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Okay, I get a bit giggly at my own cheesiness whenever I can work my last name – which is “Learn” – into a blog post. And now that I’ve got that tidbit out of my exhausted brain, I can tell you some of the AWESOME things I learned while on a roadtrip with Kelly Dean of The Tummy Team to Medford, OR to audit her accredited course “The Importance of Core Strength in the Prenatal and Postnatal Client”… This is going to be rambly because – hello! – I’m still on the roadtrip while writing this, and I’m going on 3 hours of sleep and way too much caffeine. Don’t hate.

Kelly Dean & Myself at her continuing education course

Kelly has been mentoring me for two years, and this was not our first road trip together. I love her dearly, and we talked the WHOLE time, and I got a ladybug in my pants and had to take them off to fish it out while she drove us at 65 down I-5, and I was privileged to spend 8 hours with some midwives, doulas, maya massagers, gyrotonix instructor, labor/delivery nurse… It was bliss to watch them take in this vital information on helping their lady clients find healthier flatter tummies through an understanding of diastasis and core anatomy. Plus I learned a ton!

One of the many great qualities of Kelly as a teacher is that she puts herself on the table and lets us feel her core! Where is the wordpress setting that lets me make this not be sideways?

I’m telling you, if you ever get a chance to take a road trip with a licensed physical therapist who specializes in your favorite topic, do it!!!!! I got to drive her prius and buy her coffee and – call me a Kelly groupie – but I was just there to soak it all in, let her teach me and watch her teach others. Sheeee issssss incrediblllllllllleeee!!!!

Kelly demonstrates how to check for a diastasis in a 30 week client… fun to feel the baby kick us!

This is how I write when I’m not trying to teach or make a certain point… and when I’m just really excited and when I’m low on sleep -slash- high on coffee (don’t worry, I’ve also been drinking lots of water) So here are random things I’m learning while I’m sitting here listening to her on my big, bouncy birth ball… Did I mention I slept overnight in a birth center? I really wanted to sneak a long, hot bath in one of those ginormous birth tubs at midnight last night, but I didn’t… sigh. ANYWAY, MOVING ON!

• Muscle responds quicker than connective tissue. The muscle rebuilding is going to make you feel better whether you have a small or large separation.
• SI problems, pelvic floor problems, and sitting a lot are co-related to a wider diastasis at the bottom above the pubic bones.
• If you have tight chest muscles (from nursing babies or too many pushups/planks) then when you stand up, and your ribs flare because your pecs attach to your ribs, then that will pull your diastasis wider at the top.
• If we challenge a weak muscle to the point where it fails and recruits another muscle to do its job, then we’ve taught that weak muscle to give up and pass the buck to another muscle. If we challenge a weak muscle to the point of fatigue and STOP before it gives up and passes the buck to a stronger muscle, then we’ve truly put our nervous system on notice that we want THAT muscle to do ITS JOB not wimp out.
• No muscle in the body needs to be fully engaged and tense all the time. (please no comments about how our brain is our biggest muscle) but we get stuck in modes of movement that force certain muscle to always be “on” and never relax which also creates dysfunction.
• There is much debate about whether a diastasis is a separation or a stretching or a weakness, and the terminology and hyperbole confuses the issue which is that people are INJURED and have trenches (my choice of wording for this sentence) in a muscular area that should NOT have a trench in it!!!! Can we just stop arguing as experts, and all bring our stuff to the table and respect that [most of us] are genuinely wanting to help our clients get better? Kelly is really good at not arguing the jargon, so this is MY own observation, not something I learned at this workshop.
• For some people, mental sanity is more important than their physical health. Kelly and I both feel strongly that if someone loves to run, but it’s tearing them apart, we’re going to help them run in the safest way possible because we recognize that it feeds their soul. We just want it to be an educated choice and have the information of what it’s doing to their body and why it’s contributing to their pain and health issues.
• Midwives in workshop reporting that their pilates instructor, bike riding, kickboxing clients have the hardest time RELAXING and letting baby out thus ending up with c-sections because they are so TIGHT from being good at activating their transverse but terrible at dissociating their TvA from the PC mucle. “It’s like you’re squeezing the toothpaste down but the cap is still on!” LOL!
• If it takes 21 days to learn a new skill or habit WITHOUT stress, pain or small interruptions of the two-legged, begging, drooling variety… then how can we expect a mom in labor to suddenly find and activate her god-given girdle muscle to assist her uterus in pushing out baby…
• The pelvic floor has both fast-twitch (sneeze!) muscles and slow-twitch (constant gardener) muscles, and we need both of those fiber types to be strong but not short/tight for us. A true kegel is a lift (targets slow-twitch) and hold (fast-twitch) but we ALSO need to learn how to LET THAT MUSCLE GO
• Final thought: Nope, no more for now. My brain is fried, and what happens in Medford, stays in Medford!

Oh my goodness, I could keep writing and writing and writing… This was 8 hours of amazing information, some new, some old, some a rethinking of what I already know, some very mind-blowing to me. And this is a workshop with a woman I talk to ALL the time. I feel like I can always keep “learn”ing … can’t we all? Goodbye, Wise Women & Trillium Waterbirth Center! Thanks for hosting us!

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

‎A new member recently posted in our private member forum: “I’m a mother of 2 with my second pregnancy ending in a c-section as a result of my diastisis that went unnoticed (the midwife at the delivery was appalled that no one had addressed the problem, yet had little advice to offer me afterwards). Having a diastisis of at least an 8 at the widest (and I’m a petite person), many professionals that I saw wanted to steer me towards surgery, perhaps, or pass me off to some one else. In the months following delivery, I finally became educated as to how to deal with this issue, and was amazed at the lack of knowledge in this area exhibited by those I saw. Having just joined Fit2B Studio last week, I wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate all the thoughts/comments being posted.” – Fit2B in Maine, Samantha

When I shared her comment on our main facebook fan page, a friend of mine, Donna in Washington, added another thought: “This makes me wonder about a few things. I’ve had 4 pregnancies, 3 beautiful boys. My last 2 pregnancies I was on bedrest (6 weeks and more than 20+ weeks). The doctor believes that my pregnancies will continue to be tougher on my body. Do you think if I got my tummy repaired by tummy team that this would change?”

Several who have healed their bellies under the care of Kelly Dean, Founder of The Tummy Team, commented that they believed Donna could definitely benefit from healing her abs. My answer to Donna took a more “spiritual” angle that I now want to share with you because I sometimes struggle to find words to sum up my belief that our Creator never meant for women to suffer with the hopeless darkness of diastasis recti. And we see that proof in our how bodies are designed. Here’s what I wrote…

“YES, I do think that healing your core will dramatically affect your future pregnancies. When there is a large diastasis, the abs simply cannot do their job correctly, and the effect on how the baby is carried, how the baby is positioned for birth, how well you can push, how your bladder is pushed on, and perhaps even how the placenta is held in place (my own unresearched theory) are all factors that come into play. Yet the core is heal-able! We don’t have to settle for those problems. Our loving Creator designed us to carry many children, and I don’t believe that “Eve’s curse” damns us to suffering forever AFTER birth. We are created to heal! It’s our fallen world’s patterns and positions that perpetuate cycles of unhealth and unhealing. When we look at the intelligent design of how our bones are supposed to align and naturally engage our bodies without CRAZY workouts, you see the hope. That’s why my site’s stuff is so alignment-based and focused on loving, functional movements.”

If you’re a member, you really need to try our new “Align it Flat” routine which is not about flattening your spine but about getting a flatter tummy just by positioning your body in the proper load-bearing stance so that your belly isn’t bulging out with effort all the time. If you’re pregnant right now, you need to read my article entitled, Three Exercises for a Strong Birth.

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

I follow a page on facebook called Made to Birth, and she asked a question: How do you go with your body? What do you do to be tuned in to birth? For me it always goes back to fitness, because that’s how I’m wired and trained to think. Babies and workouts are my two biggest passions, so here is how I answered her…

“As a pre/post natal fitness specialist, I must answer this awesome question from my experience. From what I’ve seen in myself through 3 pregnancies and in other women, the more a woman exercises in safe ways, the more in tune she is during the ultimate workout of birth. She is unafraid of a little cramping, a little rush of pain. She knows the payoff is worth it, and she knows her limits. Each contraction is just one more set in the workout, one more exercise in the routine. And we breathe… and we tune into our core’s deepest muscles, and we summon strength we didn’t know we had to bring forth a healthy NEW life! Okay… I gotta go blog this!”

Most of my members come to me hurting and injured. They are recovering from birth or being beat up in bootcamps – military and gym style – and they realize they need to start at the beginning because they are finally tuning into what their body really needs: progression.

Just like labor starts with a tiny twinge, a braxton hicks tightening of the transverse, then a tenseness that wraps around the belly and into the back, and then a menstrual cramping feeling in the low belly, and all of that builds and fades, builds and fades, builds bigger and comes quicker, over and over… So a workout routine must start small. Fit mamas know this: You don’t get pregnant and give birth the next day. There is progression, development, growth, adaption, and then you’re ready for the biggest workout of your life. Keep reading below…

Founder of Fit2B Studio, Bethany Learn, STANDING during a gnarly contraction after climbing out of the tub. Her sister is giving counter-pressure. She's at 6 cm and it's 90 minutes before her son's birth.

It’s a workout that is exhilarating and painful and emotional and rewarding and difficult and wonderful and you’d never want to do it again anytime soon, but maybe you do because WOW! That is how my two natural births felt. I was in tune. I knew the power and the push was all me. I was as strong as the contractions because I was the contractions. It was my birth, my children, my womb, my core muscles working in unison to bring forth LIFE!!!

Birth is the day of the race that you supposedly have been training your body for. There is a warm-up, then the interval training with the peaks of contractions and the rest in between, then the burner set of pushing and – just like at the gym – sometimes we yell to get through those final reps. We call on spotters and assistants to stand beside us and support the weight we are pushing … And then it’s over, and you’re cooling down and shivering with the excitement and adrenaline of muscles that have been pushed to their max. Only, unlike the gym, you don’t just move onto the next set – unless you’re having twins.

Just as a life starts as a microscopic joining of egg and sperm and grows into a human ready to breathe, cry and crawl to the breast… AND just as birth starts as a small flex and grows into the biggest marathon event of your life, so your workouts should start small as you get going. And that’s what we offer here at Fit2B Studio: Progression. You start with short, easy workouts that are safe for if you’re dealing with injuries like split abs or sore knees (because it’s really not safe to just go right into Turbo Fire after having a baby). Then you move forward through over 50 more videos that will build your strength, challenge your endurance, and lower your body fat percentage OVER TIME. It’s all about progression and tuning into your body’s pace, your body’s rhythm, your body’s needs. Are your ready? If so start by checking your belly for a diastasis!

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

This is an interview with Mommy Baby Spot‘s Darlene Watson. A birth educator and mother of two, she is also a member of Fit2B Studio!

Bethany: Welcome Darlene! You are very passionate about helping moms have healthy, fit births. Can you tell us little about your own births? 

Darlene: My own births are what made me decide to be a childbirth educator. My first son was born in 2009 and I labored for 9 hours, pushing for an hour. I had a wonderful midwife and she was incredibly supportive, but my son put up a fight and was born with his hand up at his ear. I didn’t even know that was possible! I had attended childbirth class, but it didn’t really prepare me the way I wanted it to because it was a quick, 6-hour long weekend class that I just couldn’t absorb.

After giving birth, I was fascinated with childbirth and breastfeeding, but it was a general fascination, and I didn’t really know how I wanted to be involved. I got pregnant again and gave birth in November, 2011. That birth experience decided me on being a childbirth educator. I had not gone to classes this time (which I recommend you at least take a refresher course for each birth) and wish I had, but the only thing available was the hospital class which I knew I didn’t want.

Darlene nursed her baby while "walking" for her graduation!

During the labor and delivery, my wonderful boyfriend supported me the best he could but my doctor ended up strong-arming us, and I gave birth on my back, feeling very helpless and furious that I was in that vulnerable un-helpful position! Once I recovered my wits about me, I told myself that no woman ever needed to go through that type of birth and that I would educate as many as would let me. Since then I started the process to get my International Childbirth Education Certification, my Breastfeeding Counselor certification, and started teaching Courage to Birth childbirth classes… Oh, and I graduated college about a month after giving birth the second time.

Darlene: I can see the difference when a woman has good posture and core strength and is pregnant! She doesn’t have a lot of the pain and discomfort because her body is able to handle the weight of her baby and she is able to properly stand and support that weight with the proper muscles. Hooray for a good pelvic floor and core! Her belly isn’t hanging down with the weight of that baby–like mine was with my second pregnancy! Instead it’s supported and standing out proudly.

During birth, she knows how to stand to make the most out of the opening in her pelvis and her stomach muscles are in shape to help push that baby out! Birth is the most rigorous thing most women will ever do and having that core strength can make the difference. I also need to mention, if she’s been doing proper core exercises (i.e. NO crunches), and her core was in great shape before pregnancy, and she has been standing properly, she’s going to bounce back from that pregnancy and birth much faster than a woman who is suffering from diastasis, prolapse, incontinence, and other problems that occur when there isn’t that strong core and pelvic floor holding up what it was supposed to hold up.

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

Please welcome Wendy Powell, MuTu System Founder and member of Fit2B Studio. Wendy is a fellow crunch-free advocate, and  - while Fit2B Studio offers ongoing TummySafe™ Fitness – Wendy’s 12-week program will help you put your core back together even YEARS after babies. 

I am so delighted to be asked by Bethany to write a guest post here! We had already found each other online as ‘kindred spirits’, sharing our passion to help women (Moms to be precise!) to look & feel better. It’s a simple enough sounding mission statement, but to me it sums up what Moms don’t get from the mainstream exercise & diet industry. I believe that the vast majority of workouts & diets aimed at moms, or articles about celebrities & their amazing weight loss… do us a disservice. The exercise & diet industry don’t get that we’ve got no time. That we’re exhausted because kids don’t always sleep when we’d like them to. They don’t get that we’ve lost a little bit of our Mojo as well as our waistline & so need support & motivation, as well as instruction. They forget we have fussy kids to feed as well as well as make spirulina smoothies. They have no clue what pregnancy, childbirth & mothering has really done to our bodies, let alone how to restore & strengthen it. So we pick up a magazine looking for inspiration & it yells ‘Do Yoga!’ ‘No, Pilates is all that will get you a flat stomach!’ ‘Go to Boot Camp!’ ‘Get a ripped body – do a thousand crunches’. Stuff like that. So now we can add total confusion & feeling more than a little inadequate to all the aforementioned… That’s why I created MuTu System.

I have been training pregnant women & moms for a decade, & as well as knowing all the technical stuff I’m supposed to know, & quite a bit more I just wanted to know, I had 2 kids in the middle. Wake up call!! Birth Plan Schmirth Plan. I was airlifted in a helicopter with paramedics, had a series of highly icky postpartum procedures & lost pints & pints of blood. And everything but the helicopter… happened both times. That lavender oil burner didn’t get a look in. MuTu System does get what birth does to us, physically & emotionally. It gets how long it takes to put us back together. Very importantly, it knows how to, with an specialist expertise in diastasis recti, pelvic floor restoration, postural realignment & functional core strength. I also know, firsthand & from the hundreds of women I have worked with, that we can put ourselves back together.

A mothers’ abdominal & pelvic floor muscles stop working as well as they did when she has a baby (however she has it). They stretch & they shift & they kind of forget what to do. But in order to teach them, we have to learn to love them. I have worked with many, many women, & the feeling of ‘cutting off’ from everything *Down There* is very, very common. Down There used to be about fun. And when you’ve just had a baby, it ain’t much fun for a while… sometimes a long while. MuTu System puts YOU back together again. It works on putting your head and your body back in the right place, in order that you can heal & feel like you want to feel. It doesn’t matter how long ago you had your babies.

If you’re a Mom, you need someone who knows what happens to a mom’s body when she has babies. And then after that you need someone who knows how to fit very effective, very efficient, multi tasking exercise & healthy eating into a busy Mom’s life. For the long term, & with a family & a job & a life. Me and Bethany get that, and we are at your service, Ma’am xx Wendy

A closing note from Bethany: Heal and feel like you want to feel… doesn’t that sound lovely? If you have been told to just accept how pregnancy changed your body, or if you’ve been told that your lot in life as a mother is now to sacrifice your health and fitness to spend more time with your kids, just take a moment to ponder those lies. How can you be there for your kids when you are falling apart? Wendy offers a truly amazing rehabilitation program that you can do from the comfort of your own home. It can be integrated with our Tummy Safe Path, or you can come see us after utilizing her program, and we’ll help you continue to progress. And unlike many other trainers out there who still think crunches are the answer, we won’t hurt you again.

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

Whether you get an epidural or not, birthing a baby takes strength and power. If you think you’re going to experience a few contractions that will just hurt a little bit, and then you’ll get an epidural and lie there until the doctor or midwife says to push… or if you think that you’ll “try” to go natural and you might “try” squatting… or even if you are planning a c-section… well, labor and delivery and recovery – no matter what type of birth you are hoping for – will take the MOST stamina and endurance ever required of you!

Founder of Fit2B Studio, Bethany Learn, in labor with her son. She has just climbed out of the tub, and she is STANDING during a gnarly contraction! Her sister is giving counter-pressure.

If you go natural, you’ll need to be physically prepared to change positions, sitting, standing, squatting, kneeling on all fours to work with your body and baby as the rushes move your baby through the birth canal. If you have a c-section, your abdominals will be cut through, and the stronger they are before that surgery, the faster of a recovery you’ll make. If you have an epidural, you still need to practice perfect pushing … and it’s NOT like pushing out a big poo!

(the BLUE words are links that will take you to some amazing articles on our site and others, so click ‘em!)

Knowing how to push right, having the strength to be in the position that is most comfortable for you during contractions, being connected to your abdominals so your core can work for you and not against you – ALL of that is KEY to a successful strong birth! Here are three exercises you can work on NOW for a better birthing experience.

Squatting

I squatted at various times during both of my natural hospital labors. It was part of my very long type-written birth plan, and the doula-trained nurses were ready for me! With my daughter, I used a squatting bar. With my son, I had one arm around my husband’s neck and one around my best friend’s neck while I squatted. My husband later said he was worried about me tearing his head completely off as I roared our son into the world.

How relieved I was to scoop my boy up into my arms! See my bestie and my hubby holding me in a sitting position? See the squatting bar?

Don’t assume you know how to squat just because you’ve watered a forest floor at some point in your life. It would be awful to come out of delivery with no tears “down there” but the start of a tear in your knee cartilage! Good squatting form is something to practice and build strength for PRIOR to pregnancy and during your pregnancy. It takes muscle, endurance and a little know-how so you don’t wreck your knees while giving birth.

• The Goddess Pose from yoga - This is great if you can center your knees over your feet. Your knees and feet should both be aligned WIDE, just outside your hip line. If your knees are wider than your feet, then you are asking for cartilage damage. Find and practice this BEFORE labor so you sink into it naturally when the urge comes. Again, don’t assume that getting an epidural means you won’t be doing squats. Many friends of mine who got epidurals were still placed in squatting positions by their nurses when baby wouldn’t come down.
• Ball on Wall – lean against a ball against a wall while doing regular squats, so that your body is upright and you don’t increase your diastasis by leaning forward too much (good to lean forward during birth and while “spinning babies”…not good to lean forward a lot during exercise while pregnancy. READ: no planks, mamas!). Be sure you can see your toes peeking out from under your knees. Squeeze your glutes on the way up. Tighten your core on the way down. If you feel any knee discomfort, adjust your stance.

Transverse Tightening

Take a deep breath and let your belly expand with air. Now exhale and pull your navel inward toward your spine. This “vacuum” or “sucking in” motion utilizes your corset muscle, formally known as your transverse abdominus (TVA). During pregnancy, your TVA gets very stretched out, as do the rest of your ab muscles, causing a natural diastasis recti (split in your six-pack). Your diastasis will close MUCH faster if you find your transverse, work it, connect to it, use it during labor, and start using it again right after birth. Tightening your transverse is more important than crunches and planks, because this is your flattening muscle that assists the uterus in pushing during labor.

Your TVA is also the muscle you want to focus on while binding your belly after birth! Many moms will see their pooch after baby comes and “feel fat” and immediately think crunches and/or planks are the answer. That is so far from the truth, and if you have a trainer who thinks that a postnatal body should do crunches or planks, sack ‘em because they aren’t up the current research! Before and after birth, your TVA is your best friend for getting your hot body back! Check out these articles on avoiding crunches and the role of your transverse abdominus.

• This article by the Colic Calm Journal has some great info about TVA, crunches and diastasis, but I disagree with not laughing during pregnancy! Also, she talks about how front carriers make diastasis worse (my Ergo helped mine!)
• This is a research abstract that studied “The Effects of an Exercise Program on Diastasis Recti Abdominis in Pregnant Women” as published in the Journal of Women’s Health Physical Therapy Volume 29, No 1 Spring, 2005 
• The MuTu system in the UK has some amazing info on this condition as well! She has a stellar 12-week program for moms who are ready to heal their diastasis and start implementing fitness as well!

Side Bridge

Okay, this is one of my favorite exercises of all time. I was able to do it clear to the end of both of my pregnancies, and it’s a great alternative to the plank or crunches. It won’t make your diastasis worse, and it works your triceps, shoulders, medial glutes, obliques and more muscles than my fingers can type right now! What’s more, the side bridge has so many modifications that you’ll never get bored. We feature many side bridge (sometimes called the side plank) styles and alternatives all over in our Maternity Mix workouts! Our new mama members just love them! Do them on your elbow and knees, or on your elbow and feet, or on your hand and knees, or on your hand and feet, or add side leg motions, or hold a dumbbell and …. you see? Who needs crunches????

Bethany having fun doing side planks with Chris' boys on the set of "Robot Yoga"

You have the strength to carry a child on the inside, and you’ll have the strength to carry that child on the outside if you keep your body AND your mind strong. Your body was CREATED to give birth, to bring forth life, to nurture life. You’ll know what to do in each moment of birth and beyond, but will you listen to yourself?

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

Just like having an injured shoulder changes how you lift weights with your arms, the same is true for your abs, and a very common injury known as diastasis merits major changes in your core routine. However, I can’t begin to number how many personal trainers, group fitness personnel, and dance instructors whom I have personally spoken to that don’t know what a diastasis is, how to train around it, or how to check for it. What is even more terrifying is the complacency I see among certified trainers and instructors who think they have already arrived and know everything there is to know about the core. If you are a trainer or instructor of any sort within the fitness, therapeutic, dance, aerobics, strength training or athletic communities, consider this your call to action: Find out how to check for diastasis and learn some alternative exercises for those who have it.

This is an awesome, catchy, new campaign slogan being put out by one of the leading ab rehab experts, and I hope you saw the LIVE Press Briefing that aired on ustream at 10 a.m. on December 5th, 2011. If not, here is a quick video we filmed about how to check your belly yourself. Diastasis Recti has been tied to stress incontinence (peeing your pants when you laugh, jump, sneeze, or cough), chronic lower back pain, bowel troubles, the infamous mummy tummy pooch that we are starting to see in men (beer belly), and more!  Please, please watch this for your own health!

If you do have a diastasis, which is a split in the outermost abdominal muscles, or if your clients have one, you need to avoid forward forceful flexion of those muscles which causes them to split more, at least until the connective tissue has healed, and you need to strengthen your transverse abdominus (god-given girdle). Removing the injurious activities and re-cinching the underlying muscles will ensure that the injury does not recur. Not too sure? Think you’ve got a pretty strong core, and you don’t need this? Try the simple test in this video…

Those videos were filmed at Fit2B Studio with guest expert, Kelly Dean of The Tummy Team. Our founder, Bethany Learn, has trained with Kelly and worked with her to offer a line of tummy-safe workouts on this site. Bethany experienced the damage and strain of diastasis herself after thinking she was buff enough to ignore the warnings against crunches during pregnancy. After three pregnancies and not being able to get her core totally back the way she wanted it, Bethany went beyond the basic training she had received through her AFAA certification and her degree from OSU, and sought to understand the missing link. Read her story of core transformation by clicking here!

If you are currently working with a personal trainer, take time to inform him or her of this important public service announcement. I would not be surprised if every trainer out there has at least a small diastasis, because of how much direct core work that most trainers and instructors do, thinking that it will make their abs stronger. Many are taught how to check for diastasis at a full crunch flex, but we don’t live our lives in a full crunch, walking around all hunched over! We live our lives with our abs relaxed, so the above “how to check for diastasis” video shows a more accurate way to check. Guys can get it, too! Watch this video!

If you as a personal trainer are not interested in hearing what I or your clients are telling you about diastasis and how it tragically affects a woman’s ability to fully recover from pregnancy and a man’s ability to recover from surgery, hernias and more…If you can’t design a workout minus crunches or planks, please make a change today. Learn how to check people’s bellies; it’s no more invasive that a caliper body fat pinch test. Learn how to work the core without crunches and prone positions. It will bring MORE clients to your door, not fewer. Contact me if you are taking the n0-crunch pledge so I can add you to a growing list of tummy-safe providers worldwide. This is not about brand and business, this is about people…helping people! Stay tuned for an upcoming blog with lots of great non-crunchy core exercises. I only want to help get the word out.

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

Being pregnant and having babies ruins our waistlines…Getting older ruins our waistlines…Eating too much ruins our waistlines…Or does it? These framed photos on the wall of my favorite local antique shop caught my eye. They’re from a bygone era that didn’t have photo shop, but perhaps they were still re-touched or re-drawn a bit? Well, I posted the picture on  my personal facebook wall with a comment that said, “These old dames had healthy TVA’s… No crunches back then.”

Just watch any old black and white movie, and you'll see how tiny their waists were back then!

Of course, my beloved FB friends instantly chimed in with some funny and some serious replies which I love! One said, “…healthy bodies don’t usually look like these drawings or the girls in magazines. Real women with healthy bodies usually have a little more girth and–you know what?–it’s sexier anyway!” And one posted this picture on her wall and tagged me in it, saying, “For Bethany: happy, active women from a bygone era.”

The poster said, "Note that despite their well formed figures non of them appear to have a "gut" so to speak, and they all have a bit of a waist as well…

These women are happy and moving and enjoying life. I doubt they did any pilates or yoga – let alone crunches – and they do have a waistline, something that has virtually disappeared from the middles of modern women. I’m all for embracing who we are, but I shudder at what the lack of core control — which is directly related to the shape and state of our bellies — does to the rest of us. A weak transverse abdominus (TVA) is physically linked, not just to a distended and pregnant-looking belly, but also to bowel problems, incontinence (peeing pants), lower back pain, and even sexual disfunction. I just don’t think we are supposed to accept THAT part of being human when we can DO something about it.

These women have let their middles go! They are not just overweight, but they also have weak cores.

What’s amazing is that it is the women who do NOT do crunches or  direct core work who have the strongest and smallest midsections. I’m not saying they don’t exercise, though. Research is pointing to how crunches bulge the belly (try one and see what your tummy does). crunches are a waist of time (get it?) because they do more harm than good, and who has time for trying to tone one muscle at a time. These tribal women have excellent cores, and I’d bet they’ve never done a single crunch. Belly dancing really is good for your baby belly, by the way.

See the hourglass figures? That is a sign of a fairly healthy core.

Unfortunately, I see more and more women AND men who are skinny or even buff all over, but they have these mysterious pregnant pooches. I, even I, used to wonder why: were they just storing extra fat around their organs? Were they bloated? Were their muscles torn? It’s the last one. Their TVA is torn.

This woman is not pregnant, so what is going on with her belly?

It’s been stressed from pregnancy, overstretching, sitting at a desk too much, leaning forward all the time, or even sliced during surgery. The connective tissue that is supposed to be holding them together in the middle has thinned out and separated into a diastasis. Here’s a fun one, guess which Twilight wolf has a diastasis?

Just look at the vertical line in the abs of each wolf. Jacob's looks alright, but the linea alba of the middle man has a wider split in it. Not good.

Okay, stop drooling over the Twilight boys. This is supposed to be a wholesome blog for moms, so some of you will have to forgive me for that last one; I just couldn’t resist. I’d love to talk with that guy about his abs, though

My workouts that are marked as “TS for tummy safe” are all safe for guys and gals who have experienced abdominal trauma including surgery, extreme sports, pulled muscles, umbilical hernia, diastasis, irritable bowel syndrome, c-section, or just dunlap disease. Dunlap disease is where your belly done lapped over yer belt

Okay I’m done now…

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Kim Vopni has two boys, and she is the founder of EPI-NO Canada. We met through a twitter conversation about the damage that crunches can do, and I learned that she has been trained in diastasis recti rehab. Kim holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario and a Post Graduate Diploma in Health and Fitness from Simon Fraser University. She is also a Trained Post Partum Doula which has many clients referring to her as The Fitness Doula. I was delighted when she consented to an interview for this blog, and the information she provides here backs up so much of what I’ve become passionate about!

1. If you had five minutes with a mom who hasn’t got her body back after having her last child years ago, how would you encourage her?
There has been so much mis-information or lack of information out there to help women regain the form and function that is often lost during pregnancy and childbirth. Women are doing what they think is right – the crunches, the bootcamps, the triathalon training but they are really creating more dysfunction in themselves and continuing to be discouraged by what they see in the mirror. They have not failed, they have just been misguided. If I had 5 minutes I would tell her to stop doing crunches of any kind and I would teach her how the core breath to allow her to engage the core correctly and encourage a return to normal function.

2. If you had five minutes with an expectant mom who is due in two weeks, how would you encourage her?
I would focus on teaching her what I call core breathing. I would advise her to work on learning to relax her pelvic floor (part of the core breath) and I would recommend she start doing perineal massage or using an EPI-NO. I would suggest positions for birth that use gravity, that allow the sacrum to move and that are more supportive of keeping the perineum intact.

3. You are known as @FitnessDoula on twitter, so what differences do you see in the birth experiences of moms who are in shape compared to moms who are not as fit?
I am a trained Postpartum Doula so I do not attend births. Most women become clients after they have given birth and it is my experience that women who incorporate exercise into their life before and during pregnancy are better prepared for the demands of childbirth. If you are conditioned and if you train your body in preparation for pregnancy and birth you will perform better and recover quicker. That being said, super fit people are not immune to the dysfunction that can develop in pregnancy. Women, and often super fit women, can often have a hard time relaxing so they develop a weak and unstable core because it is always ‘on’ Women often hold tension in their pelvic floor and when it comes time to give birth, if they can’t relax, the baby will meet that resistance and they are more likely to tear. Training for birth involves strengthening and stretching but it also involves relaxation and visualization.

4. Moms are encouraged to buy many things for their babies, but why should a mother invest in certain products for herself to improve her fitness and wellness for birth and beyond?
I’ve heard a line used many times over the last couple of years and it is almost overused but it is true – ‘like putting an oxygen mask on yourself first before helping others, you need to take care of you in order to take care of others.’ I think many women go into birth with fear but also with an attitude that ‘it will all work out in the end – my mom survived, millions of others have survived so I’ll be ok’. The reality is that while the women may have survived, they are now alive and suffering and often suffering in silence. Pregnancy and birth are miraculous but they can create huge dysfunction and health care professionals need to play a bigger role in educating women on how to better prepare, better perform and better recover. If part of giving birth better means investing in some physiotherapy sessions or in a pelvic floor product or in an abdominal support/exercise program then I believe that should be a priority. Core and pelvic floor dysfunction can be devastating and costly both time wise and financially. Paying for proactive, preventative products or services is well worth it in my opinion.

5. What is the best thing a mom can do to heal her core and get strong again after having a baby?
If I had to pick one I would say Rest Rest Rest – especially during the first week. If I am allowed to add to that I would say;
Breathe (in alignment) – you can do this seated or lying down so call it active rest – this coordinates the breath with the pelvic floor and the deep abdominals (the transversus abdominus)

• Become aware of posture – make sure the tailbone is not tucked under and that the posterior pelvic floor is not gripping. The bottom of rib cage should be in line with front of pelvis
• Wear a wide and comfortable abdominal binder. (Haven’t found the perfect one yet…) NOTE: an abdominal binder is not going to magically shrink your waist – it will help heal the connective tissue and encourage the abdominals to move back together but the key is to wear it as well as do your core exercise.
• Avoid mommy bootcamps!!!
• Avoid running and other high impact activities for 6 months
• See a pelvic floor physiotherapist within the first few months

6. What is your favorite core exercise and why? What is your least favorite?
The core exercise that I love is the bridge. I love it because it works the glutes which most women need, it can be done anywhere, it works well with the breath, you can add a ball between the thighs to incorporate the adductors, you can progress to lifting one leg off the floor… the possibilities are endless. It is also one of the exercises in the Pfilates (Pelvic Floor Pilates) program that I think is great! My least favourite core exercise is the crunch – it encourages a poochy tummy, it encourages rounded shoulders and forward head and it puts pressure on the pelvic floor – need I say more?

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!

It is common for women to bind their bellies after giving birth in many cultures around the world, but it is not as common within our luxury-comfort-driven society where we tend to avoid unfashionable and uncomfortable items even if they are good for us. Wrapping the stomach with a splint after giving birth, after losing a lot of weight, or after abdominal surgeries like c-sections or hernia repair can really help the abdominal muscles to pull back together. I got my splint through my physical therapist, Kelly Dean, but you can also order a FitSplint. Carrying your baby with a wrap can also be beneficial. Read this research abstract {click} about how wearing a belt helps the core activate and reduce lower back and leg pain!

The result of NOT supporting the abs during and after pregnancy is a wider diastasis that is harder to heal from because the more your abs separate, the longer it takes to pull them back together. A diastasis occurs when the fascia connective tissue of your abs separates in the middle at the linea alba. Your linea alba is the vertical trench of connective tissue that holds your middle together – the vertical line in a six-pack. During pregnancy, obesity, surgery, or other activities that stress the abdominal wall like gymnastics and swimming, the linea alba can be stretched to cellophane thinness, leading to a pooch that won’t go away no matter how many crunches you do! The sad part is that most people will think this pooch means they are fat, not injured. And YES GUYS GET IT TOO!

A weak transverse abdominus that leads to thin connective tissue in the rectus abdominus (six pack) where it splits apart is indeed an injury called a diastasis (die-ass-tuh-sees), and crunches will only make that pooch worse because they bulge the abs, not flatten them. Just like any other severe connective tissue or tendon injury, a splint and rehab are needed for this injury to the stomach wall. The happy part is that the injury is by no means permanent if you bind your belly and realign your body, but the sooner the better. I’m a believer because  via splinting and six weeks of ab rehab, but that was two years AFTER having my last child. I wish I had done it sooner, because I suffered through several years of blaming my babies for stress incontinence, lower back pain, and my baby belly … And I wasn’t as strong as I could have been. If I had bound my belly and known how to target my transverse abdominus prior to having kids, I would have been that much more of a powerful mom! But my college degree and aerobics certifications literally left out the TVA because they only focused on the six-pack and the obliques. I had to hunt this info down for myself!

Source: figure8maternity.com via Linda on Pinterest

One thing to note is that splinting and binding your belly will only be truly effective if you can strengthen your core muscles at the same time. Think of a splint like a walking cast: Doctors realized that when they put hard casts on people with broken ankles and kept them off their feet, the unloaded bones didn’t heal as fast. If you only splint and don’t remind that broken tissue what it’s meant for, you won’t heal as fast! If you have a really big gap, then you need to splint while learning new alignment and some simple core exercises to really get your core back and flat! We have incorporated diastasis-safe training into nearly all of our workouts, making them “tummy safe” because so many are unsure of where to go after they are done healing. If you believe that you may have a diastasis and not just a bunch of belly fat, please find a licenced ab rehab professional in your area to learn more about how you can heal.

 

So where do you get a good belly splint or binding?  One my members bought a Golds Gym brand wrap from Walmart and then freaked when she read the label:

“Warning: this product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm….”

There are several good abdominal splints on the market that don’t contain cancer-causing agents. I dont’ endorse any ONE particular belly binder because I think it’s important for men and women to have CHOICES in splinting. One splint might not work for everyone due to body shape, alignment and life patterns. So here are three that I have found to be good for most people. If you believe you need to splint, choose the one that resonates best with you.

Here’s the splint that Kelly Dean sells at her place of business (3 & 4 panel style, velcro in front, best for “apple” shaped tummies) … CLICK!

Here is Tupler’s Splint (new design March 15, 2013) (3 arms, velcro in back, still gathering data) … CLICK!

MomBodFitness has two FitSplints for both prenatal and postnatal (silicone layer, velcro in back, 2 arm, best for “pear” shaped tummies) … CLICK!

If you aren’t yet a member, please subscribe to our newsletter to get a free 10-minute “Totally Transverse” routine that you can just click play and watch today!

 It’s not that we want your core to always be “tight.” Rather we want to recommission your deflated core into service again! Binding the belly allows the separated sides of the abdominals to re-approximate closer together to further healing. It’s hard to stich together fabric that is being pulled apart. Kelly Dean of The Tummy Team recommends splinting when a diastasis is 3 finger-widths or wider, and she also made a strong case at her continuing education workshop for splinting to help post-partum depression regardless of presence of diastasis recti.

Splinting does the job of the Transverse Abdominus (TvA or corset muscle) but it isn’t wise to splint without strengthening the TvA, otherwise true healing cannot take place. I like to say that wraps aren’t a sign of weakness. They’re a sign of wisdom. No one would deny a cast to a person with a broken leg and tell him, “Oh just stand right, and keep your leg muscles tight, and it will get better all by itself!” Um, no. your belly is truly broken, and it needs that extra support. When the two sides of your abdominal wall have separated to 3 finger-widths or more, your belly will have a really hard time “getting a grip” again. It’s an injury, and it needs support!

 

 

Thank you for reading the Fit2Blog today! What are your thoughts about what you read? Please leave a reply or a question, and be sure you’re taking advantage of our amazing TummySafe™ workouts!