This is a question that one of my clients asked me when she first started training with me.
She was an interesting case and a good example why it is ‘never too late to start’.
More about her in a minute.
So many thing happen to your body , and your life, during this ‘postnatal period’. For one, you cherish the quiet times like never before…
But seriously, your body goes through huge changes and it takes a while to undo these changes.
Structurally, your pelvis and ribcage move. Functionally, some muscles take a while to wake up again and get moving.
Unfortunately, unless you get the right muscles moving from word go, you can potentially set yourself up for some problems in the future.
Onto my client..
Juliette was referred to me by her obstetrician. She was four years postnatal after having her second baby and things ‘weren’t quite right with her abs.’ her words.
On my initial assessment I found that she had very little pelvic floor activation and virtually no control. She also had a four finger abdominal separation at the widest point just above her belly button.
From an exercise point of view, Juliette was doing high intensive classes 3-4 times per week include HIIT, Barre and a few others.
What she had done was to train her body to use all of the external abdominal muscles to stabilise her mid-section instead of her deep tranverse abdominals.
The problem with this is that these muscles aren’t designed to stabilise for long periods of time and when they got tired, she was getting back pain.
Fast forward 6 weeks and guess what…
She has no back pain.
She has great control of her pelvic floor, not just in basic activation but in dynamic movement patterns also.
Her abdominal separation…down to two fingers.
She no longer has those little accidents (leakage).
If she had just came to see me sooner, we could have made those previous four years much more comfortable for her. However, she has changed the way her abdominals work now and she couldn’t be happier.
This is her words:
‘Lyndon has trained me with his foundation programme and i have noticed a huge difference in the appearance of my stomach in only a couple of months. Lyndon created a personalised, detailed programme, tailored to my needs of having a large diastasis recti. His focussed approach has ensured i have specific exercises for bringing these muscles together whilst also concentrating on the internal muscle strength.’
Juliette, mum of 2
So when does postnatal end?
When you sort out the problems caused by having a baby in the first place…
If you need some help, no matter how long it has been since your last baby, I am here for you.
I am in the process of finalising my small group coaching programme.
If you want some help, just contact me here and I can let you know when this is starting.
Take care,
Lyndon
