So Glad You Asked!!

New Mums ask me all the time "How soon after I have the baby ( babies) should I start exercising?" The most proper standard answer is after you have your 6 week check up with your doctor or midwife. After that I believe if you can get yourself and your baby ( babies) ready and to your fitness destination and you still feel like moving then you are most likely ready.

When I was pregnant I felt as big as a house, a giant house. An apartment building actually. To be fair, it had been used as rental property to three tenants at one time or another. And even though I made a fantastic landlord (clean, non smoking unit, no view but centrally located!), I had no problem evicting each of them in just under our 9 month lease.

Although their stay was relatively short (honestly some days I thought they would never vacate the premises!), none of them left their unit in as good as condition as they found it. The combination of normal wear and tear (ouch!), plus some damages that occurred on moving day meant that to maintain my property value (and my sanity!), I needed to fix the place up!

Our bodies, just like our homes, come in all shapes and sizes and range from new builds to the seemingly condemned. Some require minor repairs, perhaps a fresh coat of paint for curb appeal while others, like mine, include cracks in the foundation and a leak in the basement. Regardless of the size of your home renovation project, all you need are the right plans, tools (see what I did there?), a little inspection, some labour (too soon?) and if you need it, the right contractor to get you up to code and make you feel RIGHT in your home!

The Home Inspection: Let me be your contractor!
Engineers know to view the whole house first to determine which areas need to be a priority. They do not paint the shutters before adding support beams in the basement.They also know when to do the work themselves or when to go to the pros! It is important to think integratively when addressing your body as well. A great-looking house will still fall down if there are structural damages.

Checking the FOUNDATION
A little D.I.Y…

Diastasis recti is a fairly common condition of pregnancy and postpartum in which the right and left halves of Rectus Abdominis muscle spread apart at the body's mid line fascia, the linea alba.

[Photo credit: befit mom.com]

Self test for Diastasis Recti (no hard hat required)

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent, and soles of the feet placed on the floor.

2. Place one hand behind your head and allow the weight of the head to fall into your hand, (like a coconut in a hammock!) to provide support for your neck.

3. Place the other hand on your belly button, with your fingertips across your mid line.

4. Relax your abdominals, (gently breathing in and out helps) and gently press your fingertips into your abdomen.

5. Exhale and slowly roll forward encouraging your shoulders to lift off the floor,(this helps determine if your muscles are moving) while you travel your fingertips 3 inches towards your rib cage. Inhale, and slowly lower your head back towards the ground while you travel your fingertips 3 inches below your belly button.

6. Move your fingers back and forth across your midline, feeling for the right and left side walls of your rectus abdominus muscles as you continue to slightly move your ribcage and your pelvis together and apart.

7. If at any time you feel a pulse (that is likely your organs) or see a round, hard or painful bulge protruding from your belly button area, consult your doctor.

A Hole in the Wall (do not PANIC! 99% of all women have some separation after birth!)

If you have a separation of more than 2 1/2 fingers, you have a diastasis recti that the medical community agrees needs some attention. DRA is a separation of the right and left sides of the rectus abdominis muscle (think your 6-pack muscle) from the linea alba (line of connective tissue that runs along the front side of the abdominal wall from your sternum to your pubic bone) often seen in pregnancy and postpartum.

"A professional assessment will also examine whether or not the sides of the abdominal wall are moving as well as the condition of the connective tissue." If you want to learn more about the anatomy of the core check out befitmom.com/diastasis_recti.html.

There are many strategies for retraining your muscles and repairing your diastasis. Don't worry though, you are not alone! Post partum women require specific core exercises when healing a diastasis with pelvic floor issues and fixing up alignment issues. Luckily, (sippy cup 1/2 full!) this is the hot belly button topic of the day for physiotherapists and personal trainers alike.

There is no concrete (I can not help myself) evidence that certain core exercises can return the abdominal muscles back together completely. All professionals do however agree that there are exercises and activities that can make an abdominal separation worse PLUS are not healthy for the spine or can hinder pelvic floor (the basement!) rehabilitation. This includes ANY FORWARD FLEXION: think crunch or believe it or not getting up from a lying position, regular push ups (without consistent abdominal bracing), yoga poses such as cow pose, all back bends and certain belly breathing (due to the fact that they stretch out the abdominal muscles) and do not forget heavy lifting. Depending on the diastasis, sitting and standing is considered heavy lifting! Before heading back to any fitness or yoga class you must be able to engage the deeper muscles found under the belly button and the pelvic floor muscles. If you lay out the welcome mat…here is where I come in! Try the Core workout in the next section.