Detailed Notes on Exercises



So with abdominal separation, or what's called diastasis recti, many women ask, what exercises should I avoid? And how can I prevent it from getting worse? Well, if you want to keep up in a fitness class, either online or in person, there are some common abdominal exercises that are often the ones that women are nervous about. So keep watching this video, I'm going to give you those modifications today. So diastasis recti, is actually very common. And there are a lot of great things that you can do if you want to avoid surgery. And in many cases of surgery is not necessary. But if you're doing the right type of program to heal and strengthen that area, it can get better on its own with consistency, in most cases, it will heal but it does take time and it takes some patience, when you're itching to do a fitness video, maybe at home, or you just want to move or go to a new class, then there are specific things that you can do to actually make the diastasis recti die, kind of come back together, heal that area, strengthen that area, and also feel just more supported. So it can be daunting to do those new things and do a video online. But I'm going to teach you today some things that I find with my clients that are very helpful in helping heal it in this video will give you some modifications that can be very effective. And also difficult enough that if you're doing these over time, it can definitely help with the healing. So what is diastasis recti? Well, that separation between the rectus abdominus more your superficial abdominal muscles, you have connective tissue that goes down that the midline in the center there. And for many women, they will see this almost 98% of the time, during that third trimester of pregnancy where your belly is growing baby's getting bigger, and you're seeing almost that tenting or domain little pooch down the midline if you go from lying down to setting up. So this is not to be concerned as many women will have this heel in that postpartum stage in the first six to eight weeks. But if it doesn't, and you're still seeing that protrusion seeing that bulge that doping, when you go from lying down to setting up and it's been at least six to eight weeks postpartum, then there's certain exercises that might be a little bit difficult. And also, we'll continue to have you see that tenting or domain when you're doing abdominal exercises. So you want to build gradually and get back into those exercises. Down the line when you can work on your breathing with those deeper muscles called your transverse abdominus muscle, it really is that deep part of your core and helps support your spine and your whole abdominal wall. So common fears I hear from the moms that I treat as a pelvic floor physical therapist, many times they're afraid of twisting type of exercises, they're afraid of extension and really stretching back maybe in a yoga class, or they're worried about having both legs up in a certain position because they're seeing more of that tenting and domain. Now, it's not to say you can't do twisting exercises, we lose rotation during pregnancy. So it's important to go ahead and return to some gentle exercises for mobility and working on your flexibility again and getting that rotation back. But if you're doing like bicycle curl, anything that straining and more of a rotational movement with resistance, then yeah, your abdominals might not be quite ready for that. And there's something better that you can do. But you shouldn't be afraid of rotation, I have been able to teach lots of mums how they can do rotational exercises. But a flexibility exercise, if you go back to one of my other videos on thoracic rotation, and how to do that safely. That's a great flexibility exercise to start doing.

So I'm going to go through a few common exercises that I see women should maybe avoid at first and we can gradually work up to that if you're working on a specific program to help heal the diastasis are working with the pelvic floor physical therapist, then these are some great modifications for being able to still do that fitness class and participate. But you can just dial it down and change up some of your movements too. So the first one I'm going to talk about is a B setup. So it may look like this. Keep in mind I had a pretty severe diastasis with four fingers you could fit in that space about 10 years ago when I had my second baby. So now when we do V sit-ups, and you're doing an exercise like this, also can be done in Pilates. But you're really see how that's a long lever with those legs moving up and down, takes a lot of strength through your core, your abdominals and that deeper layer. And many times that will be too much pressure, and you'll have some pushing out there. So what you can do instead, on your back, you can put the legs up and we call this tabletop position in Pilates, your knees are bent like a 90 degree angle, shins flat, like a tabletop. And you want to keep your back flush with the surface that you're on on the mat. And we're just going to reverse taking one leg down at a time. And so for a pretty severe diastasis, or if this is also very newly postpartum in the first three months or so, this one, you may still see that tenting or domain, you put your hands here and see if you can fill it. If that's still too much, then you can go just one knee at a time. You want to maintain that abdominal contraction with your exhale and breathe. Imagining you're pulling those sides of your superficial abdominals together. And using your hands can be a great cue. But I love going into just some basic marching. So you're contracting the muscles as you lower the leg. Or if you want to make it a little bit harder, you can go from here and take your time, feel those abdominals contract and maintain that pressure. So you're not holding your breath, but you're exhaling as you lower the legs. So a reverse March is a great one to put into play if a b Sit up or anything with both legs out, is given in an exercise class another one prone planks. Now, this is another exercise that many women kind of fear after seeing that tenting domain seeing the abdominal bulge, so going into a plank in any position, if you're going to do a fitness workout, or even in yoga, there are some great modifications on what you can do instead. So I have two modifications for this one. First one is a hover hold. So you're on all fours. I'm going to place my toes underneath me, and I'm just lifting my knees up. So my back still stays flat. But enough that I'm going to breathe and exhale as I draw in those deep abdominals.

Inhale, you kind of let your belly fall out. And then in exhale, pull the abdominals in towards your spine.

You may feel like your quads are working a lot on this when you lift your knees. And if you do, and you don't feel it as much in your abdominals, then shift your weight forward over your hands a little more. It's a great workout for your shoulders, your core, and also just has you focused on the breathing with the right muscles engaging and pulling in. If that's too hard for you, no worries, I've got to another great modification, you can actually go into a side plank is better than a prone plank. So I find that this keeps more control. It also works on your hips and goes from one side to the other to be able to work on just taking out one side of your strength and being able to work on one hip versus the other and see which side might be a little bit weaker to that you can focus on. So going on to a side plank, you'll have your knees stacked one on top of each other. You're raising up here, and you're still going to work on your breathing. So notice you can place your hand over your lower belly. Inhale, fill your belly kind of come in near him. And then exhale, draw your navel toward your spine. And see if you can hold that for like five to 10 breaths. If that's really click here hard for you, then start slow. Just start off with a few breaths and you can build yourself up. But I love side planks in that position because you can use your hand to kind of control see what you're doing. And you can isolate one side versus the other. So that's a modified side plank. Next, I love push ups but this can be a lot on the core muscles. And so going into a full push up might be too much for you. So I have a modification for this, you can go in an inclined position. So from here I'm going to show on a box how I would do it or you can go against a wall if you're just starting and you want to get the breath with the contraction of your deep core muscles. By showing a box I'm in an inclined position so you can see I'm not all the way down and I'm going to take my legs out wide for even more support. You're going to tuck your bottom underneath you. And you can go down to the point where you can keep your hips in line with your shoulders. And then you're going to exhale, engage the muscles through your abdominals on the way up. So you're really working your core on the way up, try few of those. If that's too hard, go over to a wall, and you can modify their next one, traditional setups. So from here, this is another one, that sometimes women fear because they'll see that tenting domain bulging out there. Instead, we're going to place the arms down by your side, you have one leg bed, one leg straight, and I'm going to do a straight leg lift. Now every time I lower my leg, I'm going to think of exhaling and pulling the abdominals in, and creating almost that extra little emphasis of cueing from my hands on my ribcage of thinking of exhaling and drawing those areas of the rectus abdominus muscle together, inhale up, exhale down. So this can be done instead of a traditional setup exercise. Then last but not least, I see this one all the time and kind of makes me cringe because you're really just focusing on your oblique muscles when you're doing a bicycle curl. So they're having you go side to side and rotating your upper body, not so great, because we're just overusing our obliques. And that creates a lot of extra pressure and tension on a diastasis recti. So instead, we're going to still be on your back, and you can do that core bracing, doing your exhale as you lift your hips up. So we're going to go into a bridge here, inhale as you lower, and then exhale, engage those muscles and lift through your glutes. Notice that I'm not letting my ribs poke out, I'm going to keep my ribs pulled in. And use your breathing with your exhale when you lift, inhale as you lower. So switching to a bridging exercise is going to be much better than doing trying to do those bicycle twist type of crunches. So those are five different modifications that can be really helpful for changing up your routine. If you're getting back into some fitness classes or online workout videos, but not quite sure what to do with your core. Or maybe you just avoid it at all costs, you can do these instead. That will help the abdominal wall and working on your breathing and just starting there is a great way to really help diastasis recti and seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist who is going to guide you in the right direction. So I hope you learned something from this video. Which one will you try in your next workout? Comment below and let me know. And if you haven't subscribed already, please subscribe to our level for Women's Health Channel. Lots of great exercise videos, Pilates exercises, and info about postpartum recovery. So thanks for watching.

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