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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Its OK not to workout

It took me a while to realize this after I gave birth, but its OK not to workout! The pressure to get your body back postpartum is so strong you feel guilty for not having the motivation to exercise. Especially in the fitness world, you are almost frowned upon for not having a flat belly weeks after delivery. I must admit, I was lucky in the sense that my belly reduced in size almost immediately. However, there were so many other things going on with my body that no-one could see and I didn’t want to talk about. You kind of brush them off to the side because you have a new born baby to handle.

What I thought I had to do was not achievable for me in the beginning, but I’ll say it again….THATS OK!! You don’t need to jump right back into your HIIT workouts and your heavy weights. Your body really isn't ready for that. It actually took me over SIX months to feel ready to workout again like I use to. In the beginning the best thing to do is take it slow. Work on rehabilitation and creating a really strong foundation.

Ok so I am a believer of exercise, but I am also a believer of the RIGHT kind of exercise too. I have learned over the years that my body shuts down under stress. Funny story, I actually fainted from a bee sting….thats right…I passed right out because I panicked. Not because I'm allergic, because I’m not. I fainted because my response to stress is to stop everything and protect. So this story is a little extreme but it just shows that when you put too much stress on the body, it begins to shut down. Bringing up a new baby is stressful, so if you don’t feel like working out thats OK!!

Take it one day at a time, each day is different. One day you may feel invincible so try a little exercises routine, stretch, do you core rehabilitation exercises or go out for a walk. The next day you may feel like crap, so don’t do anything. The key here is to understand and listen to your body. Don’t let your mind take over, love your body and look after your body.

When you are having a god day, look at completing a functional workout to help rehabilitate your core and focus on muscle groups that get challenged a lot in motherhood. Remember to use proper diaphragmatic breathing with exercise and don’t start without clearance from a medical professional.

My favourite exercises to try out for new moms are (use light weight or body weight):

1. Squat and press
2. Deadlift and row
3. Kneel to stand (goodness know how often we have to get up off the floor with a baby)
4. Lunge with a front raise
5. Seated cable pull

HAPPY WORKOUTS MAMAS!

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Please consult with a medical professional before commencing a workout regime

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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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Is it really about weight loss?

I was sitting listening to a webinar on body image and it made me reflect on my past and how I use to treat my body. I have come a long way since my insecure years in high school/university. But what changed?

I have struggled with weight my whole life, I have always been small and on the low end of healthy….entering into unhealthy. I have been blessed with a fast metabolism but this does not mean I was happy. Every woman struggles with their body…prodding, poking and criticizing every second they get. Why can't I look like that supermodel, this is what I really want to look like. But is it really? Why do you want to look that way? Will it give you happiness? Will it make people love you more?

So what right do I have to tell you it isn't all about weight loss if I have never been over weight!

What I’m really trying to tell you is that mindset is the key to happiness. As soon as I shifted my mindset to loving my body for what it is I began to feel happy, content and even satisfied with who I am. I think I put too much energy into how I looked so I could have friends, love and achieve more. But my body wasn't the issue (even though I though it was for many years). It was all in my head, it was all about how I saw at myself.

Change your mindset, change your life.

So you just had a baby and you're thinking RIGHT, now its time to get my post baby body back. Well don’t waste the first weeks focusing on how to get your body back, you may never have the same body but that is OK! Life shouldn't revolve around losing weight if it’s just about getting smaller, that was a tough lesson I had to learn. No matter how small I got…nothing changed. I was still insecure, I still hated my body, I still struggled with liking myself. So why do you REALLY want to get smaller??

Lets shift the focus to why you should eat healthy and workout. Have a real conversation with yourself about what your motivation is, but try to stay away from visual body goals.

• You want more energy
• You want to be able to run after your toddler without feeling out of breath
• You want to glow from the inside out
• You want to prevent diseases that run in the family.
• You want to show a good example for your children.
• You want to FEEL GREAT!!

You created a life from NOTHING….thats amazing! Your body is capable of doing amazing things, you have to start loving it for what it can do. If you start to listen to your body and feed it what it really needs (both exercise and food) the weight loss will be a side effect. Mindfulness, moderation (although that word sucks lol) intuition, treat your body right. But eat that cookie too, its ok. Eat food because it nourishes the body, exercise because it gives you strength. 

Have an even keel approach not a quick one time fix, slow and steady really does win the race.

Learning to look at yourself differently can be hard, but take small steps to make positive changes both physically and mentally. If it means unfollowing all the #fitmoms with their midriffs showing DO IT! Whatever makes you feel good about yourself. You are perfect, you grew a human from scratch!!

Happy workouts mamas!

So I've been cleared for exercise...now what?!?

So you have been given the all clear from your doctor, now what do you do? In my experience, when I was given the all clear, my OB told me NOTHING about what I could and couldn't do regarding physical activity. He didn't check the health of my pelvic floor, nor did he check for diastasis recti. If he did check, he was wrong. He told me everything was great and I can get back to my normal routine. Now, Im not sure if he told me this because he knew I was a personal trainer or just because thats protocol. Even though I am a personal trainer, I wasn't 100% certain I knew what to do regarding postpartum exercise. So I tried getting back to my normal routine and that was a DISASTER!

It wasn't until I was struggling through my usual exercises that I realized something wasn't right so I started to do my own research into what I should be doing or what was wrong. There are some wonderful women and businesses out there which lead me to the discovery of diastasis recti and pelvic organ prolapse, along with a few other issues some women get postpartum. Links are at the bottom of this post.

Regardless of whether you have any or no symptoms postpartum, there are right and wrong ways to get back into exercise. If you have a weak/sprained ankle would you start jumping up and down on it telling yourself it will get stronger? No, you would start with rehabilitation exercises to ensure it was healthy before you started hopping on one leg. Well your pelvic floor and core are the same, they need rehabilitation (after the rest period) to start regaining proper function. 

5 Things to DO

• Belly/diaphragmatic breathing
• Walk every day
• Stretch out your hips/hip flexors/chest
• Focus on alignment in every day life, this could be when sitting feeding, standing doing the dishes or even driving
• Body weight exercises including SQUATS, LUNGES, GLUTE BRIDGES (focus on the breath whilst moving)

5 Things to AVOID

• Holding your breath while exercising
• Jumping/running
• Crunches/sit-ups
• Plank positions (including push-ups)
• Picking up/sitting with your baby with poor posture

Now, these rules are not going to be forever. BUT you need to be aware of your body and what it is telling you. Work with a pelvic floor physiotherapist to assess which stage you are at and with a personal trainer who knows about the woman's body postpartum. This way exercises can be integrated when YOUR body is ready. Forget watching the #fitmom and #pushyourlimits craze on social media Do what feels right for YOU and YOUR body!

External links;

Bellies Inc

Diane Lee

Jessie Mundell

Happy workouts mamas!

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

This time of year, when its cold outside, my favourite thing to do is sit back and enjoy a warming bowl of soup. There are so many reasons why soup is the BEST, but my main love is that they are soooooo easy to make AND they are jam packed with nutritious ingredients.

I was scanning through Pinterest for inspiration and I stumbled on a couple of recipes but non of them really hit the spot. Either they had too much sugar or added cream, which aren't great for you. So I decided to adapt and make my own recipe for this filling butternut squash soup. Its full of flavour and has just the right amount of sweet. You can top it with some greek yogurt and fresh ground pepper and ‘Bob’s your uncle’ a perfectly well rounded soup.

Honestly this soup is so easy, all you need to do is chop all the ingredients and throw it in the slow cooker. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 medium white onion
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 apples
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric

METHOD

Chop and peel the butternut squash, chop everything else (leave the skin on the apples) and place them all in the slow cooker. You can chop the garlic if you like but I put the cloves in whole. Add all the spices then pour in the stock. Set the slow cooker to high for 3-4 hours OR set on low for 5-6 hours. 

When the butternut squash is soft you can place the soup in the blender and blend till smooth. If you like it a little thinner just add some water to the blender.

Serve with greek yogurt and enjoy!