If you’ve taken class with us, you know we start every single class with our Pump & Kegel activation. If you’re a regular, you may find yourself getting bored with this repetition. If you are brand new, you may find yourself extremely frustrated with trying to understand what we are talking about!
No matter where you are in fully grasping this foundation, we assure you, it’s the single most important thing you are doing for your pregnant or postpartum body. Our goal at FPC is to make sure you are going through pregnancy with minimal aches and pains and that you make a complete recovery, postpartum.
Devoting as little as 4 minutes a day to breathing into your diaphragm, feeling full range of motion in your pelvic floor and deeply connecting to your transverse abdominis muscles is the key to minimizing the risk of diastasis recti (abdominal separation) and pelvic floor dysfunction.
It’s also important to take the time to separate the 3 elements of this process every time you do it. If any one of them isn’t functioning properly, you are jeopardizing the entire system.
#PumpAndKegel in 3 Steps
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Breath into your diaphragm. (The opposite of a stress breath where you see your shoulders rise and fall with every breath. Send the air, deep and low)
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Sense the muscle of your pelvic floor. Practicing feeling them engage lightly as you exhale and release fully as you inhale.
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Exhale and lift your pelvic floor again while adding a lower abdominal activation. Think of zipping up your entire abdominal wall from the bottom up. (If you are pregnant, imagine hugging the baby as close to your body as possible)
If you are curious to learn more, join Joanie in one of our monthly, “Protecting your Core for Birth and Postpartum” where we’ll cover:
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the anatomy and function of the “inner core unit” (aka the muscles you need to continue to train during pregnancy and in postpartum)
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What exercises to do starting day 1 post birth
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Diastasis Recti prevention and rehab
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How to avoid pelvic floor dysfunction
Check out our Events page for the next upcoming workshop!