Restoring the floor.
Babies – I’ve had four and I would take every stretch mark that came with them but I will 100 % say that as mums we go back to having our bodies after the huge changes pregnancy brings, perhaps you longed to lie on your front, poo properly, not waddle when you walked, or just wear jeans.. but im sure like me you spent some time and perhaps years missing that beautiful bump.
I never got tired of a kick in the ribs, a jump on my bladder, a reminder there was a human being inside me that was something my amazing body grew.
But feeling how sore I was after my first I got to say I was worried it would all go back, worrying id wet myself or not be able to please my partner.
hahah honest chats but ones we all can relate to right?
These can be difficult conversations or things that can really trouble us,
The best advice in returning to a place of body confidence is to include exercise.
We need to think of the body as a core that needs to offer stability to stabilise our spine and protect our internal organs – these are precious, they are absolutely a necessity in most of them to keep us alive.
Our bodies amazing and the way we are built does just this – the axiel skeleton and the complex muscles and fascia around our trunk
In pregnancy the rectus abdominals separate causing the lina alba to become softer and more stretched and be far more visible.
As I said it won’t go back in the exact same way we need to add in exercises and breathing work to strengthen and knit it back together but sometimes some separation will always be there.
what then?
Then we must be able to manage our IAP – our intra abdominal pressure
Your diaphragm is at the top
Your transverse abdominis, internal and external oblique and fascia helps to create a cylinder so coupled together with your pelvic floor and your diaphragm we can create a powerful brace of the core
Focusing on how we breathe and how we recruit these muscles can help increase stability
Pilates can be a great way to slow things down and connect to these muscles so that you can improve the mind to muscle connection and improve function.
When creating this pressure we want to avoid bearing down so focusing on breathing diaphragmatically and engaging the pelvic floor, envisage sealing and closing and drawing upwards from left to right and from back to front like a purse string.
We also don’t want to think that planks need to be out of the equation postnatally but that any movement that causes us to lose pressure or dome through the lines alba is a sign we are not creating core stability.
If you haven’t really tried pilates or completed it consistently give it a go to help restore the floor, slowing things down can hep you connect and recruit these muscles.