How to tighten your tummy
Regularly attending sessions is the best way for you to see and feel progress
You can’t do a exercise that will reduce tummy fat = where you store fat is partly to do with genetics, where you have fat cells currently – think of these like carrier bags that we can fill with stored energy – once you get to the shop and you have filled your bag, then you need to get a new one to continue to fill with your shopping. Once you have brought that carrier bag it will take forever for it to decompose. well our fat cells are similar, once you empty fat from them they will remain ready for when they might be used again and your body will make more if you need to store more stored energy. These fat cells will dictate where your more likely to store fat – eg around your middle. where these empty storage bags are or if your bags are full your body will make more.
Our hip to waist ratio often increases as we head closer to the menopause or middle age which can be symptom for metabolic syndrome.- This is a cluster of risk factors specific for heart disease,
How you breathe affects your core – as you inhale the diaphragm that sits just under your rib cage will flatten which pushes the air down into your lungs this expansion allows the pelvic floor to relax.
As you exhale out this allows for the diaphram to recoil back to its starting position and allows for the pelvic floor to lift.
The key is to not just suck your belly in but to relax your pelvic floor and let your belly slightly distend as you breathe in, and then engage from the bottom of the core, the foundation of the core IAP, the pelvic floor, lift it like a purse string, from left to right and then from back to front, try and think of both movements and lift up as you exhale, this should cause the belly to draw in, as the transverse abdominis which looks similar to a corset.
Many women – Many many women have had pelvic floor dysfunction at some point in their lives or are currently living with this but how we breathe can really help us engage and strengthen our pelvic floor but also help create tension – intra abdominal pressure that can help lower back pain, strengthen our core and draw everything up and in!
Excess skin from losing body fat may sit lower on to your belly and there’s little we can do about that other than wear high waisted leggings or just embrace it
It can be one of the last places we lose body fat from and actually having a sick pack is something that many disordered influencers have and its not worth the trade off – being constantly hungry or having a low libido in pursuit of abs,
I know for me, I started to feel hardness underneath my belly fat, a muscle tone that wasn’t there before and little lower back pain niggles improved after having my son Zac
Sucking in your belly can also help make you feel your a little leaner – we can often see perhaps a picture of someone holding it in for dear life – men usually because the compressed air usually is stronger at the upper and middle abs and this then pushed down on to the lower abs and sometimes the pelvic floor creating a little bowl of air.
Be patient, know that some foods will make you more bloated, some bloating through the day is NORMAL as is bloating around your period pr after surgery perhaps.
but Embrace feeling stronger, less back pain, and increased or a improvement in pelvic floor function.
Know that your beautiful with or without a flat tummy.
My belly button looks like its been through world war three but its ok because my babies are totally worth it,
Celebrate feeling more confident, wearing a bikini or a belly top, or just having the lights on, have realistic expectations and focus on your breath ladies
b xxx
