The Breath Behind the Strength: Why Diaphragmatic Breathing and Intra-Abdominal Pressure Are Important
What if I told you that one of the most important elements of strength, performance, and injury prevention isn’t a new supplement, a fancy piece of equipment, or even a specific workout? It’s your breath.
Specifically: how you breathe and how your body manages intra-abdominal pressure.
Most people overlook these concepts because breathing is automatic, and core stability seems like something you handle with planks or sit-ups. But if you care about moving better, lifting stronger, or protecting your spine and pelvic floor, then it’s time to look under the hood at what’s really driving your movement: your diaphragm and the pressure it helps create.
Understanding the Basics: Diaphragmatic Breathing vs. Intra-Abdominal Pressure (IAP)
This is breathing where your diaphragm, the dome-shaped muscle below your lungs, does the work it was built to do. As you inhale, it moves downward, creating space for your lungs to fill. This downward movement should cause 360° expansion through your belly, sides, and lower back.
This is how we’re born breathing. Watch a baby sleep: their belly rises and falls rhythmically. That’s diaphragmatic breathing in its purest form.
When your diaphragm descends, and your abdominal muscles, obliques, and pelvic floor respond appropriately, the pressure inside your abdominal cavity increases. This pressure acts like an internal weight belt, stabilizing your spine and pelvis so your limbs can move efficiently. Generally, we teach our patients how to belly breathe to be able to create IAP and move more efficiently.
So Why Is This So Important?
Let’s get into it. Here are five key reasons diaphragmatic breathing and IAP matter deeply for people of all walks of life. No matter your age, gender or activity levels.
1. Spinal Stability Starts From the Inside
Before your body can move powerfully, it needs to stabilize. That stability doesn’t come from gripping your abs or clenching your back, but from properly regulated internal pressure.
Research shows that intra-abdominal pressure supports the lumbar spine (low back) during movement, especially under load. Without it, the body compensates with muscle bracing, excessive spinal stiffness, or poor posture. All of which increase risk for injury.
Your diaphragm, core muscles, and pelvic floor act together like a pressure-regulating team. When they’re in sync, they stabilize your spine reflexively, without overthinking.
2. Breath = Bracing Done Right
We often cue clients to “engage the core” before a lift, but what does that really mean?
Real bracing isn’t just tensing your abs. It’s about creating controlled IAP through a deep inhale, a strong exhale, and muscular coordination across your trunk.
If you hold your breath without building pressure correctly, you may still feel tight and engaged, but that tightness isn’t organized or helpful. It’s like trying to build a house on sand. True bracing starts with a diaphragmatic breath in, followed by a firm (but not rigid) exhale during the effort.
3. Train Your Nervous System Too
Breathing affects more than muscles. It affects your nervous system too.
Shallow, rapid breathing keeps you stuck in stress mode or “fight or flight.” Deep, slow breathing through the diaphragm activates your parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) system, helping you:
Recover faster
Sleep better
Lower blood pressure and stress
Improve endurance under load
Want better activity and better recovery? Start with your breath.
4. Prevents Common Dysfunction
Most chronic low back pain, pelvic instability, and even pelvic floor disorders (like leaking during jumping or lifting) are connected to faulty breathing mechanics and poor pressure control.
If your diaphragm isn't functioning properly, due to chest breathing, poor posture, or overtraining, your pelvic floor often picks up the slack. That leads to tension, fatigue, and compensation patterns that affect everything from your squats to your walks.
This is especially important for postpartum clients, athletes returning from injury, and anyone who experiences “doming” of the abdomen during core work. Without breath-driven pressure, your body creates pressure in all the wrong places.
5. Neck Tension Relief
One of the most overlooked benefits of diaphragmatic breathing is how it helps release chronic neck and shoulder tension. When you breathe shallowly into your chest, you overuse accessory muscles that aren’t meant to power every breath. Over time, this can lead to tightness, pain, and even headaches/migraines. By retraining your diaphragm to do the heavy lifting, you reduce the demand on these smaller neck muscles. Clients who shift to belly breathing often report less neck tightness, better posture, and even improved jaw mobility. It's a simple change that can free up movement and reduce stress-related tension you didn’t even realize was connected to your breathing.
Where to Start: Breathing + Pressure
Here's a simple way to train this system daily:
Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat.
Place one hand on your chest, one on your belly.
Inhale through your nose and push your air down, letting only the hand on belly expand. Your sides and low back should all expand equally and into the surface you are lying on.
Exhale through pursed lips, slowly and with control. Feel your core gently engage inward.
Add this to your warm-up, cool-down or night-time routine. Once it feels natural, apply it to squats, deadlifts, carries and even walking.
Don’t Skip the Breath Work
You can go for walks, strength train, stretch daily or chase after your kids, but if your breathing and pressure systems aren’t working properly, your body is missing its most natural source of strength and stability.
Diaphragmatic breathing and intra-abdominal pressure aren’t just for athletes or people in rehab, but they’re essential for everyone. Whether you're reaching for something on a high shelf, getting up from the floor, managing stress, or trying to prevent back pain, how you breathe matters. Breath is the foundation of movement, posture, and even relaxation. Learning to breathe better is one of the simplest, most powerful changes you can make to feel stronger, move easier, and protect your body for the long haul.
Gavin