Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there! For my gift this year, all I wanted was a few hours this morning to write this blog. I have had thoughts floating around in my brain for a while, and now that pregnancy #2 is public, it is time to spread the word about pelvic floor health.
As most of you know from the post about my stomach last year, diastasis recti is actually a very common issue although it looks differently on everyone. For me, my stomach physically sticks out. For other women, they don’t even know they have it or maybe they only see a really difference after they eat. And for some, you can actually see a hole in their stomach. Two things have helped me accept my own stomach situation tremendously:
1)In the grand scheme of life, I know this is a very small thing. I practice gratitude each day (just like I teach my students) and keep that perspective in balance, always. I know I still have the right to get sad sometimes, but I keep it in check pretty well. We are beyond blessed over here at the Ryan’s house of boys.
2)I try hard to accept and love my stomach, but it isn’t easy! I was ready to embrace the loose skin and scars but wasn’t ready for a protruding stomach. However, I eat clean, workout, and feel confident about what my body CAN do. I have broken some old records on workouts from when I was training way more hours than I am now. While my abs do effect some of my lower body lifts, I still regained a lot of strength there and my upper body came back even stronger. I feel like the rest of my body not only looks good, but it is functional, which is the ultimate goal. When you make a goal to be able to DO something, you body naturally follows in a healthy way. Therefore, I do have a lot of positive self-confidence, even with my frustrations over my stomach. I am so grateful for CrossFit and for these mental strategies that I have gained over the years. This mental toolbox full of both mental and physical strategies helped me lose over 50 pounds from my pregnancy but in a slow and healthy manner. Most importantly, I remained pretty confident through it all.
However, CrossFit gyms and coaches, along with postpartum bootcamps and workout programs need to really understand what diastasis recti actually is and change how they guide their clients. I am still so angry about the lack of information out there. I had no clue; none of my coaches knew how to guide me. I took it slowly on my recovery back, but I did not have the correct tools to do it right. There are so many messages out there about supporting active moms, which is great because people get scared when they see pregnant women doing any type of fitness. However, there is not nearly enough guidance and education to help women navigate this road correctly. Yes, we should all be doing some type of fitness, but, in some cases, there is a misguided message in CrossFit that make women feel that have something to “prove.” I never gave in to that pressure myself; however, I would have liked a lot more actual knowledge on how to prepare and recover from having a baby besides just ‘listening to my body.” I mean…..I had a 9 FINGER GAP and was CLUELESS along with every single person around me at CrossFit and every doctor that I went to see. This went on for months. I listened to my body and didn’t hear a peep.
With the second pregnancy, I will “know better and do better” and this brings me to Brianna Battles, who has had her own journey with diastasis recti and an umbilical cord hernia. I was so lucky to be able to connect with her (thanks to Ashley Cecil) and she has single handedly saved my sanity. She helped me figure out which exercises I should and should not be doing while I was in PT for my stomach. For about 2-3 months I had to lay off some certain movements and needed help figuring out how to navigate which ones.
For the most part, everyone knows my story of getting my 9 finger gap down to a 2ish finger one. A huge thank you to my awesome PT, Amy Drean. Months after all this went down Brianna found even more answers when she met Julie Wiebe, a PT that changed the way she thought about everything. This is where some changes in pregnancy #2 are going to come in play. After purchasing and working through Julie Wiebe’s online courses I have learned two things:
1) You don’t have to live with peeing yourself just because you have had a baby. While I don’t have this problem, millions of women do and there are ways to fix this- but it is going to take some work.
2) I may be able to improve my gap even more!! I thought I was going to be stuck where I was forever, this may not be the case- but it is going to take some work.
I have worked on changing my alignment, how I walk up the stairs, how I pick up Chase, and how I breathe during lifts. I have been working on this for a few months and let me tell you it is NOT easy. Old habits die hard. However, like anything, you have to work hard for results!
I want to set up my pelvic floor and my abdominals to actually work together to be strong to support this pregnancy and my recovery. These two working together is very different than JUST having strong abdominals. Brianna is basing her entire career as a trainer around helping women with these issues. I plan to hire her to write my recovery programming this time around because I will “know better and do better,” as she says :)
Here are my resources. Please send them to all the pregnant ladies/mothers you know or anyone that coaches women in any type of fitness industry. The doctors and nurses often don’t tell you any of this, as they are focused on other things. So, I will never stop trying to educate women on how to heal their bodies the right way from the start.
Here is where you can buy the online courses:
http://www.juliewiebept.com/
Here is Brianna’s website. She also has a FB page: “Everyday Battles” you can follow
http://everyday-battles.com/
Here is one of her recent posts:
When I was pregnant, I was praised for being healthy and fit. I was continually told how easily I would "bounce back" because of my training. I was told (and believed) that listening to my body was enough during this phase of life. The message of "keep doing what you've always done" played in my head daily.
No one EVER mentioned Diastasis Recti, or pelvic floor health to me. Not a single coach, Doctor, woman, practitioner. And despite being in the fitness industry, I didn't know either. Again, I believed that I was fine because everything felt fine. That's just not good enough information.
THIS is why I haven't shut the hell up for almost 3 years now. Cuz no one else around me was talking about this side of fitness.
This mindset carried over into postpartum- "You're cleared! Just ease back in to normal activity," so I did.
Again, that's just not good enough information.
Pregnancy and postpartum require specific training and rehabilitative protocols. Don't let any coach or practitioner give you the easy answers.
What you've always done is NOT necessarily what's best for optimal function, strength and recovery. #buzzkill 🙋🏼
Even the fittest, strongest women need a game plan. Incontinence and a weak core should not be an accepted norm...whether it's during pregnancy, immediately postpartum or years postpartum.
What you DO and what you DON'T do during these chapters have lasting effects.
Have questions? Need guidance? First, SEE A WOMEN'S HEALTH/PELVIC FLOOR PT. Second, I have a variety of coaching services (individual, group and online) that educate and empower women to move well with their function and strength in mind.
Email: Briannabattles@gmail.com
#knowbetter
#dobetter
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