Things You Ask Thursday! #5
Alright friends, I am ready to share this simple yet effective ab routine I have been doing! Are ya ready?! Let me just say I was scared out of my mind to start doing ab exercises postpartum. I knew I had done my best to maintain some strength during pregnancy but I had (still have) a long road to recovery. It was somewhat inevitable that I would experience, Diastasis Recti. For those that do not know, Diastasis Recti is the separation of your abdominal muscles- very common during pregnancy- especially when you are pregnant with more than one baby! Now, I am a personal trainer, not a physical therapist. In my personal trainer's course, we barely touched base on Diastasis Recti. By no means am I an expert on this condition! In fact, I reached out to a few of my friends who are physical therapists before beginning any ab plans to get their opinions! It's important to take it slow on abdominal exercises after having a baby(ies) because some exercises can actually make your separation worse! I was waiting forever to post this because I wanted a nice backdrop and for the photos to be crisp and nicely edited. Then, yesterday I was like screw it! I'm taking these photos myself while the babies are napping and I don't care if they are perfect! This is my real life and the real me. I'll stop babbling- let's get into these ab exercises! Exercise 1: Heel Slides Lie down on the floor with your leg flat. Slowly begin to slide your heel towards your glutes as your knee begins to bend. Slide your heel back down until your leg is straight on the floor. I started off doing 5 reps x 3 sets on my right leg and then 5 on my left! That was around 2 months postpartum. I now do 15 reps x 3 sets per leg at 7 months postpartum. Take your time with these and give your muscles a chance to build back up! Exercise 2: Bridges Make sure your feet are under your knees. Tighten your core and your glutes. Raise your hips up to create a straight line from your knees to shoulders. Squeeze that core of yours! Try to pull your belly button back towards your spine! I started off doing 10 reps x 2 sets at 2 months [...]