Tag Archives: Exercise

Fitness Advertising; Naughty or Nice?

The Best + Worst Qualities in a Personal Trainer

It always depresses me when someone has a bad experience with a personal trainer and it intimidates them from branching out and getting help from a better professional. I get it though, not everyone is going to mesh in the trainer-client relationship, and that’s okay! People have different needs when it comes to coaching styles, scheduling and expertise. But, across the board, there are a few behaviors to look out for when assessing whether a trainer is a top-notch professional…or isn’t…

“The Bad” vs. “The Good”

1) Cookie Cutter Programs vs. Quality Programs

If you watch a trainer on the gym floor and he is taking every one of his clients through the same routine, that’s a red flag. Why should any trainer take their 55 year old female client with weak knees and osteoporosis through the same workout as their 30 year old male client who is training for his first triathlon? Okay, that example is a little too obvious. But, you’ll actually see this happen a lot. This demonstrates a lack of in-depth knowledge about the body and how it works or reflects a lack of respect for the individual needs that each client has. Either way, this trainer is not worth your hard earned money!

A trainer who designs quality programs for you is who you want to trust your health with. A quality program will relate to your goals, but probably includes some exercises and progressions you hadn’t thought of. For example, you may be wanting to run a marathon but your trainer knows that without a balance of strength and stretching you will be a risk for injury and thus, makes space for them in your training regimen. A quality program will be fully customized to your specific needs.

2) Working Out w/ You vs. Full Attention on You

Have you ever seen a trainer getting their full workout in alongside their clients during a paid-for session? Don’t look twice – it’s too painful! This is a big “no-no.” The workout experience should be a client’s time, not the trainer’s opportunity to get in a few extra sets of chest. If the trainer is working out too then she isn’t able to pay full attention to her client’s form and may put them at risk for injury.

Of course, there are several scenarios when the trainer has to workout with you – like if they are taking you outside for a buddy run or if they are demonstrating an exercise. This is all okay, but when it starts to feel as though you have a pal performing sit-ups alongside you instead of a trainer coaching you on form and perseverance, you owe it to yourself to speak up or find someone else to work with. A wonderful trainer is watching everything about you – head to toe – during each exercise. I know…kinda creepy to think about, but it’s for your own good!

3) Unreliable vs. Attentive

The easiest tasks a trainer is responsible for include: 1) emailing and communicating with clients promptly and consistently (c’mon who doesn’t have a smartphone glued to them 24/7?) and 2) showing up on time and offering the client their undivided attention. Ironically, some trainers have a hard time meeting these minimum service standards. So, if it takes the trainer a week to get back to you (assuming the email didn’t get spammed) or if they are consistently late to sessions, do yourself a favor and find a polite way to save yourself more stress and hassle. It’s the trainer’s job to manage you not vice versa.

Chances are that it’s already tough to make time for exercise and show up on your own, let alone when you have to sit around for 15 minutes waiting for your trainer! Decidedly not motivating! So, be sure to find someone who has a rock solid reputation. Unsure how to figure that out? No problem. First, ask around. Second, find a way to workout near the trainer desk (the place trainers congregate and meet clients). This is a good way to subtly spy on interactions and behaviors, and learn more. Pssst – if a trainer is on the gym floor talking loudly about something inappropriate from the weekend you’re free to question their professional standards!

4) “Mirror Mirror” vs. Selfless

I definitely remember being overwhelmed by all the gym mirrors when I first started working as a full-time trainer. It felt almost compulsive to check my image but I knew it was important that I resist. Likewise, as a trainer, it’s important not to talk about your own body and image hang-ups with your clients. Anything that is physically self-centered is just simply off the table. How would you feel if you were trying to lose 20 lbs and your slim trainer complained about her supposedly “thick thighs?”

Ultimately, the trainer has to be selfless. She needs to understand that every little glance in the mirror or negative comment may be taken personally by her clients. A great trainer will focus all her energy on YOU and will balance empathy with tough love so that you get to your goals and feel great.

5) “This is what I did…” vs. Objective

Let’s pretend you’re a woman working with a male trainer and he says “I tell all my clients to eat junk food the day before a tough workout – it always helps me rock my deadlifts.” Or, let’s say, you’re with a female trainer and she says “I did this awesome detox diet for 30 days and lost a ton of weight so I get all of my clients to do that now.” In both scenarios, the trainer is giving you an example of what seems to work for them. It’s okay for the trainer to consider that diet and exercise methods they have tried or experienced might work for some of their clients. But, for trainers to take their subjective experiences and project them onto you (and their other clients) as catch-all solutions isn’t cool. It’s short-sighted.

Just because a trainer loves running and lost weight doing it, doesn’t mean she should force this exercise on you, if it isn’t right. Likewise, just because another trainer lifts super heavy 4-5x/week for competitions, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to fall in love with a routine like that too. The point is – and yes, there is a point – you want to work with someone who will stay objective and think outside the box on your behalf.

Never settle. Always demand what you deserve – someone who cares as much about your health and body as you do (if not more)!

Yours in health and wellness,

Maggie

7 Ways to Ramp up Your Core Workout

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There is no single “perfect” core exercise that trumps all the rest. For example, one person may perform a core routine with minimal effort or poor form, reaping fewer results from it compared to a hard-working friend who knows how to properly engage her muscles with each rep. So, instead of giving you a list of the “Top 5 Best Core Exercises,” I’m giving you a list of ways you can ramp up any of your favorite core routines for optimal tone.

1) Use Gravity

Gravity genuinely makes a world of a difference for many types of exercise. For example, which do you think is harder? A) Leg Pressing 150 lbs or B) Free Form Squatting 150 lbs. The answer: B. This is because of gravity. Anytime you work against it, you have to more actively engage the core for support.

Example Exercises:

Planks, Decline Sit-ups, Captain’s Chair Leg Tucks/Raises, Roman Chair Back or Side Lifts, Balancing on One Leg + Medicine Ball Twists, and more!

2) Increase Your “Lever Length”

Lever Length is basically an exercise pro’s lingo for the distance between your core and your limbs. The longer you stretch your arms or legs away from your body while performing a core exercise, the tougher it will get. Here is one easy to imagine scenario for how an increase in lever length can amplify the difficulty of a move – Imagine you’re picking up a heavy bucket of rocks. Is the bucket going to be more difficult to lift (i.e., it will feel heavier) if you A) pick the bucket up with your arms close to your body or B) pick the bucket up with your arms stretched far away from your body as you lift? The answer: B.

Examples of Increasing Lever Length:

Change a crunch with knees bent to a crunch with knees straight

Change a sit-up with a weight on your chest to a sit-up with a weight overhead

Change a side plank with one leg crossed in front for support to a side plank with the top leg lifting high into the air and the arm reaching high too

3) Don’t Forget Your Back

A ton of people save their core exercises for the end of a workout and then tend to focus those five short minutes or so on abs (crunches, sit-ups, the like), but it’s equally important to work your back muscles. Although you probably don’t often stare at your back in the mirror while you might regularly evaluate your belly, it’s still important to work it out – and not just for toning reasons. Since many people sit at a desk for the majority of their day, it’s important to counteract the stretching and stress on the back by providing it with proper support. Plus, if you perform a back exercise after every 2-3 ab exercises, you may notice that you’re getting a bit more out of your ab exercise too, since your entire trunk is getting worn out versus just one part of it.

Example Exercises:

Trunk Lifts, Supermans, Swimming, Swan Dives, Saw, Double Leg Kicks, Prone Gluteal Raises, Pelvic Tilts, and more!

4) Move in 3 Directions

I wrote an article in Feb. 2015 called Move in ways you never thought possible! that was all about gaining mobility and function by moving in all three planes of motion: frontal (front/back), saggital (side to side), and transverse (twisting). Moving in all three planes of motion also yields excellent full body tone, especially for our midsections! Plus, it helps to prevent injuries. So, I encourage you to think outside of the box with your core workouts. Do a million sit-ups and not a whole lot else? Time to switch it up with some side bends or obliques! Do a bunch of straight kettlebell swings? Time to add in some woodchops! Here are some ideas…

Frontal (front/back) Exercises:

Crunches, Double Leg Lifts, Sit-ups, Knee Tucks

Saggital (side to side) Exercises:

Side Bends with Weight, Side Planks, Isometric Crunch + Side Reaches

Transverse (twisting) Exercises:

Oblique Crunches, Woodchops, Side Leg Drops/Circles, Across Body Twists

5) Use Proper Breathing

It astounds me how few people know how to engage their transverse abdominus during core exercises – and it’s so important! So, now is the time to really pay attention, especially since engaging this corset-like muscle both helps prevent injuries AND helps flatten the stomach. I recently wrote an article for Mad Dogg Athletics that explains how to recognize whether or not you’re engaging this muscle (which is activated by the breath since it’s attached to the diaphragm):

So, how do you get the flat abs that you want?

“The key is to focus on whether or not you’re actively drawing your abs in with every core exercise that you perform. You should be able to exhale and squeeze your core in and also hold it tight while both inhaling and exhaling (demonstrating even better control).

You can even get a friend to video tape you while you perform a set of crunches. The first time performing the crunches, just do them without thinking too much. When watching this video, you may find that your abs look a little bit rounded at the top of your movement. This shows that you’re engaging the rectus abdominus (six-pack muscle) but not the transverse abdominus.

During the second set of crunches that you video tape, try to focus on exhaling as you crunch up (note: you should always try to exhale as your abs shorten/work hard). While you exhale, mentally and physically focus on actively drawing your stomach in. When you watch this video, you should see that your abs look a little more drawn in or flat at the top of your movement. The two videos may not look dramatically different but, as you can imagine, if you keep your core more actively engaged with every set and rep then you will reap better results.”

6) Incorporate Cardio

If you’re not prone to set aside time in your workout exclusively for core exercises, try to sneak core in during cardio. This will have your abs burning even faster due to the oxygen deprivation you’ll be fighting against. It’s really not that difficult to do either – just pick high-intensity core moves and alternate them with jumps, sprints or burpees, or perform cardio moves from plank positions like the following:

Example Exercises:

Mountain Climbers, Plank Jacks, Planks w/ Knee Tuck Jumps, Plank Hand to Toe Reach + Tap, Plank Diagonal Knee Tucks, and more!

7) Add Weights

This one is pretty obvious, but it often takes a bit of confidence (not to mention control) to start throwing around weights. So, be judicious when selecting which exercises to add weight to, especially if it’s fast moving and you feel unsure of yourself. Otherwise, have no fear of weights – they will help you tone, especially if body weight exercises aren’t giving you strong returns anymore.

Example Exercises:

Kettlebell Swings, Overhead Plate or Dumbbell Lifts, Planks with Dumbbell Exercises (Rows, Twists, Kickbacks), Woodchops (w/ Cables, Ball, Dumbbell), Twists with Plate or Dumbbell, Weight-Loaded Ab Machine, Captain’s Chair Lift w/ Weight Belt (or ball btwn legs), and more!

I have no doubt that these clever maneuvers can work for you! More than anything, getting the midsection you’ve been wanting for years is about putting in the effort, keeping exercises varied (for fabulous tone), and eating healthy (to reduce body fat and reveal the muscle you’ve worked hard for). Lastly, if you are just getting started with core exercises or if you’re a bit out of practice, I encourage you to check out last week’s article Core Support: KeepMeTight, to learn about additional ways to boost your confidence and core strength.

Do you have any signature tricks for your core workouts or any favorite ab exercises?! I’d love to hear about them in the comments section!

Yours in health and wellness,

Maggie

Core Support: KeepMeTight

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I will be the first to admit that I don’t approve of quick fixes for fitness and diet. They never work. There is no magic one-size-fits-all solution out there on the market. Trust me, if there were, I would share it with you ASAP! But there isn’t…and likely never will be. So, you can imagine my skepticism when I was introduced to the Founder of KeepMeTight, Shameeka Hunt. But, after getting to know Shameeka, I see that there are scenarios under which giving people temporary aids for health and fitness may be appropriate. Shameeka’s story (below) and another woman’s story (who lost 70 lbs!) encouraged me to take on a new perspective.

Roni Noone recently wrote an article for MyFitnessPal’s blog, Hello Healthy. It was called The Truth About Before and After Photos. Roni explained that she worked hard to lose 70 lbs and was shocked when her before and after photos were stolen online and posted to a diet website with a false statement that she had used the company’s products and had lost all 70 lbs in 30 days!!! Can anyone tell me what the heck this company was thinking?

Roni was outraged (rightfully so). But, it wasn’t just the fact that her pictures were stolen that she was upset. She was frustrated that her weight loss process, which had taken her roughly a year, was being painted in an unrealistic light. In the article, Roni persuades women to steer clear of quick fixes, emphasizing the most foundational element that aids in weight loss: “Honestly, the hardest part for me was accepting and loving myself regardless of how much fat my body was carrying. Once I realized that, the eating less and moving more thing didn’t seem as hard as it once did.”

Shameeka Hunt shares this philosophy. She wants to help women feel their best so that they can move with confidence throughout their weight loss and toning journey. Shameeka’s before and after photos aren’t boasting extreme weight loss in 30 days, they’re showing you the difference in tone you can gain right away so that you can live life more confidently while you tackle your goals. Kudos to this woman for changing my stubborn perspective on compression apparel!

Read on for my interview with Shameeka!

1) What made you decide to start KeepMeTight?

KeepMeTight originated from a personal need I had after giving birth to my 2 children (both via C-section) within a 3-year period. Even under a strict exercise and nutrition regimen, I found it extremely difficult to lose the baby bump. This was a problem for me given my desire and need to get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes, business suits and other form-fitting exercise attire. Like many women, I’m very conscious of my appearance and take pride in how I look in public. I needed something to provide me with support and comfort while I recovered from the abdominal incisions, and so I could stay active in my personal and professional pursuits.

2) In your own words, why is core support so important?

I always like to use an analogy of our core being like a tree trunk – it is the base of support and connects to all parts of the tree (roots, branches and leaves). Likewise our core is in the center of our body. It provides the same stability, balance and connections [to the parts of the body above and below it] as a tree does. The main muscles of the core are contained in the belly and back. These muscles work together with the hips, shoulders and neck to maintain spinal alignment. If something in our core is misaligned, weak or not working properly, another part of our body will be affected.

So, it’s easy to see that by strengthening our core we can alleviate unwanted strain on the body, like acute injuries or long-term damage.

3) Who do you recommend this product for?

I recommend the KMT Band for two kinds of people: 1) anyone who wants the aesthetic appeal it provides; a flattened stomach, and 2) anyone who wants or needs additional back and posture support. There is no better feeling or self-image booster than knowing that you look fabulous in your clothing and can easily transition between daily activities with the KMT Band. There is also nothing that beats solid core support since we need it to feel healthy and strong!

4) How does the product feel when it is worn during exercise?

The KMT Band is made of cotton, allowing it to feel comfortable and breathable. Cotton is a material that helps wick away sweat too! The KMT Band covers the whole abdominal area so it acts as a tool to assist in flattening your stomach and engaging your core muscles. The KMT Band also provides back support, serving as a physical aid that reminds you to maintain proper form and posture.

5) What is your philosophy on health and wellness? Is that integral to your company in any way?

My personal philosophy on health and wellness is simple – it’s a lifestyle. A state of good health and well-being takes conscious effort and becomes a habit, not something that is temporary, seasonal, or just because you need to get into “that dress.” This philosophy is integrated into KeepMeTight in that the products that are and will be developed serve a purpose; they support a person’s current and desired health and wellness goals (to include exercise and nutritional regimens). I do not believe in anything taking the place of what our bodies were intended to do, but there is also nothing wrong with having the proper “tools” to help you reach your goals. And that is what KeepMeTight and the KMT Band do – provide that psychological and physical support that should be used as a tool to get you a step further in your health and wellness journey.

6) As a busy businesswoman, mom and fitness fan, are there any strategies that you use to stay healthy day by day?

Given the busyness of life, I have found that I need to think and do creative things that become a part of my schedule versus routines that are a hindrance or place a big time commitment on me (since I really don’t have a lot of time). One of my routines is taking long distance walks while pushing my kids in a double stroller. This allows me to exercise over various terrains while building my physical endurance, working against the resistance of my own body weight and that of my children. It also helps me unwind and mentally decompress while listening to music. Plus, I get to meet my neighbors!

I’m also big on exercises for cardio workouts and yoga routines that I can access through my TV or mobile device. Again, since I have children, I can get a good workout in with my children at home that doesn’t require additional travel time. One huge benefit I find in exercising with my children present is that they typically join in the exercise, which reinforces the importance of family time and staying active for everyone. Quick tip: Women with infants or toddlers can use their babies as resistance while exercising or “playing” (at least the little ones will think it’s playing)!

When it comes to food and nutrition, I’m a rather particular eater. So, I have found that blending fruits and vegetables into a smoothie or juice (with stalks and rinds included) allows me to get all my nutrients in a liquid form. It also allows me to be creative with colors and tastes, so it’s fun and good for me. What is even better is that the fruits and vegetables are typically picked or purchased from a local farm, which adds a sense of pride for me since I know how my fruit and vegetables are grown and can support local farmers.

As you can see, Shameeka’s lifestyle and product are in tune with overall wellness and finding solutions that help women work towards the bodies they want. As mentioned, it all starts with feeling good and confident, and you don’t have to wait until you’re at your goal weight to feel that way!

Thank you, Shameeka, for sharing your story and exciting business with us!

Yours in health and wellness,

Maggie

References:

http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-truth-about-before-and-after-photos/?user_id=98146046627053&alt_source=mfp&alt_medium=email&alt_campaign=weekly20150629&utm_source=mfp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly20150629&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokva%2FPZKXonjHpfsX66%2B0tUK6%2FlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4DScpnI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFSrTFMblm0LgLXhM%3D

https://www.keepmetight.com/

How to Keep Your Cool in the Summer Heat

MasterChef and WellnessWinz Unite

What I Learned About the Body…after I got hit by a car (Part 2)

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If you’re joining the story now, please feel free to read the first part of it: http://bit.ly/1Leo8Fp

These are lessons that I have learned the hard way and that I’m here to share.

Lesson #5: Don’t give up on finding the right care from the right professional

It can be incredibly difficult to navigate the confusing network of health professionals. So many people get lost when they try to figure out if they should seek treatment options from general practitioners, massage therapists, physical therapists, acupuncture specialists, chiropractic doctors, nutritionists, personal trainers, psychologists, and more. One common question is: “Should I try one at a time or opt for multiple forms of treatment at once?” This is a tricky question to answer because it’s very different for each and every person, according to their condition and stage of healing.

For me, I’ve tried it all. Literally. I sought out acupuncture and cupping techniques with one specialist, cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress with another, chiropractic adjustments with two doctors, physical therapy with five different professionals, and massage therapies from an uncountable number of nimble-fingered individuals. This is not even an exhaustive list of the professionals I worked with while trying to recover from my accident. The reason I kept trying different things is because every person gave me a different opinion. I would give heed to their opinion and try their approach for a while and if it wasn’t working out, then I moved on to the next.

Although I had moments when tears of frustration would roll down my face, feeling like I had set out on a fruitless treasure hunt, I just knew that I had to keep trying. What on earth would happen if I gave up?! Thus, the years stretched on, but ironically, I started to learn so much more than I bargained for. I began to learn how to heal other people who were dealing with back pain. In the time that it took me to heal my own, I helped over a dozen people quickly dissolve their issues. Perhaps, I thought, those seemingly pointless efforts with other health professionals weren’t such a waste of time after all!

In the end, I’ve learned that different stages of healing may require different forms of assistance. For example, there was a time when the most important thing for me to do was heal emotionally. Once I was calmer, I began to believe in the physical healing process again. Once I rebooted that journey, I found that needling in physical therapy worked for a while, to bring flexibility back to stiff muscles that had been stuck in spasm. At another point, I found that my muscles were flexible enough to allow my back to get adjusted into alignment by a chiropractor. And finally, I found that my body was getting better and better at keeping me in alignment all on its own, thanks to being able to increase strength training again.

This long, drawn-out process is just my story. (Believe it or not, we barely scratched the surface.) It doesn’t have to be so convoluted for everyone. What’s important is that you keep looking for the right help. Once you’ve found a great professional, give them time to really impact your body with their treatment/approach. Full healing won’t happen overnight so try not to leave after your first session expecting the process to be done.

Lastly on this subject, although I’m preaching to give practitioners time and patience, it’s also important to recognize and get out of a bad situation. One chiropractor I used to work with actually had the audacity to tell me not to gain weight, citing that it wouldn’t be attractive to men. It was so out of the blue (not to mention UNCALLED FOR) that it completely took me aback. I told the chauvinist straight to his face that he was lucky he said that to me and not another woman because I wouldn’t sue the pants off of him for harassment. This was not the first comment of his that was inappropriate. I walked out of his clinic that day and never turned back. There is nothing more damaging than someone who is supposed to heal you trying to tear you down instead. I deserved better. You deserve better.

Lesson #6: Inflammation does weird things to the body

Yes, it’s true. When inflammation is high, your body reacts in strange and confusing ways. For example, I already mentioned to you that my body gained a lot of weight during this time. Part of this weight gain was my body hoarding fat because it was scared for its life (rightfully so). Another part of the weight gain was because of excessive water retention. My body couldn’t figure out how to flush anything through its system because it was so backed up and slowed down by all the stresses it was trying to combat.

I can remember one evening when I was with a group of friends, and the guy I liked at the time, at a bar. I drank a cocktail and it sent me over the edge. I felt sick and got an intense menopausal-like hot flash. I couldn’t understand what was going on with my body. All I knew was that I needed to cool down FAST. I was profusely sweating through my dress. I told my friends that I needed to go to the bathroom but instead, I snuck around the bar counter and flung open a beer fridge’s door. If I could have squeezed my whole body into that cool little space I would have. I was desperate.

I understand now that when the body is severely inflamed, even simple things like eating a food that you are sensitive to, or drinking an alcoholic beverage, can tip you into unpredictable states of discomfort. I wish I could say exactly what happens to each person in every scenario known to man, but I can’t. I can only say that keeping attuned to your healthy – or unhealthy – habits is more important than ever. Pay attention to how your body is reacting. It’s a powerful experience to realize just how prepared our bodies are to defend themselves. It physically feels like a bad thing, but it’s actually a good thing in the end.

There was another time that I experienced something really bizarre, that I think may have been related to inflammation too. It happened to me was about a year after the accident. I went for a jog on a treadmill one afternoon. It felt good. Later that day, I had red spots all over my legs. I couldn’t tell if they were burst blood capillaries, an allergic reaction, or what! Even doctors weren’t sure. It was terrifying.

I’m still not sure what the red spots were from but I have my suspicions. I was hyped up on Ambien every night, to help with my insomnia, and I took pain killers from time to time, when my pain got really bad. In other words, my body was dealing with a lot of foreign substances. It seemed that anything wacky was game to happen.

Since I noticed that my body was obviously NOT okay with me putting anything foreign or toxic into it, I started to strip down my diet and reduce medications. I was extra careful about everything I put into my body. Over time, eating clean and being cautious about medicines really helped me. I think the crazy bodily dysfunctions were its way of telling me to stop putting foreign substances into it, and to let it do what the human body is best at: take care of me.

Pictures on top = post-exercise red spots.

Pictures below = marks from cupping treatments I did for a while…definitely not ideal during sundress season.

Lesson #7: If your spirit is defeated, your body is defeated

A few months after my accident my cousin visited. She was excited to see Washington, DC and at the time, I lived smack dab in the center of “the action.” She was in my bathroom, showering and primping to get ready for a fun girls’ night out, while I was in my bed, head spinning and body screaming for more sleep. She came into the room and asked if I was feeling okay. The only thing I could say was “I feel like I want to go to sleep and never wake up again.”

She was in obvious shock at my statement and shared her concern. I had to explain to her that I wasn’t suicidal; I just didn’t want to keep fighting. I was spent! My comment just felt like the most natural statement I could make at the moment.

This feeling of burnout lasted for a while. I made many careless mistakes during that time in my life. I went out partying, initiated arguments with my family over nothing, and showed interest in “bad boys” when I had forever favored mamas’ boys. It wasn’t until I started to put more effort into finding peace within myself and with God that I got back on track.

I decided to initiate this process by taking a month off of work. I spent lots of time soul-searching in coffee shops and wrote a book that reconnected me to my faith. As I wrote, I started to realize that I wasn’t alone. I could stop feeling so afraid. I can still remember the day that I fell down to my knees in my shower – it hit me out of nowhere that God had been there for me the whole time, even when I had forgotten and lost my way. I began to understand how to replenish my spirit and thereby discovered energy to move forward and physically heal.

Lesson #8: The universe has a wonderful way of bringing the right people your way during times of need

I wonder if I would still be married to my husband if I hadn’t been hit by that car. I know it sounds crazy but it’s true! I met my husband during my “bad boy” streak and he was the farthest thing from dismissive, rude and reckless. He was compassionate and full of life. Although I tried to shrug him off, his persistence and light kept me tethered. Although I didn’t feel attractive or worthy at that time, he saw every good thing about me even though I was focused so exclusively on the bad.

I remember the night that we met. We ended up dancing for hours. Dancing became our favorite thing to do during the first few months of knowing one another. It felt great. We would find places to dance in the city and would continue dancing in our living rooms. Wherever we were, we found a way to celebrate and have fun. It was the most refreshing experience ever.

I really do believe that he was sent into my life at the exact right time. He helped show me that healing was possible and that there is much to be excited about, even when you’re not feeling physically great. I would briefly forget about my pain while I was having fun and laughing with him. Soon, the bouts of pain became less frequent and less severe. Eventually, I would go an entire 24 hours without severe pain. Even when pain did hit me with a vengeance, I found new ways to stay calm because I realized that someday I would get over it completely. Everything was going to be okay.

Lesson #9: Moments of weakness and frustration are not signs that you’re failing to heal

I wish I could say that healing is a linear process but alas, I can’t do that. I had many hang-ups and pitfalls along the way. Sometimes I would feel gently defeated and other times I would feel like an utter failure, but I learned to get over those negative mentalities. I learned to get stronger each and every time.

Simple moments challenged me, like when I slipped on ice during the winter and my back went into a brief spasm, and when friends would ask me to go to tough exercise classes with them and I would have to say no even though I had formerly always said yes. There were other more profound moments that set back my body and spirits too. For example, one mid-summer day I collapsed in my apartment building’s elevator. I had been carrying heavy groceries because I was planning to spend the whole day cooking for family. It was a quiet hour in the middle of the day so no one was around to help me. I crawled, dragging my groceries along the floor. I tried to stand up but keeled over again. I kept trying to get back on my feet but I collapsed another two times as I made my way down the hallway to my apartment. Once inside, I cried until I was too tired to cry more.

Although moments like this have the power to defeat you, they aren’t a sign that you haven’t made progress. Every time I would reignite the pain, I would get over it a little faster than before. Each time, I learned something valuable.

Lesson #10: Learning to let go is the final step

Has my body reached pre-trauma condition? Honestly…no. But, have I fully recovered? Yes. Let me explain…

Up until a few short years ago, I still had to put a heating pack on my back a few times every month. I would also occasionally have a sleepless night or two when my nerves would get set off and I’d fear falling back into insomnia. To this day, my back and hips have remained a little more sensitive and prone to instability. I keep it under control though.

My heart will always feel a little bit sad when I think of how dark some of those days of pain were but I also know that they taught me a lot. I decided years ago that I would be okay and my body has followed me in that decision. I’ve learned exactly what to do in 15-20 minutes to immediately correct a flare-up that would formerly last for months. I’ve also learned that I’m capable of surviving one of the worst kinds of pain in the world – the loss of self-identity. If I can rediscover myself and come out stronger, I know that you can too.

Recovery is possible when we decide to let go of hurt and move on. It’s a single, simple, profound decision [to let go] that one has to consistently choose, every day and during every moment of frustration. It’s a decision that is made in the midst of pain that can pull you through to the other side.

I believe that the power of letting go can have a meaningful impact in anyone’s life. I encourage you to give it a try.

I sincerely hope that sharing this authentic story will help someone else

find healing and joy soon too.

“Start believing you can.”

Maggie

What I Learned About the Body…after I got hit by a car (Part 1)

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Six years ago, from the day of this article’s publication (05/18/2015), my world literally turned upside down. While riding my bike to work, I was hit by a car at a busy intersection located in the heart of Washington, DC.

I immediately felt sharp pain in my back after plunging to the pavement in the middle of Florida Avenue. At that moment, a startling thought crossed through my mind, one that concerned me far more than the physical agony; Am I about to become roadkill?! I couldn’t move for a minute. My breath had been taken away. I couldn’t pick myself up to get out of the intersection. I couldn’t even wave my hands for help. All I could do was focus on trying to stay conscious in spite of bolts of pain through my hips and back. Thankfully, no other car ran an additional 4,500 lbs of steel and aluminum alloy into my 130 lb body.

The EMTs arrived quickly on the scene. They gave me a disapproving look when I waved them briefly away in order to call my work to say that I couldn’t teach my “Cycle and Core” class that morning. After placing the call, I let the EMTs strap me down to a spine board and make their assessments. I recall laughing with pride at how my blood pressure was still fairly stable, just minutes following a trauma. Only a crazy fitness professional would be proud of something like that. My amusement was quickly snuffed out though, thanks to escalating pain.

While on the way to the hospital, one husky, dark-and-dreamy man asked me several times to rank my pain on a scale of 1-10. I kept thinking, well, if you’d just let me off this stupid spine board then it would be a whole lot better. But, I couldn’t be let off that cursed board. It was protocol for the ambulance ride. So, my response was consistently and emphatically, “TEN!!!!!!”

…….

The pain didn’t stay at its initial 10 forever but it did continue. It troubled my health, threatened my career, and haunted my psyche for the next five years. It had such a palpable presence in my life that it felt like the pain was on the verge of scraping itself out of my body and becoming its own entity; an embodiment that could more properly pound the shell of my formerly strong self deeper into the unforgiving ground. It was the cruelest “thing” I’ve ever met – hell bent on squeezing every last ounce of hope and perseverance from my body.

But, I’m here today to tell you that the pain didn’t win. I did. I won thanks to the lessons I learned along the healing journey. The trying times taught me how to interpret the language of pain and how to affect physical well-being through a multi-pronged approach to healthy living.

It was a long process, let me tell you. But, the silver lining is that I get to share the things I’ve learned with others. I hope that lessons from my journey can help you with yours. I pray that they shed light on your pain or even personal challenges.

We all go through pain at some point in our life. The process of picking ourselves up again is not always pretty. But, it’s important that we try. And try again. And again. And again.

Lesson #1: The first serious pain you experience is always the hardest…but it has the potential to be the one of the most meaningful experiences in your life

Before getting hit by a car, I had literally never broken, sprained or strained any part of my body. One time, when I was 5 years old, I was ambitiously trying to follow a friend across the monkey bars, swinging and stretching each arm to skip every other bar. It was the cool thing to do. I missed one bar mid-way across and landed in a precarious position on the ground, one arm twisted behind my back with my little body’s weight crushing it. Even then, I didn’t actually break anything; I bent my arm bone!

I assumed that injuring my arm would mean getting a cast with my kindergarten classmates’ sympathies strewn all over it, smiley faces, hearts and rainbows. I was miffed by the removable brace that I was given to wear. No cast tic-tac-toe? No purple marker heart encircled by stars?

Similarly, after getting hit by the car, I was certain that the pain I was experiencing would reveal itself on X-rays. It didn’t though. No fractures in my pelvis, no hairline fractures upon my follow-up appointment, nothing! Just one enormous, dark-as-night bruise taking up 75% of the real estate on the left cheek of my rear end. I will spare you those gruesome pictures…but below you can take a glimpse at some other ones. My face is the thing behind the purple wash cloth and ice…in case you were wondering.

It was so frustrating for me to be told that nothing major was wrong because I could tell that something was actually very out-of-sorts in my body. It made it difficult to justify to my co-workers and friends that I was decidedly NOT okay. I was in pain for a long time. I just couldn’t pin a clinical name and prognosis to the discomfort. I didn’t have something like a cast as proof.

Unfortunately, because my pain lacked a “title,” I thought that all I needed to do was take the pain killers and muscle relaxants that I had been prescribed, and wait it out. The doctors at the hospital didn’t recommend physical therapy, so why would I need it? They didn’t say anything about psychological help, so why would I assume that counseling for post-traumatic stress should be considered? I could deal with it all on my own, right?! Wrong.

The first serious injury you experience is scary and overwhelming. You may even be in a situation like mine, with a lot of unanswered questions and mixed information coming at you. You may even have feelings that getting over the injury is your sole responsibility and burden to bear – but that is just false, false, false!

There is a reason that children color “get well” messages on a friend’s cast; it’s important not to feel alone as you undergo the process of healing. Finding the right support networks as you navigate the journey is essential because feeling confused and afraid is normal. Lean on everyone you can the first time around because how you respond to this injury will impact your mentality the next time you encounter pain or hurt. It can either cripple you or cause you to take a step back and calmly evaluate your plan to get over it.

It’s interesting…the first time that you’re injured, you’re in a position to learn and grow. For example, if a woman (let’s call her Angela) sprains her ankle and has to avoid her favorite sport, running, for 8 or more weeks, then she is likely going to feel frustrated and maybe even depressed. Instead of giving in to these defeated feelings, Angela can come out of her injury stronger than ever by remaining mentally patient, emotionally calm, and focused on things that she can control. She may decide to cook more healthy meals at home or spend time with friends whom she usually brushes off in order to exercise. If Angela does want to keep exercising rigorously then she can devote effort to building upper body strength so that she looks incredible come strapless dress season!

The options are endless, not ending, when you get injured and have to look at the world from a new perspective. It takes time to see things this way, but it can happen.

Lesson #2: It’s OK to take a little time to grieve

Okay, I know I just mentioned that learning from your injury helps you become stronger and move on. But, I know that it’s also important to grieve, to give yourself time to be frustrated and feel that the world crashing around you. If you don’t do it initially, you may have a surprise meltdown far later in life when buried emotions get unearthed. I wish I had listened to this advice. Instead, this is what I did…

Chick in picture looking lovely since this “accident” was merely staged for stock photography. Disclaimer: The real deal is NOT this tidy and attractive!

Once I was released from the hospital, I got a ride home from a cop. After she dropped me off, I took a nap on my couch and then hobbled down the block to the pharmacy for my pain killer and muscle relaxant prescriptions. Moving felt terrible but I took it as a positive sign that I was capable of putting one foot in front of the other. This meant that I could get back to my job, right?

The day of my accident I had 11 hours of work on my schedule. I was terrified of losing income and damaging accountability with my clients. Most of this fear stemmed from the fact that it was the spring of 2009, not long after the major U.S. economic crash. I was in a hustle mentality, happy to have a secure job and determined to pack my work days with exercise classes to teach and clients to train. I was exceptionally exhausted and simultaneously exhilarated from my one-woman daily mission to change the world in spite of the most obvious obstacle: people were tightening their purse strings because they were afraid they would lose money or already had lost money in the crash.

So, ignoring my exhausted body’s protests, I went in to train the last few hours of clients I had on schedule for that evening. I was delirious and in denial. I laughed off others’ concerns about the “crazy accident” that happened earlier that day. Needless to say, nothing about it was funny.

I wonder, if I hadn’t been so naïve and if proper discharge procedures had been in place, would I have stayed home and gotten the appropriate rest and recovery that I needed? If I had gotten that rest, would I have continued to deal with severe pain, bulging discs, spinal disc fissures, hip instability, and dysfunctional scar tissue on my piriformis for years to come? Would I have still slipped into insomnia, chronic pain, anxiety, weight gain, and borderline depression? It’s hard to say…

All I do know is that I refused to think of myself as “injured” for too long. One of the most critical things to do when injured, is to accept it. Also important is learning (over time) that acceptance doesn’t mean your life is over. Acceptance is simply the first step towards truly healing.

Lesson #3: The mind-body connection is REAL; sleep-deprivation & somatization

As mentioned in lesson #2, I dealt with some major challenges after getting injured, one of which was sleep deprivation. At first I couldn’t sleep because of the severe inflammation in my hips and back. Any direct pressure on that area was excruciating. Sleeping directly on my back or stomach was simply out of the question due to the discomfort, so I slept on my side. Even that posed challenges. I could be sound asleep in the middle of the night and wake up to pain while attempting to roll from one side of my body to the other. Over time, I couldn’t even fall sleep because I was afraid of the pain and restlessness that lay ahead of me throughout the night.

This fear caused me to stay in a fight-or-flight mode throughout the night, my heart racing. The harder I tried to fall asleep, the more sleep evaded me. My efforts regularly turned into frustrated tears and fits of fatigued hysteria. For almost a year, I barely got 6 hours of sleep each night. The majority of this timeframe, I was working 10-12 hour work days on a broken 4-5 hours of rest. Obviously, my mind and body began to break down even more. The more I mentally and emotionally caved under the pain, the worse it became. It was a vicious cycle that I didn’t know how to break. I can remember days when I wondered if my life was over. I thought I would never see the day that the pain ended. It was stifling and slowly suffocated my ability to stay positive.

As I became more physically inflamed and emotionally overrun, my stress translated into many new physical issues. This is sometimes considered to be somatization; mental and emotional stress resulting in physical problems. I suffered a few panic attacks that seemingly struck me out of nowhere, I had a moment or two of binge eating in my distress, and I began moving in pain-avoidance patterns that exacerbated my issues. My stomach would hurt. My head would hurt. Everything hurt. I could no longer tell which pains and challenges were the cause of my physical stress versus my emotional stress…there were no hard lines separating the two because they were inherently connected.

Lesson #4: Pain pathways are tricky to navigate – understanding the “language” they speak is essential

For the longest time, I felt like I could control the pain if I just tried hard enough. Eventually though, after many months and years of playing ring-around-the-rosy with this nemesis, I discovered that the world could stop spinning…if I learned my pain’s language. I realized that the pain wasn’t actually trying to hurt me, it was trying to help me! My body was sending me signals that something was wrong and if I learned what my body wanted most, then it would reduce the pain, sending me the message that we were finally on the same team with the same mission: to get better!

Although I already mentally knew that the body acts like one integrated machine, with all its complex parts influencing one another with every step and every breath, I didn’t really understand this firsthand. I hadn’t felt this truth before. But suddenly, I started to realize that a brand new pain in my knee, and a strange crackling in my ankle, were both related to my initial injury. They weren’t brand new injuries out of the blue, they were responses that my kinetic chain (i.e. musculo-skeletal system and neuromuscular system) was having to the primary issue: back and hip misalignment and instability resulting from damaged soft tissue (i.e. muscle).

The more I remained out of alignment and unstable, the more the different parts of my body started talking in foreign languages and losing touch with one another. It was up to me, and me alone, to figure out how to treat the initial issue in order for my body to send out a message to all its parts, commanding that they get back to their primary language. They needed to speak the same language to work properly together.

When I started to realize that my body wasn’t breaking down in a million places haphazardly, I began to look at exercise and recovery solutions that would benefit my whole body rather than its isolated parts. If I continued to ignore the relationships between my various body parts then each would continue to grow stronger in its new language (which subsequently would make the whole body weaker).

Thank you for reading Part 1 of this story. As you can tell, it’s very personal to me. Part 2 is coming up soon! Stay tuned.

Yours in health and wellness,

Maggie

5 Special Treats for Readers!

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Guess what this month is?! National Physical Fitness and Sports Month! (oh yea, and my birthday month, hehe) It’s time to step into the joy of fitness like you’ve never done before! It’s time to drop excuses, enjoy the fresh spring air and get moving! Today, I’m not going to share a long form blog post. I don’t want you to spend your time reading. I want you to spend your time MOVING!!! I hope that these 5 special treats will help you do just that.

Drum roll, please!

Today….I will be PROUDLY presenting you with….

A chance to get a FREE hour-long fitness and wellness consulting phone call (or skype) with yours truly!

A three ingredient, summer-inspired recipe that I love!

Hand-picked images to inspire you towards fitness!

22 energizing songs to fire up your workout playlist!

…annnnnddd a poem, written by one of our readers, that just plain rocks.

Get it, girls!! Today is your day!

Part 1: COACHING GIVEAWAY!

Yes, it’s true. I have a golden window of time this spring during which I’m excited to extend my professional guidance even more than usual. Thus, the coaching giveaway! This will be a FREE one-hour coaching session via phone or skype, focused exclusively on your top-priority fitness and wellness needs. It will include a customized, 4-week workout schedule.

All you have to do to enter is go to the new WellnessWinz Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wellnesswinz (or click the above image) and “like” the page. Then, comment on the timeline with this hashtag: #WannaWinzGiveaway. At the end of the month of May, I will randomly draw a winner! Get excited!!!

PS – if you aren’t interested in the drawing, I would still be honored if you’d like the Facebook page!

Part 2: “FROSTED MANGO,” MY FAVORITE ANYTIME SMOOTHIE!

It tastes just like summer and it can be made for any meal of the day. It only requires THREE ingredients: Mangos, Milk, and Vanilla Protein Powder. I prefer almond milk but you can use regular milk, coconut milk or cashew milk. You can also pick a protein powder that works for your dietary needs and preferences (e.g. whey-based, soy-based, hemp-based or pea-protein-based). Try to find a protein powder with minimal processing, minimal sugars and sugar alcohols, and lots of packed-in nutrition.

I swear, this smoothie is simply the best because you can keep all three items in your pantry and fridge for long periods of time without spoiling. Choose frozen mangos and you will avoid wasting ones that turn to mush.

Put a handful of ice in your blender and then scoop in some mangos. Next, add the powder (serving size or half a serving) and milk product. Use 12-16 ounces of milk so that everything blends well. Add spinach, bananas, berries or anything else yummy for extra nutrition and taste! This smoothie will probably come out to 400 calories or less, depending on your ingredients and portions. Yummmmm.

Part 3: HAND-PICKED PINS FOR FITNESS INSPIRATION!!

Straight from my Pinterest-loving heart to your computer monitor. Hope one of these will inspire you to get moving!

Part 4: THE ULTIMATE WORKOUT PLAYLIST. GET IT, GIRLS!!!

Allow me a moment to brag…I’ve been told by many exercise class participants that they love my music selection. Of course, I like to think that they love the workouts more, but alas, there’s something about a well-rounded playlist that boosts energy like none other.

Enter the songs below into your iTunes search bar and you can download them for yourself. It will take about 5 minutes or so, and then you will be stocked with enough songs to last you almost an hour and a half!! (For some of us, that’s TWO workouts or more!)

Part 5: POEM BY ONE OF OUR READERS!

I was so thrilled to see this poem from our reader, Meredith O’Leary. She recently shared it with me and I’ve got to say, tears swelled in my eyes. Why? Well, Meredith and I have talked about her fitness/wellness journey for a few years now. One of the most challenging parts of it, like for most women, is understanding the line between pushing one’s body towards health and accepting one’s body and its incredible beauty. I couldn’t be prouder to present you with Meredith’s insights and powerful words…

“This is My Body”

This is my body, true and real
Don’t tell me how I should feel
About it. Cause it isn’t for you
To decide just how I make it through

This is my body, and only mine
The only body I could find
To host my spirit and my mind.
I promise you, I’ll be just fine

This is my body, ever improving
I assure you that I’m always moving,
Being aware, and trying not to care
About others’ judgments, though they’re always there

This is my body. You can’t see through me
It isn’t like you ever knew me
And yet, you disregard the rest
Which is making it through Life’s great test

This is my body. Watch what it can do!
It can clean a house, drive a car
Sometimes it can walk quite far,
And when I hear a good beat, it can dance, too!

This is my body, which you cannot own.
You try to possess, and sometimes offend
But I digress, because I can mend
Myself. So just leave me alone.

This is my body. And I’m proud of it!
Life is the cause, and I’m the effect
It’s never, ever allowed me to quit
And I think it’s about time I gave it some respect

This is my body. And I am beautiful!
Nothing about me has ever been dull
The Universe, in me, is embodied
I have a strong soul! And this is my body.

Alright, ladies! What are you waiting for?! HAVE FUN! GET MOVING!!!!

Happy National Fitness and Sports Month!

Yours in health and wellness,

Maggie

Two Sources of Pain for Women

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At some point in life, lots of women experience pain in their stomach, back, hips and/or knees. The sources of these pain points may feel elusive, but in many scenarios, there are two culprits to blame. I’m here today to help you identify whether you, or a woman you care about, has one of these conditions.

PAIN SOURCE #1: LARGER Q-ANGLE

Women have wider hips than men. This is not surprising information. In some women, a wider pelvis results in a steeper angle between two landmarks: the ASIS and the patella.

The ASIS stands for Anterior Superior Iliac Spine. Don’t be intimidated – this is easier to identify on your body than it is to pronounce. Place your hands on your hips, like you’re standing with a little sass (thumbs pointing back and fingers forward). Feel where your middle and ring finger fall on the front of your hips. Slide your fingers slightly inwards and you will feel a bony part of your pelvis if you push into your flesh. You found it!

Next, place two fingers on your kneecap. You found the patella! So much easier.

The Q-Angle is an angle measured between these two landmarks. It’s best done by a physical therapist or qualified fitness professional using a goniometer. Yuck, so many dull scientific words.

For a great visual, check out the illustration on this website: http://bit.ly/1CWkk4X (scroll down just a little on the page)

Why is this relevant to you?

If you’ve experienced knee pain or instability, ACL issues, pain with running or jumping, and/or hip pain, then you may have a “large” Q-Angle. This doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you, so don’t panic! It simply means that your kneecap tends to be pulled at a harsh angle, causing stress on the surrounding soft-tissue structures.

Although it’s super unfair that nature has made women more prone to knee pain than men, there are simple ways to ensure knee health. Here are a few:

1) Strengthen your quadriceps. Your quads are the large muscles on the front side of your thighs. These muscles are above the knee and help stabilize your kneecap’s movement. You can strengthen these muscles through controlled leg extensions, leg presses, and squats.

2) Foam roll your IT bands. Your IT-bands are dense, connective tissue on the outside/lateral aspect of your thigh. Tight IT-bands can add tension and stress to the knee. Since there is already a strong pull on your kneecap based on a large Q-Angle, it’s important not to add any unnecessary tension to the knee.

A foam roller is a cylinder made of densely packed foam. You can roll your body back and forth on the roam roller to relieve tension in any area. It’s like you’re a big ball of dough on a rolling pin! Not what a woman wants to imagine herself as, I know, but the analogy works!

If foam rolling hurts a lot, it’s a sign your connective tissue is really tense and needs this release. You can reduce discomfort by placing one leg in front of the other, distributing your body weight into the assisting leg.

Note: It’s really important that you don’t roll directly over joints. Ouch.

3) Control knee stability during lower body exercises. If you watch yourself in a mirror, or even look down at your knees, while performing a lower body exercise, you may notice that your knees drift slightly inwards. When your knees drift towards one another, it creates stress on the joint capsule. Although this may improve with leg strengthening exercises, it may also be a factor of form.

You can increase your awareness by simply being mindful of your form. If you notice that your knees are drifting inwards, simply exert a little effort and move them wider. It doesn’t have to be excessive. It should feel more comfortable and will help you feel better balanced.

4) Strengthen your “outer thighs.” This may surprise you, but there aren’t any “outer thigh” muscles per say. When you perform exercises to target this area, you’re actually working muscles in the outer region of your hips/gluts. More specifically, muscles called your gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.

A wider Q-Angle means that these muscles are pulled and elongated a bit more than usual, resulting in them being less stable and strong. Since knee health depends a lot on ankle and hip stability, it’s a good idea to strengthen these oft-forgotten muscles. You can do this through side lunges, lateral movements, lying side leg lifts, clams, and more.

PAIN SOURCE #2: DIASTASIS RECTI

Even if your baby-making years are far ahead or behind you, this is relevant information because it may impact you some day, or it may have taken place during pregnancy without your awareness. For women who plan to have children soon, or who are currently pregnant, listen even closer.

We’ve all admired another person’s six-pack at some time or another, right? Well, imagine that the rippled six pack has an enormous split down the middle, separating and pulling the two halves away from one another so that the abdomen looks a little more like two three packs. This is what Diastasis Recti looks like. For a great visual, click here: http://bit.ly/1JQoYaS

Why does this happen?

When a woman gains weight with pregnancy and extra pressure is placed on the abdomen as it stretches, the core muscles are under great strain. The six-pack muscle naturally stretches with a growing uterus, but in the case of Diastasis Recti, the connective tissue that coats your core (the linea alba) gets stretched to a greater degree. The split can sometimes appear as a ridge in the abdomen and can be felt by placing fingers into the crevice. Diastasis Recti is usually diagnosed when the space is two finger widths.

What are the consequences?

Diastasis Recti can compromise a woman’s overall core strength, leading to secondary conditions that challenge overall health and wellbeing. Some women also experience a post-pregnancy “pooch” that they just can’t seem to get rid of because it isn’t a factor of weight loss. Diastasis Recti may present with multiple other conditions such as:

Back pain and instability
Compromising posture
Pelvic floor dysfunctions Hernia
Pelvic pain and instability
Gas and Digestive problems
Fecal incontinence (Constipation)
Pelvic floor dysfunction (SPFD)
Urinary incontinence
Pelvic organ prolapsed

One of our readers shares her personal experience…

When Jenna knew something was wrong:

“Sometime in the middle of my third trimester (while pregnant with my first child), I realized that I had Diastasis Recti. I was only aware of the condition because of my background in nursing school. The particular activity that made me aware of my abdominal separation was trying to sit up in bed (the wrong way). As my stretched-out abs attempted to engage, I saw what looked like a mountain ridge down the middle of my abdomen. This was a little frightening to see and though I was not experiencing pain, I could tell something was not right. When I mentioned this event to my caregiver, I received no concern and no education was given regarding how to protect myself when bearing weight or how to properly exercise my core post pregnancy.

Roughly two years later, I gave birth to my second child and suffered three tears. Even after my injuries healed, my pelvic pain lingered. It was noticeable with long periods of standing at my kitchen counter or when taking long walks outside. The pain was especially acute when I would sit up from a reclined position in bed after nursing my newborn for night-time feedings. I made an appointment to discuss the pain with my provider. She recommended pelvic physical therapy for my ‘pubic symphysis dysfunction.'”

How Jenna got better:

“I am so thankful that I took this recommendation! My pelvic PT taught me about the anatomy of the female pelvis and how childbirth impacts and often compromises core strength. I learned how to measure my diastasis recti and what exercises I could practice to help approximate the abdominal muscles. I learned how to protect my core by creating a “pelvic brace” for exercising and weight lifting. I also learned the proper posture for carrying my baby, how to get in and out of bed, and safe body mechanics for lifting my car seat.

Over a five week period, my pain significantly improved and was rarely noticeable! Only after a two week period of not exercising did my pain return (minimally). I discovered the reason for this is because I’m still breastfeeding my baby and this allows the relaxin hormone to linger, thereby creating instability at the pubic symphysis and also making it difficult to build muscle. While breastfeeding, maintaining my core stability means that I have to exercise regularly (4-5 times a week) and practice Kegel exercises daily. If I can commit to these practices, I remain pain free!”

Thank you, Jenna, a million times over for sharing this personal journey!!! It takes a lot of courage to share it and no doubt other women will benefit from hearing it.

How do I exercise to prevent or correct Diastasis Recti?

If you believe that you have diastasis recti, then I suggest you work with a reputable physical therapist for at least a few sessions, to get on the right track. As mentioned in the former testimonial, it’s important to learn proper biomechanics for sitting up in bed, lifting heavy objects, and bracing your core during exercises. A great place to start is by checking these exercises, performed by my lovely former colleague, Alison, and presented by my wonderful friend and former PT Cari: http://www.releasept.com/videos/low-back-core/ (The first nine videos work on core bracing in a gentle, but effective, way.)

Jenna’s PT, Stephanie Fournier, has also been extremely generous with her time, and has offered us some answers to important questions about this condition. See her interview below.

INTERVIEW WITH WOMEN’S HEALTH CLINICAL SPECIALIST

1) How many women do you encounter postpartum who have severe pelvic and core instability, and/or a diagnosable condition?

First, I would define severe pelvic and core instability as any pain or dysfunction in the postpartum period that is affecting activities of daily living. This could include severe pain, restriction in activities, avoidance of activities, or slowing a woman down in her normal activities. That being said, the exact number is hard to quantify since I treat in an outpatient clinic where I am only going to encounter those women who do have problems (core instability and/or pain) and who are coming to me via doctor or self-referral. However, I do believe that pain and dysfunction in the postpartum period go largely under diagnosed. What I hear most often from patients is that they tried to talk to a friend, family member, or healthcare provider about their pain/instability/limitation and they are told things such as, “That is normal, you just had a baby,”… “It will get better after the pregnancy,”… “You just have to live with it.”

Some research numbers to reflect on:

Incidence of lower back pain and pelvic girdle pain (PGP) in pregnancy range from 68.5% to 76% in prospective studies (Wang, 2004; Kristiansson, 1996; Ostgaard, 1991). And the incidence of PGP alone in pregnancy was 20%, in one prospective ,study (Vleeming, 2008). Why the discrepancy? Most likely pain is under reported.
70% of women experience some sort of lower back or pelvic pain during pregnancy.
1/3 of women report severe limitations in activities of daily living as a result of back and pelvic pain (Ostgaard, 1991). The risk for back pain increases postpartum (Ostgaard, 1997).
Most importantly, women having back and pelvic pain are 3x as likely to have postpartum depressive symptoms than those without pain (Gutke, 2007).

2) How do most women identify that they have Diastasis Recti? What tips do you have for identifying it as early as possible?

Most women that I see in the clinic do not realize that they have a diastasis recti (DrA). Often, they are coming to me for pelvic pain (posterior pelvic girdle pain, pubic symphysis dysfunction, lateral hip pain, or abdominal pain) and it is something that we find during our evaluation. They might have noticed a tent or pooch in their abdominal area with sits ups, supine to sit (getting in and out of bed) but didn’t exactly know what it meant. For identifying early on, women can measure themselves with their fingers or a tape measure or just look at their tummy when they are rolling in bed or sitting up in bed.

To measure; the patient starts in supine with their knees flexed. They can place their fingers horizontally in the umbilicus and raise their head up. They are measuring how many fingers they can place inside the gap in the rectus abdominis. [It should be noted that this finger method is highly unreliable and it is better to use a tape measure, however the tape measure is hard to do on yourself]

Some more research numbers to be aware of:

66% of women develop a DrA by their 3rd trimester.
39% of women have a significant DrA several years after delivery. Significant is defined as separation of 2.5cm or more (Ranney, 1990).
More than 50% of women presenting for urogynecological examination presented with a DrA. These are postmenopausal women. Likely, the DrA developed during the child bearing years and never fully resolved postpartum, leading to poor core stability and pelvic organ prolapse (Spitznagle, 2007) .
DrA is associated with varying degrees of stress urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, and pelvic organ prolapse (Spitznagle, 2007). This is why treating DrA early on in the postpartum period is so important to me. We could potentially be helping women to avoid major symptoms and even surgery.

Also, Parker (2008) found that women with DrA tend to have higher degrees of pelvic or abdominal pain.

3) How soon after pregnancy can women start working their core muscles again? How do you suggest they start?

I recommend that women return to activity postpartum as they feel comfortable. However, I do have a few recommendations for those women who do have a DrA [separation of 2.5cm or more at the umbilicus, 4.5cm superior to the umbilicus, and 4.5cm inferior to the umbilicus].

Avoid obliques, regular crunches/situps, and planks until the DrA is reduced to 2.5cm or less OR the woman can affectively activate a co contraction (transverse abdominis + pelvic floor muscle contraction)
When treating a DrA, I start with initiation of TrA (transverse abdominis) which they can start day one postpartum with or without a c-section
Progress to DrA curlup (Neville, 2008)
Various TrA stabilization activities or progressions, depending on the individual
Consider corset or elastic binder per the individual
Avoid bearing down (valsalva) and sitting straight up (in bed/jack-knife)
As always, ensure proper pelvic floor muscle activation (including power, endurance, and coordination)

Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing your wisdom and expertise! You went above and beyond!

If you have any questions about this content and/or exercises to improve your health, then please don’t hesitate to reach out! Upon request, I’m happy to share the medical studies that Stephanie referenced too.

Being a woman can be tough stuff, but there’s no reason why we can’t feel amazing and pain free!

Yours in health and wellness,

Maggie

References:

Diastasis Recti

http://gregnuckols.com/2013/07/17/do-women-need-to-train-any-differently/

http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/abdominal-separation-diastasis-recti

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