Yoga for your Pelvic Floor

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If you’ve ever been pregnant (which if you’re here I’m assuming you probably have) you will have heard of pelvic floor exercises. They’re pretty darned important (read more on why here) should you wish to hold in your wee for the rest of your days, so well worth genning up on.

Pelvic floor exercises are often called Kegels, named after the (male of course) gynecologist who ‘invented’ them. According to Wikipedia, “Arnold H. Kegel M.D., F.A.C.S. (1894–1981) was a gynecologist who invented the Kegel Perineometer (used for measuring vaginal air pressure) and Kegel exercises (squeezing of the muscles of the pelvic floor).”

Don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about the idea of having my vaginal air pressure measured, but I’ve also always found it rather amusing that a man *invented* the squeezing of the vaginal muscles (or is that just me?).

Since then, a random eminent french physiotherapist (bloke again. hmmm…) invented *his* own special brand of ‘negative pressure abdominal exercises’. Which yogis have actually been doing for thousands of years, but they use much more romantic sounding Sanskrit words like Pranayama (yoga breath), Mula Bandha (pelvic floor or root lock) & Supta Uddiyana Bandha* (lying down abdominal decompression)

I guide clients through elements of this Pranayama, Bandha & decompression practice as part of my MuTu System, but essentially it is a beautifully relaxing & highly beneficial breathing technique, which ‘draws up’ & contracts the pelvic floor muscles. It has the added benefit of helping you to really connect with & engage the vital core muscles.

A wonderful book I would like to recommend to you whether you’re pregnant or already a mum is Mother’s Breath, by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli – you can see more about her work here. I wish I’d been a student of hers when I was pregnant 3 & 4 years ago… possibly that helipcopter might have been avoided :(

So my advice today is:

1. DO your pelvic floor exercises. (PS. They’re yours, ignore anyone who tells you they invented them

2. Take just a few moments today to take some full, deep, yoga breaths into your rib-cage & your tummy, NOT just into your shoulders & throat. Without hunching your shoulders, fill your lungs, feeling your ribs & tummy expand. Then squeeze all the air out, pulling your pelvic floor up & your drawing your tummy button in towards your spine on the exhale. Do this a few times… you’ll be more relaxed immediately!

The above breathing practice is the fore-runner to the full Bandhas & decompressions of the abdomen, & can be done  safely at any stage of pregnancy or motherhood. Let me know if you like it!

And Relax…… :)

* Concepts reproduced with kind permission, Copyright Uma Dinsmore-Tuli: ‘Mother’s Breath’ 2006



Festive Pelvic Floor Exercises!

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Try your pelvic floor exercises in time to Christmas carols today! I’m liking ‘Little Donkey’ for the long slow ones, ‘Hark The Herald Angels’ for some quicker ones, & for the impressively toned pelvic floors & undercarriages amongst you, how about ‘Deck the Halls’ (I’m squinting a bit on the fa la la la…)

If you’ve forgotten how important these exercises are, as part of your pregnancy OR postnatal exercise routine, check out this previous post… or try skipping or trampolining for a quick reminder!

Keep squeezing ladies – these muscles matter!!

Pelvic Floor Exercises… So, SO Important

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If you only manage one pregnancy or postnatal exercise (& please do more!), then it has to be pelvic floor exercises. All pre/post exercise programmes should include these – if yours doesn’t – get a new one!

I’ll spare you the diagram (I’m guessing you know where they are!) but what do they do?

Your pelvic floor muscles act as a muscular ‘sling’ which supports your internal organs (it literally holds them in preventing prolapse), provides bladder & sphincter control & gives you better orgasms… So it’s pretty important.

If you’re pregnant now, you’re also going to need them to push your baby out.

Pelvic Floor exercises during Pregnancy are VITAL to keep your core muscles in shape as pregnancy progresses! If you have a vaginal delivery, strong muscles stretch more easily than weak ones, so a ‘toned’ pelvic floor has a better chance of avoiding episiotomy (cutting) & tearing. If you have a c-section, the pelvic floor is not spared I’m afraid – it will still have been stretched & put under pressure during pregnancy by the weight & gravity of your baby!

After your baby is born, postnatal pelvic floor exercises should be the first exercise you do – there is no time limit – start as soon as you can remember to! Many, many mums are all too familiar with ‘stress incontinence’: a slight leak (or worse) when coughing, sneezing, jumping, trying to run for a bus, laughing…

…and just like spilt abdominal muscles & a mummy tummy, a weak pelvic floor does not have be ‘just part of being a mother!’

Pelvic floor exercises (or Kegels named after the gynecologist who ‘invented’ them… how does that work?!) can be done anywhere, anytime. No one knows you’re doing them but you, & you don’t have to put your trainers on to do a set. You can be lying down, sitting or standing, in the car, in a meeting or feeding your baby.

How to do Pelvic Floor Exercises / Kegels:

Kegels are often described as stopping yourself from urinating, but are more actually more effective if you imagine you’re trying not to fart! Yes really – if you pull in your sphincter muscles, your vaginal muscles will also tighten. Then imagine you’re trying to stop yourself from urinating – try to differentiate & identify front, middle & back. Squeeze & release them from front to back, then back to front… (having fun yet?! ;-) )

Try quick squeezes, as you contract & release the muscles for just a second at a  time. Do this 10 times, rest for a couple of seconds, then do another 10.

Also longer holds. Starting with 5 seconds, repeated 5 times. Take a minute break then do the set again. You can build up to 10 second holds with 10 repetitions.

Do both types, & aim to do the whole set 2-3 times a day. Seriously, it might not feel like much, but these exercises are the differences between post-baby bladder control & wetting yourself! They’re worth it!!

Important to remember when doing pelvic floor exercises / kegels:

  • Don’t hold your breath! Try counting out loud to make sure you breathe
  • When you release, don’t push out or down, just let go
  • Make sure other, bigger muscles aren’t doing the work instead – there should be NO contraction in your backside, stomach or inner thigh muscles
  • Your pelvis, tummy, shoulders or anything else shouldn’t move – make sure you isolate the important pelvic floor muscles

Finally, if you’re having trouble identifying the right muscles at all, try doing the exercises at first sitting on a fitball (swiss ball), as this can help you to feel the contraction in the early postpartum weeks when you may have limited sensitivity.

Good luck & get squeezing!

Diastasis Recti & a Mummy Tummy: What Works?

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I am asked all the time: ‘HOW do I get rid of my Mummy Tummy?’ & ‘Is it due to Diastasi Recti?’

Well, partly, yes it is. Diastasis Recti is ONE cause of a mummy tummy, & you definitely need to address it for a complete solution.

SO WHAT WORKS?

Cardio? A bit, to lose some extra flab maybe, but it won’t address the root problem.

Pilates? You could certainly borrow a few core & postural principles from pilates … but some moves could even exacerbate the problem.

Yoga? Good for lower back strengthening, which will help relieve back pain & improve posture, but it’s not going to repair the mummy tummy.

Or crunches? NO, NO, NO!!

What is a ‘mummy tummy’?

That saggy, loose, flabby tummy that just doesn’t seem to go away after your baby’s born, & REALLY refuses to go away after you’ve had more than one baby!

Firstly, you need to differentiate between a flabby belly (ie excess fat over your tummy), & the mummy tummy which is partly caused by diastasis recti, a (perfectly natural) separation of the abdominal muscles during pregnancy which makes way for the growing uterus.

Incidentally, you may have a diastasis and a flabby belly, but we will deal with both, so don’t worry!

I’m going to cover the physiological process of diastasis, as well as an easy self test, in another post, but for now, we’re going to look simply at what works, & what doesn’t! Obvious indicators that you have a diastasis, are a bulging, or ‘doming’ above or below your belly button when you contract your abdominals (especially if you attempt a crunch or sit-up type movement).

There are a number of important muscles you need to exercise (in the right way) to repair a diastasis, the most important of which is the transverse abdominus. This is the innermost abdominal muscle which runs right around your middle like a corset. It is attached both in front of, and behind, the rectus muscles (the ones that have split), so if you work the transverse abdominus (TA) correctly, your diastasis (the gap) will reduce, & stay put!

To start identifying & ‘engaging’ your transverse abdominus, you need to ‘belly breathe‘. Sit on a chair or cross-legged on the floor & place your hands on your belly. Breathe in, fill your lungs & let your belly expand. Then exhale, emptying your lungs, whilst drawing your belly button right back towards your spine. Keep your shouders down & your neck relaxed.

Now try doing this from all fours.

There are a number of visualisations which may help, (this is where it can be useful to borrow from pilates & yoga as well as restorative core work) :

Imagine your recti (the vertical muscle we’re trying to put back together) as a string attached to your pubic bone. Now use the string to pull your pubic bone towards your belly button.

Imagine ‘zipping up’ the gap from below the belly button, to above.

Whichever works for you, remember to exhale as you draw your abdomen inwards, & inhale as you allow your tummy to expand & your lungs to fill. Don’t raise & lower your chest (it’s all in the belly), don’t hunch your shoulders, & don’t hold your breath!

You will find that as you do this, your pelvis will naturally tilt forward as you contract the transverse muscle.

OK, now add in your pelvic floor (now we’re really multi-tasking!). As you draw in your transverse abdominus muscle, pull up your pelvic floor. Remember, don’t hold your breath, all these muscles work together best whilst breathing ;-)

Ready to get really clever? From the all-fours position, put a pillow between your inner thighs, & as you exhale, draw in your belly button and pull up your pelvic floor, squeeze the pillow between your thighs.

Do this 15 times, every day. (That took, what, 5 minutes??) & you really are on your way to repairing a diastasis recti & losing your mummy tummy, ‘muffin top’ or whatever charming term you refer to it as!

I’ll come back to this with more variations & more detail, but I promise you, identifying & learning to engage your transverse abdominus is the way to go.

Do not, under any circumstances, do crunches or sit-ups post-baby, & certainly not if you know you have abdominal separation.

Any crunching, rolling or jack-knife straining or movement will serve only to widen the gap & make the ‘doming’ or bulging worse. Some pilates moves will fall into this category, so avoid those ones for now. For the same reason, avoid crunches or sit-ups that work the obliques (your waist) in a diagonal direction, until you know you have closed the diastasis gap.

Strengthening your transverse abdominus & working your pelvic floor (because these movements work so well together it’s great way to remember to do your kegels) will repair a diastasis & close the gap. It will also help alleviate back pain, improve posture & increase pelvic floor control!

ps: not my tummy!!

look familiar?!

If there is extra flab as well (which if you’re post-baby, is a distinct possibility :-) ) then in order to see the difference, you will need to address your nutrition, & do some short sharp interval training (circuits) as well.

But your CORE is where you must start – so get belly breathing & ‘zipping up’ & find your pelvic floor… & you have the basis for the post-baby body you’re dreaming of!

Pregnancy Exercise Tips: What, How, Why & How Much??

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How do you build the stamina and strength required for labour, birth and beyond with SAFE pregnancy exercise?  You can prepare your body to cope, and to recover quicker, through preparation during pregnancy: by safely staying fit and healthy, and by working with your changing body.

Regular pregnancy exercise will improve fitness, maintain a better self-image, and help you to feel positive about your pregnancy, your labour and your delivery.   Don’t try to dramatically increase your fitness during pregnancy, (however you can start exercising now, even if you didn’t before – start with just walking, and some of the exercises in this post) but look to maintain a basic fitness level.

Modify your pregnancy exercise programme as your pregnancy progresses, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY, and don’t over-exert yourself.

There is no evidence to support the fear that pregnancy exercise increases the risk of miscarriage, premature labour or of congenital defects. All available evidence indicates that a low-risk pregnant woman, with the consent of her Midwife or Doctor, will gain significant health benefits from continuing or starting a regular exercise programme.

What Type of Pregnancy Exercise Should You Do & How Often? Aim for a balanced pregnancy exercise programme, including both aerobic exercise (when your body keeps moving and your heart rate is elevated for a length of time) and resistance training (to build muscle strength). Aerobic exercise could include walking, low impact aerobics, swimming or cycling. Try to do 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise, 3-4 times a week, and choose something you enjoy! Reduce intensity and/or duration as your pregnancy progresses.

A Fit Ball (sometimes called a Birth Ball) can be invaluable throughout pregnancy, during labour, and for exercising afterwards. Sit on the ball instead of a sofa or chair to maintain good posture and strengthen your core muscles (stomach and lower back). By focussing on sitting up straight on the ball you can help prevent backache and other discomforts caused by slouching and bad posture.

Try other positions on the ball to ease discomfort, and help your baby to move into the right position in later pregnancy.

Your pregnancy exercise programme should include strength training to tone and shape your body. Strength exercises will not give you big muscles, but simply strengthen the areas of the body most weakened by the postural effects of pregnancy, and your changing centre of gravity and posture.

The important muscles to strengthen during pregnancy exercise are your upper back (to prevent slouching), lower back and core muscles (for posture, support and strength) and the backs of your thighs and bottom (these muscles can get weaker and stretched during pregnancy due to postural changes).

The most important thing to remember when exercising during pregnancy is that weight loss, or reduced weight gain, should NOT be your primary goal or focus. You are exercising and eating well in order to be strong and fit, and to give yourself the stamina needed over the coming months… enjoy fresh air and exercise with this in mind, and you’ll look and feel great!

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