How to check for Diastasis Recti (Video included)

All you postpartum mamas out there should give this a little read….and if you have carried a baby in your belly….then you are a postpartum mama!! It doesn't matter if you are 8 weeks postpartum or 80 years postpartum, you are postpartum and can still help your abdominal separation and help to reconnect your core. However, don't get fixated on the ‘gap’ in the abdominal wall. Instead try to focus on the connection between your breath and the linea alba (your connective tissue which hold the two muscles together).

One of the most common complaints in women after they have had a baby is ‘I still look pregnant’ or ‘I want my belly back to how it was before’. The most likely cause for this is a condition called diastasis recti, This is when the two rectus abdominis muscles separate during pregnancy and the connective tissue (the linea alba) stretches to make space for the baby! amazing right?? However, if it does not heal on its own….it will need a little extra help. There are studies showing that 100% of women will get this separation and 52.4% will still have one present at 6-8 weeks postpartum (Mota et al 2014)

But I need you to look past the gap and the mummy tummy for a moment and realize what the separation can really be doing to your body. First and foremost it is detrimental to the health of your core/how it functions. Without a good core connection your body is going to begin to suffer. But AGAIN don't worry if you can’t close the gap, lefts work on getting your core to work properly (that will be another post) :)

So how do I know if I have Diastasis Recti??

Watch this video to see a full demonstration of how to check for Diastasis Recti OR follow the steps below. If you have any Questions just shoot me a message and I will gladly help you out. If you don’t feel comfortable checking yourself contact a professional like me or a physiotherapist.

How to check for Diastasis Recti.

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HAPPY HEALTHY WORKOUTS MAMA!

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So you want to join a bootcamp!

Spring is well and truly here, the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining (well some of the time). You have been stuck inside for months with your baby and you're ready to be set free!

There are so many spring/summer exercises classes you can choose from, which is GREAT! But how do you know what is going to be right for you? Its useful to do a little research into the sessions and the instructor before you sign up. As a newly postpartum mom its important to take control of your health and source out the BEST fit for you and your baby.

Also, just because a bootcamp/stroller fit session is targeted at new moms, doesn't meant it is right for you! Yes they are fun and yes they are challenging, which may appeal to you, but the intensity can cause some major complications for a new mom. The core and the pelvic floor needs to be functioning properly before starting something too intense. If you have any sign of pelvic floor dysfunction, it needs to be addressed and well managed. Just because there are no obvious symptoms, doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.

As a new mom, unfortunately exercise isn't a one size fits all...something one mom can do easily, another may not be able to. The instructor should understand this and be able to make the correct adaptions for your needs. BUT they need to know you first. Follow these simple guidelines to help you find the right fit for you and your exercising needs!!

1. Ask the instructor/personal trainer questions. Let them know what your ability is and what issues you still have (such as pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence and diastasic recti). If they don't know how to adapt the exercises for you, then its the wrong instructor/personal trainer. Ask them about their qualifications. Have they done any specific postnatal certifications? Most importantly, do they know about pelvic floor dysfunction and how to train it?

2. Is there a pre-screening process? The best sessions will include a pre-admission questionnaire, including questions about your birth/recovery. Some classes may require a visit to a physiotherapist before joining depending on the answers you give.

3. Is it a pre-set class or a drop in class? The drop in sessions can be a little risky depending on the style of session. If it is designed for new moms then it MAY be ok (but still ask questions). But if it is a mixed group/anyone can come...be a little wary. Pre-set sessions are the best for new moms so you can progress at the same pace.

4. Avoid certain exercises until you know for certain you are fully healed. If you are in a session and theses exercises come up...avoid doing them and ask for adaptions. Crunches/tradidtional ab exercises, plank/push ups (unless they are done on an incline), lifting too heavy, jumping and running should be avoided UNLESS you have been fully cleared by a physiotherapist. Ask yourself do you still leak urine? Do you still have pelvic/hip pain? Do you feel heaviness in your pelvis? If your answer is yes to any of these questions then DO NOT do these exercises.

Don't put your health in someone else's hands unless you are certain they are the right fit for you. You could end up doing more harm than good. 

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Happy, Healthy, SAFE workouts mamas!!

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Function vs Image

When it comes to the fitness industry it all seems to be lead by how we all want to look. Which is fine to a certain degree, we all want to be happy with how our bodies. But when it comes to postpartum fitness is that really the best driver towards working out? 

When a mama gets to the 6 week mark and wants to get back into exercising what do you think her motives are? Well I can tell you the number one complaint I hear is that they want to lose the baby weight. OK great, but after digging a little deeper I find out they leak urine when they cough, their backs ache when they carry the car seat from A to B and they are drinking copious amounts of coffee to get them through the day. At what point should beauty and weight loss trump pain reduction, embarrassment and energy?

Scrolling through Instagram I see these women flashing their abs in skimpy outfits and challenging others to exercises that are beyond the ability of the majority of women. It saddens me that mamas scroll through these pages aspiring to be like these women when realistically it probably won’t happen. Lets see more women showing a happy healthy lifestyle with the littles!

Now I’m not saying that weight loss shouldn't be a goal, that can definitely be part of the program. Maybe the the fist goal should be LOVING your body regardless of what it looks like. Love the stretch marks because they wouldn't be there if you didn't have a baby. Love the flattened breasts because those boobs fed your baby. Then, what should come next is re-training the core and functional training.

But what does this mean? 

1. Pelvic Floor Re-training. This doesn't only mean kegals, It includes releasing tight muscles, strengthening weak muscles and incorporating the ‘core four’ muscles in breathing. The foundation of a great training program MUST include these fundamentals. In order to understand your needs it is very helpful to visit a pelvic floor physiotherapist, who will be able to determine the health of your floor. 
2. Postural Adjustments. Now I don’t mean going to the chiropractor, however this is always helpful. The way a personal trainer will tackle this is balancing the correct exercises vs stretches to re-align your posture.
3. Functional Movements - How should your body move is top of the list with my clients. What do you struggle with during the day? Do you struggle getting up and down from the floor? Do you get back pain when lifting your baby’s car seat? These kind of questions will help determine the movements I include in a program. Some of my favourite functional movements are kneeling to squat, single leg deadlift with a row or lunge with a toe tap. All these movements can translate to real life actions.

Try changing your perspective and see how that effects your results. Focus on the issues in hand instead of comparing yourself to others. Love yourself and your journey!!

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Happy Healthy Workouts Mamas

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The importance of Diaphragmatic Breathing.

After I had my daughter Eden, I didn't realize how important breathing was for postpartum recovery...I wish I had learned this info while I was pregnant. I had a really tough recovery and wasn't prepared for the toll delivery took on my body. I really struggled to get back into exercise postpartum because I had undiagnosed diastasis recti AND and an undiagnosed prolapse. Luckily due to ankle injuries I had been told no jumping so I didn't make my prolapse worse. But it wasn't until wayyyy into my postpartum recovery that I leaned all this information. I struggled mentally with not being able to perform as well as I could before. 

All this together meant I had to figure out what was going to work for me. I did so much research into the human body postpartum and which exercises would help or hinder recovery. I changed my exercise routines and started to heal my diastasis. I was still so scared about the prolapse I didn't really know what to do (so I set that aside for a while). 

It wasn't until 18 month postpartum that I discovered this was what I really wanted to help women with. There Is so little help given from your family doctors/OBGYNs, especially if you don't know the questions to ask or they rush you out of the office after a check up. I had been following the teachings of Bellies Inc and decided to take their course to become certified in core rehabilitation.

The foundation for everything in pregnancy and postpartum exercise is diaphragmatic breathing (or as Bellies Inc coined it, the Core Breath). It connects the four core muscles together to create strength behind every exercise. The four core muscles being the transverse abdominus, multifidus, diaphragm and the pelvic floor. When these muscles are out of sync, along with other factors, they can create whats known as 'core dysfunction'

• urinary incontinence
• pelvic organ prolapse
• back pain
• pelvic girdle pain
• diastasis recti

However, you can re-train your body into functioning correctly. The first step is with your breath. You can start this as soon as possible, pregnant, postpartum, trying to get pregnant, the sooner the better. Watch the video for a demonstration of belly breathing/diaphragmatic breathing and start practicing NOW!!

I cannot stress how important breathing is for effective core function so PLEASE if you are only going to change one thing in your exercise routine...start with this! start with 10 breaths per day and slowly increase as you get the hang of it.

Step One

Sit on a stability ball, chair or lay on your back, with a slight arch in your back (finding neutral spine), two feet are on the floor (knees bent if lying down) and look straight ahead. Place one hand on your belly and the other on the side of your ribcage.

Step Two

Take a deep breath in. Focus on filling the space in your ribcage without your chest rising (imagine your ribcage as an umbrella), fill your belly and in vision your pelvic floor soften and relax. Feel as your ribs and belly expand as you take in air. Breath like this a few times so you can get use to filling your belly and ribcage with air before moving on to the next step. Your belly and ribs should be moving in unison with 70% of the air going into your ribcage.

Step Three

As you breathe out, feel your ribs and belly move in (umbrella closing), exhale through pursed lips. Take a few breaths like this as you begin to understand how your body is moving then add in the pelvic floor contraction. As you exhale, feel as your pelvic floor lifts away from the ball or chair and draws in. Use nice slow breaths, focus on slowing the breath down and engaging the muscles as you breathe out. Remember as you inhale, to soften the pelvic floor.

Pelvic Floor Cues

Picking up a blueberry/jelly bean
Prevent a tampon from falling out
Imagine your pelvic floor as a jellyfish
Sipping a milkshake through your vagina

Step Four

Only after you have perfected the first three steps, should you progress to this step.

As you close your umbrella and pick up your blueberries, exhale through pursed lips. You should feel a band of tightness across your lower abdominals. This band of tightness is your transverse abdominis contracting and completes the optimal “core” contraction. You can feel the activation by placing your fingers on the inside of your hip bones. NOTE: this is a gentle contraction.
You can also use these visualizations for your TVA:
• Imagine closing your two front hip bones together
• Imagine a guy wire between your two hip bones and as you exhale, create tension in the wire.

The great thing about core/diaphragmatic breathing is you can start it as soon as you feel comfortable post delivery. If you don't want to include the pelvic floor right away that is FINE you may still be tender. If that is the case just focus on breathing into your belly and ribcage and fully relaxing your pelvic floor. Listen to your body, don't rush and don't push too hard, you have just given birth! 

HAPPY BREATHING MAMAS

7 min HIIT home workout - with socks!!

For all you moms who don’t have time to get to a gym, OR don’t feel comfortable going to a gym….here is a little workout for you!! You don’t need equipment to get the full benefits of exercise, you don’t even need a lot of time! We can all find 7 minutes in our day right? That’s all this workout needs, unless you want to repeat the workout multiple times to get in a full 24 min session.

The challenges a mother can face in a day really puts you off getting a workout in. Some days I will go to the gym for a ‘break’ from my daughter, some days I’ll do my workout with her, then others I’ll wait till she naps. Either way I make it a habit to exercise. Now this doesn’t have to be an hour long workout. It can be anything from 7 mins to 60 mins (sometimes 90 depending on how much of a break I need). You will find which time of the day suits you best. If you are a new mom, the times will change as you go through peaks and troughs with your little.

The BEST thing about a home workout is you can do it in the comfort of your own home, with no one watching you (except maybe a baby/toddler).

With this work out you can modify the exercises to suit you, do each one for 60 seconds and rest for 30. Repeat three times if needed;

• Exercise ONE: Jump switch lunge OR alternate lunge
• Exercise TWO: Jumping lateral leg slide OR single leg slide (30 secs each side)
• Exercise THREE: Sliding mountain climb (fast) OR sliding mountain climb (slow)
• Exercise FOUR: Sliding plank abduction on hands OR sliding plank abduction on elbows
• Exercise FIVE: Balancing leg slide side and back  

NOT suitable for Diastasis Recti, pelvic floor issues or beyond the first trimester in pregnancy.

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Please remember to consult with a medical professional before entering into a new workout regime.

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legs legs legs + toddler

Are you ready for a killer leg workout?? I did this workout and by the end my legs were ready to give in. Today was a day I didn't really feel like working out, but I took my own advice and put on my gym clothes and instantly felt like going to the gym. I filmed this a little later on when my husband was home but I did this as part of my workout earlier in the day. Its even more fun when Eden joins in, it acts as a distraction form the pain (and sometimes an excuse to pause hehe). Whether you decide to do it alone or with a mini person, you will love your legs afterwards!

Do 60 seconds of each exercise, complete each exercise back to back with very little/no pausing. REST for 60 seconds then repeat 4 times through (total time 20 mins). Now who doesn't have 20 mins to fit into their day right??

1. Get Up/Kneel Down (keep low)
2. Bridge (Hip Thrusts if you are pregnant)
3. Forward/Backward shuffle (I should have been lower, but keep low)
4. Frog Squat Jump back (avoid if pregnant or have Diastasis Recti, stick to a squat with pulse at the bottom)
5. 60 seconds REST

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Please remember to get clearance and consult with a medical professional before commencing a workout regime

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