Pregnant and non pregnant ladies, do you have a issue with your belly protruding or wondering how to work your core during pregnancy? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxbsq808lxE&sns=em

Before and during pregnancy you have heard me say I rarely work abs in the traditional way. I don't think I will ever do a full ab crunch again to be honest.  As I have gained more knowledge I have come to understand the belly pouch I had after my first pregnancy was diastasis recti. Not everyone gets this and there are certain ways to train it correctly check out the vid  by befitmoms on you tube to see one of the exercises I do. 

What is your level of fitness? Everyone is different

At the beginning stages of pregnancy I did do things like planks and press up more often. If you see me do it now its for a very minimal period of time. I had a very strong core and if you are going to attempt these planks and pressups please ensure your strong enough to do it and you have full control of your core muscles to hold up baby. I have said before in previous posts, pregnant or not  if your not drawing your belly button in towards your spine the exercise is redundant and you could be causing more damage especially in pregnancy with the growing weight in your abdomen you are putting extra stress there. So control it ladies or don't do it. 

I would also not recommend isometric contraction during 2nd/3rd trimester due to the fact it can raise blood pressure or abdominal trauma by falling due to fatigue so if your finding it hard don't just push through the pain during pregnancy workouts trying to plank pick a regression for the plank (shown in previous post ) 

So ladies and and a few men if your doing all the abs exercises in the world and its nots working out for you do some research no need to crazy ab exercises DO the right exercises and as they say eat clean and clear up those gut issues.  Things  like belly breathing is a  good place to start. Even getting up out of bed the wrong way can be detrimental. Google away folks

Knowledge is power, I don't know everything but learning more and  more each day and want to be a  PT who shares my success and help people reach goals not charge for every bit knowledge I pass on to you. Have a blessed day guys. 

Just an insight to why we use our protein shakes we use and not any other brands out there. We are not experts in nutrition but on our health journey have tried many products and learnt a thing or two about the ones we should avoid.  We urge everyone to research what that are ingesting and question its origin. Please don't just assume these product are healthy because they are labelled so and have great marketing. Many of these products are the source of illness and cancers.

These protein shake companies have products filled with things we can't even pronounce not to mention where the origin of where the products derive from. Some of the products ingredients have manifested from unnatural sources and places where you couldn't imagine and not even fit for human consumption.

We are not perfect and still working on removing these things from our diet they are hidden in lots of everyday food so it can be very difficult to get away from it. 

One example of a nasty ingredient is SACRULOSE an artificial sweetener its quite common ingredient.

For example, there are reports of the following after eating sucralose:

• Gastrointestinal problems
• Seizures, dizziness and migraines
• Blurred vision
• Allergic reactions
• Blood sugar increases and weight gain

 

We counted one health protein shake have over 15 or more ingredients of what we are not really sure they are and it could take a whole day of researching. If we personally are going to use an artificial product that's not in its natural form we try and use ones with as less ingredients as possible and ones we know of.   Here are the shakes we use.

7 Ingredients listed all natural sources

1 Ingredient listed good old fashioned hemp

If your interested in real clean eating and tidying up your nutrition and a more natural approach to life do some research. Check out our friends Facebook Page The Naturally You Coach  her website here.

 

Also this Facebook page has some good articles about natural health Lean Fit

 

 

 

FINAL THOUGHT.....

 

Think of it this way, natural products derived straight from the earth are naturally in tune with your body and manmade products just aren't in sync thus manifesting it self in abnormalities in your bodies though ailments and disease that you are unaware of that look like common sickness.  Its entirely up to you what you decide to put in your bodies but we are aspiring to get to a place where we are living a fit, healthy natural life.

 

 

Have a blessed day Fit Fam

 

Mr & Mrs Workout

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

AB exercises

This is how I work my Ab’s during pregnancy need to remember to do it more often, before pregnancy I rarely worked hard on my abs anyway tried to focus on nutrition and more core strengthening exercises no big crunching the more research I did on Diastasis Recti the more I found out traditional ab exercises make the mummy pouch as the call it stick out more so avoid like the plague.

Pictured are Leg slides, belly breathing technique, and the bottom pic is belly breathing whilst holding your tummy to help lessen the ab separation. 

Draw your tummy button in towards your spine whilst breathing normally as your core gets stronger you can do this for longer and longer I sometimes do it through the day without even noticing. Use this anytime through the day bending over picking up your kids house work it helps correct your posture to.

Notice how much smaller my tummy looks when its drawn in, my stretch marks are form my first pregnancy so far haven’t received any new ones I wear them with pride though. I have been using Mama mio cream and oil.

AB seperatation

 

 Look at it this way protein powder is just food in a supplement form its quite safe however note some contain many additives and things you just don't really want to add to your diet unnecessarily. I personally use MRM as its an all natural whey and its free from additives and is very low in calories etc I'm not sponsored by them its just what I like to use.  

Where possible its always best to get your protein intake from wholefoods I only use the shakes for before and after workout. Many women find it a life saver during morning sickness because they can't keep foods down.

Most women who workout whilst pregnant take some kind of protein shake or maybe opt for a more friendly option like vegan kinds. When selecting a protein shake please read the labelling and research all the ingredients.

General rule for clean eating is if you can't pronounce the ingredients don't buy it and the fewer the ingredients the better. 


Please talk to a nutritionist or your doctor if your really unsure and want to double check as you may have special dietary needs and you may have intolerance to certain ingredients.