As promised, an update on my postpartum journey to heal my pelvic floor and diastasis recti. For those of you following along for awhile, you saw my first post on the 10 week program I had started back in January. If you haven’t read that post yet, head over there for a point of reference and for an interview with women’s health personal trainer Ali Frendin. Ok, I know it’s been a lot more than 10 weeks since January but life happened and I actually had to re-start the program after missing two weeks and losing progress. Today I am recapping what my physical status was before the program and the all progress I saw throughout the program!
BEFORE starting Real Fitness for Mum’s Ultimate Core Restore program, I had 2 full term pregnancies and 2 vaginal births. My diastasis recti (separation between my abdominals) was 2 fingers wide and 3 fingers top to bottom, right behind my belly button. Especially after my second was born, I also began to have a few issues with my pelvic floor. The most annoying one being that if I sneezed with a full bladder, some pee would come out! Yikes! This is NOT normal regardless of what anyone has told you! I also seemed to have lost the elusive A-spot I talk about in the previous post that used to be there during sex. My brain was also completely disconnected from my glutes. What I mean by this was that I could not consciously contract them apart from one another and they were very weak!
AFTER only one week into the program, I was sneezing and no pee came out! This was so encouraging! By the second week, that A-spot I was telling you about magically reappeared. This was not even something I had thought would be a possibility, but it makes total sense! As for my diastasis recti (abdominal seperation), it did not close with the program, which was not necessarily the end goal, although I think it is a little narrower. Ali talks about how CLOSING the gap is not as important as being able to withstand intra-abdominal pressure and the transference of load and tension. I CAN say that I barely have to think about it anymore and I feel in control. When I am picking up my kids, exercising or getting up off the floor, my brain has been programmed now to pull up my pelvic floor and activate my transversus abdominis (TVA). This was probably the most amazing part of the process for me. I went from being completely out of touch with my pelvic floor, TVA and glutes to not even having to make a conscience effort during strenuous activities. I feel so empowered now to continue to strengthen my body post partum, knowing that I am not causing any further damage to my pelvic floor or DR. I may always need to modify “normal” exercises such as crunches, planks, burpees, sit ups, push ups and heavy weight lifting exercises if I can’t withstand the intra abdominal pressure these exercises cause but I’m okay with that, knowing I am doing the best thing for MY body. Another side effect from the program was that I noticed my quads are bigger/more defined as well as my arms and back muscles. I have also become a lot more in touch with my glutes which I am continuing to work on strengthening.
How do you know if this program is for you? This program is for women of ALL ages and stages of physical fitness. If you had your last baby 6 months ago or 16+ years ago, this program is for you! If you have never exercised a day in your life this is for you! If you worked out throughout your whole pregnancy this is also for you! Also, this isn’t just for women who had vaginal birth, if you had a cesarian, this is for you too! Pelvic floor damage and abdominal separation can happen to anyone who has been pregnant or has been under immense physical stress like heavy weight lifting and crossfit. If you have any type of incontinence, stress, urge or overflow incontinence, pee or poo, basically leaking of ANY sort during ANY activity then you can benefit from this program. However, if you have Pelvic Organ Prolapse or a hernia you should see a Pelvic Physical Therapist before starting this program. Signs of POP are an uncomfortable heaviness, loose or fullness sensation inside vagina or rectum or a dragging or bearing down sensation, difficulty peeing or pooping properly, painful sex, difficulty inserting a tampon, or keeping a tampon in, or feeling like something is in your vagina or something is “falling out”. Ali explains all of this in her program.
I cannot recommend Ali’s Ultimate Core Restore program enough! She lays everything out in detail and makes it easy to understand. She teaches how interconnected your pelvic floor is to your entire core and most importantly how to reprogram yourself to BREATHE correctly during daily activities like picking up babies and toddlers and during all types of exercise! Ali also gives you access to video tutorials which really helped me as a visual learner! I have not been paid to promote Ali’s program. It is simply something I have benefitted from immensely and I hope you do too!
