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Let me guess. You’ve been down this road before. You’ve worked out, ate well, committed time and nothing seemed to change. You may have seen built strength In your legs and arms, but still felt soft in your midsection. You may have felt better generally, but still couldn’t reach that targeted area of your body no matter how hard you try.
Sound familiar?
(raises hand proudly!)
This was me for the better part of a year. And I am a fitness professional! There are far too few resources for women on WHAT they should be doing and more importantly HOW they should be doing it in order to heal and restore their midsection.
I empathize the HOW much more importantly that WHAT.
First of all, it’s likely that if typical workouts are not targeting that area that you might have unresolved Diastasis Recti from birth. This may be something you know about, or possibly we’re never informed! Many women are cleared from their 6 week postpartum checkup with a slight Diastasis Recti, since it is a very common condition of pregnancy and there is little support or education on what to do in the coming weeks to continue to heal this. As such, we go back to our daily routines, including fitness, and ignore that we’ve just been through not only a serious life change but an anatomical change as well! Our body is different than it was 6 weeks ago, but we treat it as if it’s just the same!
That‘s where we come in! No matter how recently you are postpartum, (or maybe it’s been years!), it’s never too late to focus on the HOW to strengthen your core and define your midsection.
WHAT TO DO
As I mentioned before, many programs focus on what you should do and what you shouldn‘t do. For example, you should avoid sit-ups and double leg lifts, anything that puts too much pressure on your midline. Instead, focus on side lying movements and standing movements that strengthen your core, but don’t overly tax the Linea alba, the line of muscle that thins and stretches during pregnancy.
While I agree with this as a learning tool, I also believe that if you learn how to properly engage your deepest abdominal muscles and build endurance to be able to maintain this engagement throughout an entire movement, then you shouldn’t be limited to certain movements.
Start with the limited movements to build awareness and understanding of deepest core engagement. Then, work on strength and endurance, and then, and only then, add on more technical and core challenging movements.
Do I think you’ll never do a sit up again? No!
Do I think you have to learn to do a sit-up again?
Yes!
HOW
This is the really important part.
How do you learn to activate your deepest abdominal muscles, bringing your Rectus abdominis together allowing for no coning in the abs, that protrusion that can appear when you have Diastasis Recti and aren’t able to hold engagement?
Through the one thing that we all do every single day. Breath.
One way to find this is to use a balloon.
Pro tip: kids love this and will gladly “help” you find your breath 😂
Lay on your back, place the balloon in your mouth. Place one hand on the balloon and the other on your abdomen. Take a deep breath in and as you exhale, start to blow up the balloon. You should feel the hand that’s on your belly pull away from your hand and into your spine. Your belly should not move toward your hand at all. Fully exhale until your belly is empty.
Take another full breath and repeat that 3 more times. Repetition is key.
Now, do the same thing, but take the hand that was on your belly and move it to your hips. Drop your finger down to the inside of your hips about 1 inch. At this position, you should be able to feel a band of muscle, the transverse abdominus, reach up and push into your finger as you exhale. This ensures that your using that deepest layer of muscle which is what we want!
Take a deep breath, trying to breathe into the sides of your body, your back, and you belly (360 degree coverage) and then exhale again. You should feel that band of muscle push up into your fingers placed by your hip. Repeat this a few more times.
At that deepest exhale point, when your belly button is glued to your spine and your transverse abdominis is activated - THAT is core engagement. THAT is how you should be activating your core in every workout. Not necessarily FULL engagement like we just did,
but this active engagement none the less.
Using this engagement allows me to be less concerned with the movements and more concerned with your ability to hang onto this engagement throughout each movement.
This is going to catapult you into new levels of fitness, define your midsection, and strengthen your abs from the deepest place within!
You've got this, momma!
Coach Steph
If you’re looking for more, the 12-Week Core Strengthening Course starts January 11th, Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:30pm (in-person or Zoom) with daily homework all to be completed in 10 minutes or less 💪