Breathing paused squats

[Skander]

So there's this article by Greg Nuckols on using breathing paused squats to work on tightness. I'm not dumb enough to buy the click bait headline, but I am curious- has anyone played with these much? I tried them a little during my last squat session but they weren't that bad and didn't seem that helpful. Wondering if anyone else had experience with them. Or maybe I should just head down to the zercher thread for more useless squat assistance exercises...

Add 100 Pounds to Your Squat | T Nation

[Coconut Chris]

I've concluded about the same. From the proposed mechanism of action, Greg seems to think that intra-abdominal pressure 1) is not a skill, 2) is achieved somewhat independently of whatever the trunk musculature is doing, 3) is not the limiting factor in a max lift. 1) and 2) are silly broscience, and 3) might be the case for some people, but we don't believe isometric holds with low weight to effectively carry over to concentric force production as using heavy weights does.

[OCG]

If you're breathing, you're relaxing and changing your ribcage/upper back position. Does not really sound like a good thing to be doing at the bottom of anything but a very light squat. I absolutely would not do this under anything approaching 80% because I would not like to get buried under +400lbs.

Also this:

Your abs, transverse abdominis, and obliques have to work doubly hard without the aid of a full belly of air.

Is incorrect. The abs, in the absence of a lung full of air to press upon don't, and can't stabilise the spine. The origin of the abs is the pelvis and the insertion is the ribcage (I think I got that the right way around). They do what every muscle does, bring the insertion to the origin, in this case, bring the ribs to the pelvis and flex the spine in doing so.

[Daverin]

Is incorrect. The abs, in the absence of a lung full of air to press upon don't, and can't stabilise the spine. The origin of the abs is the pelvis and the insertion is the ribcage (I think I got that the right way around). They do what every muscle does, bring the insertion to the origin, in this case, bring the ribs to the pelvis and flex the spine in doing so.

Hilariously enough, Greg has acknowledged this in other articles as a reason the squat does not work the abs enough (presumably for purposes of abdominal hypertrophy.) That said, it would probably mean more work for the extensors in the back, since they cannot utilize the benefit of the valsalva. Whether that is a "good" thing for purposes of training for the squat or life in general... I'll just pass on that question.