Power Your Pelvic Floor

We breathe in and out about 22,000 times a day. The breath is the foundation of our system. You wouldn’t build a house without laying foundations first would you? Our diaphragm, pelvic floor and deep core (transversus abdominis) all work together in unison. Learning to optimally connect and coordinate the ‘360 breath’ not only will get you one step closer to stronger (and flatter) abs, but will also relieve pressure on your pelvic floor and abdominal wall to aid diastasis recti, incontinence and prolapse…naturally! First things first...stop sucking in! I'll tell you why...

retrain the breath

TIP #1

Daily I get asked: "what exercises can I do with incontinence, prolapse or diastasis recti?". While exercise selection matters a little, it matters more HOW you are doing an exercise and even activities of daily living, such as sitting at a computer all day (one of the most common complaints I have from clients of symptoms feeling worse). Having pelvic floor awareness and what it feels like to bear down is the first step. How to optimally manage intra abdominal pressure (especially in harder activities) and learn how to breathe under a brace will serve you well not just in exercise but the hard tasks of motherhood! 

KNOW YOUR PELVIC FLOOR AND MANAGE PRESSURE

TIP #2

Ab contraction matters! Research found a higher co-contraction of the transversus abdominis (deep core) and pelvic floor in women without pelvic floor dysfunction than those with PFDs (higher recruitment of the more superficial ab muscles in the latter). What does this mean I hear you say? Well how well you can recruit your deep core muscles evenly from lower abs (from pelvis) to middle (belly button) then upper (ribcage), makes a difference. Here's a challenge: see if you can engage your lower abs throughout the day without your upper abs gripping, and therefore putting pressure down on your pelvic floor. It is harder than it sounds!

FIND YOUR LOWER ABS

TIP #3

Let's not beat around the bush, pregnancy adaptations mess around with our alignment from head to toe. While there is no such thing as perfect posture, there are things we can do throughout our day and during exercise to help alleviate bothersome symptoms and strengthen our abdominals. One of the biggest culprits I find for mums leaking and with prolapse is bum clenching and tucking! Holding too much tension in the back of your pelvic floor will actually make symptoms worse so learn to let go ladies. Your bum (glutes) are best friends with your pelvic floor so keep them in check! This is just one area of focus - we also cover spinal mobility, pelvic orientation and forward head posture in Strong, Free & Lifted - remember the body works as a unit!

STOP THE BUM CLENCHING

TIP #4

Put simply, for a healthy pelvic floor we need happy hips! While a level of imbalance in our hips is normal - we are not symmetrical creatures, life is not symmetrical - when it starts to cause us pain or pelvic health problems then we want to address it. Our deep hip (external) rotators in particular can cause issues for our pelvic floor so we want to focus on strengthening other surrounding muscles and working on different movements to help bring more balance around the pelvis. We need strong glutes, adductors, and hamstrings. In relation to our pelvic floor, think of our bum as 'best friends', adductors as 'anchors' and hamstrings as our 'helpers' and check out the video!

find balance and strength in the hips

TIP #5