Relaxing the stomach is definitely a bad habit. It's funny that it would feel more natural to you. Tightening up the abs under heavy load is a sort of natural response.

In any case, in order to be the most stable and protect the spine you need to tighten up. The best approach, imo, is the valsalva maneuver. So you take in a good breath of air low down into the diaphragm, not the chest. And then you tighten the abs. With squats you should do that at the top. On deads some people do it at the bottom getting ready for the lift and others at the top if they have difficulty getting a breath of air in the bottom position.


On the breathing I think there are two different sides to it. On one hand I believe that no one should have to concentrate on artificial modes of breathing, that they naturally know what they need to do and shouldn't be preoccupied with anything but proper lifting. On the other hand it's pretty clear that what you've described increases IAP greatly and provides the most stable midsection. Unless you are a Chek disciple, and although, he provides a lot of good info on this, and has probably helped hundreds, I think he goes a little bit berserk in his enthusiasm for the wonders of the TVA.

It's good to start with a full breath in and tight as possible midsection. But holding the breath all the way can be a little problematic especially with more volume. As you go up it is probably fine to let some air escape, but without loosening up. But holding the breath is probably safer than having a belt tightly cinched since that holds the blood up high and restricts breathing, severely screwing with blood pressure. And with belts they have to be tightly cinched in order to actually do anything.

What I do with the really heavy stuff is grunt on the way up. I am mostly holding my breath but just letting a little go as I rise. Grunting or making a sound like that is the best way of controlling air flow.

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If you act sanctimonious I will just list out your logical fallacies until you get pissed off and spew blasphemous remarks.