Lascek on the 70s big forums.

http://70sbig.com/blog/2010/09/black-out/

^^^in that article he talks about reason why ppl blackout during cleans. Basically while in the rack position the bar sometimes will have a tendency to pull back into the carotid artery which will occlude blood flow to the brain. One trick he describes is to release some of your breath slowly through closed teeth while performing the concentric. This allows some easing of the buildup in pressure and if you keep your teeth closed it'll help maintain some of the pressure against the glottis keeping some torso rigidity while helping to prevent a blackout.

Question for you, how often do you use the Valsalva? Just for front squats? How often do you do front squats? You do it for every rep/set or only heavy work?

I ask bc your arteries and whatnot adapt to training and Valsalva use like anything else. The more gradually you increase it's frequency of use in your training the more adaptation will occur.

I definitely get the light headed feeling and seeing stars from it but never have had a syncopic episode.
 
Docd187123 said:
And from Justin Lascek on the 70s big forums.

http://70sbig.com/blog/2010/09/black-out/

^^^in that article he talks about reason why ppl blackout during cleans. Basically while in the rack position the bar sometimes will have a tendency to pull back into the carotid artery which will occlude blood flow to the brain. One trick he describes is to release some of your breath slowly through closed teeth while performing the concentric. This allows some easing of the buildup in pressure and if you keep your teeth closed it'll help maintain some of the pressure against the glottis keeping some torso rigidity while helping to prevent a blackout.

Question for you, how often do you use the Valsalva? Just for front squats? How often do you do front squats? You do it for every rep/set or only heavy work?

I ask bc your arteries and whatnot adapt to training and Valsalva use like anything else. The more gradually you increase it's frequency of use in your training the more adaptation will occur.

I definitely get the light headed feeling and seeing stars from it but never have had a syncopic episode.
Click to expand...

Excellent article, that is exactly what I suspect happened.

I use the valsalva on just about every movement - I just can't do the traditional inhale/exhale thing, it doesn't feel right and I suspect it inhibits my performance, so everything I perform is with valsalva. I just did a pull session and I think I did it on every single movement I performed, weighted chins, weighted pulls, seated rows, even lying cable curls lol.

The only time I've had the black out was for front squat when I got into the rack position so that article was spot on as to what caused it. I've never come close to that feeling on any other movement using this technique, only front squat and only when I get into the rack position.

I haven't had any close calls recently and I suspect it's because I started letting some air out as soon as I get the bar in the rack position and then breath in again before doing the first rep to keep a tight core, this seems to work better than keeping all the air in from before I got into the rack position, if that makes any sense...

I have no intention of dropping this technique though. I front squat 2x weekly and I use it on every working set I do regardless of intensity. I have a total volume goal for front squat on each session rather than a fixed number of sets, and I use the technique on every set I do. 2 fuck ups out of what I suspect is over 1000 total sets of front squat I've performed in my lifting career is an excellent ratio.
 
I've more or less always used the valsalva maneuver, and after having seen several of my friends getting into lifting, the number one thing that held them back early on was not properly using the technique. They would either not breathe in enough air, or take everything into the chest, or they would simply breathe out too early.

I have also never seen a strong person NOT do it for squats/deads either.

I'll say that if you take a look at some olympic weightlifting videos, you will find that a lot of them don't do the traditional valsalva maneuver, it seems as if they simply shut off all air supply without breathing in, closing the whole system down and getting tight. I've seen this especially with clean and jerks. I'm not sure why they do it like this, but I imagine the effect is more or less the same.
 
Now that I think about it I came close to an episode last week. A friend recommended doing paused front squats without Oly shoes to help an anterior pelvic tilt problem. I cannot get a good rack positin bc of poor shoulder and wrist flexibility as well as what I suspect are unusually long forearms in relation to my upper arm. I do the California method as I've heard it called with the crossed hands....

Anyway on one set, I noticed my back angle was collapsing and I wasn't keeping vertical. I made an intra-rep adjustment and raised my crossed arms at the time to try and drive the bar back into me. The bar went back into my throat and once I finished the set I damn near dropped from all the pressure.
 
Docd187123 said:
Now that I think about it I came close to an episode last week. A friend recommended doing paused front squats without Oly shoes to help an anterior pelvic tilt problem. I cannot get a good rack positin bc of poor shoulder and wrist flexibility as well as what I suspect are unusually long forearms in relation to my upper arm. I do the California method as I've heard it called with the crossed hands....

Anyway on one set, I noticed my back angle was collapsing and I wasn't keeping vertical. I made an intra-rep adjustment and raised my crossed arms at the time to try and drive the bar back into me. The bar went back into my throat and once I finished the set I damn near dropped from all the pressure.
Click to expand...

Somewhat off topic but I have the exact same issue as you when it comes to the front squat. I could never get comfortable with the cross grip so I've been doing a clean grip with straps which I think is a great alternative.

I haven't been doing front squats for a while because it hurts my delts so fucking bad tho. Got any tips on that part? :)
 
A clean grip with straps is the preferred alternative if you can't do the normal rack position. Using the crossed arm method is the last option I'd use but I can't even get the rack positin with straps. It just causes too much elbow and wrist pain for me and I cannot get my elbows up so my elbows and wrist support the weight and not my delts, shoulders, et.

Does it hurt your delts bc of a strain or bc the weight of the bar sitting on your delts?


If it's the weight on the delts and not strain then Only suggestion I can offer is to find the meatiest part and let the bar lay on that. Maybe use a small towel and wrap it around the bar? Just be very careful the towel doesn't affect your grip or come loose and cause you to drop the bar.

I think as you do more and more reps you'll get accustomed to it also. Your bones and skin adapt to training like anything else. Front squats used to cause bruising in my delts and shoulder area. Now, I may get some minor discomfort, but nothing I can't tolerate.
 
objekt said:
I haven't been doing front squats for a while because it hurts my delts so fucking bad tho. Got any tips on that part? :)
Click to expand...

I've never had any pain from the rack position - I try and keep it between the front delt and clavicle but I'm sure it ends up going out further than that. No major discomfort at all - but I do have marks on both of my delts, kind of dark spots just from the bar. I don't think they will ever go away, not that I'm complaining.

Staying as upright as possible will also prevent the bar from rolling further down onto your side delts. Mobility work might be needed to be able to stay upright in the hole and during the concentric if this is an issue. Keep your arms up nice and high - lat tightness might restrict this so foam roll them as needed, tricep tightness is a factor as well - foam roll those too. And always keep your core as tight as possible at all times.

Those are my only suggestions - practice it more and the discomfort will go away usually.
 
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