Bridge Exercise Variations to strengthen your hips and core

Benefits of Performing Bridging Exercises

The bridge is a great exercise for strengthening your glutes, hamstrings, and core. These exercises are great to incorporate into a rehab program before introducing higher-level strength training.

Here are a few bridge exercise variations you can try:

1️⃣ Bridge Marches

2️⃣ Bridge Walk-Outs

3️⃣ Bridge with Foam-Roller

4️⃣ Single Leg Bridge

5️⃣ Single Leg Bridge with Slider

When and What Exercises Can I Do After Having a Baby?

After delivery, new mothers start to become busy with nursing, learning their baby’s schedule, preparing food, doing house chores along with many other tasks. Throughout this busy time, one question that always arises is, when is the proper time for me to back to get back to exercising and being active? Also, where do I start?

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) committee, exercise routines may be resumed gradually after pregnancy as soon as medically safe, depending on the mode of delivery (vaginal or cesarean birth) and the presence or absence of medical or surgical complications.

Pelvic floor exercises (Kegels) can be initiated in the immediate postpartum period. However, I highly recommend you consult with a pelvic floor physical therapist to properly perform a Kegel exercise if you’re not familiar with it.

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Remember your body just underwent trauma from delivery...

Week 1-4 is a healing period for your body. At this time, the most important thing to do is to practice Kegels in a variety of different positions and activities as well as build up a relationship with your baby.

Week 4-6 you might be able to start light abdominal/core engagement exercises. This could help you prevent Diastasis Recti from occurring. However, everything has to start with light intensity (30%), do not overstress your abdominal muscles. If you see a gap or dome on your belly while performing exercises, please decrease the intensity or consult with a pelvic floor physical therapist.

Week 6-12 is the phase when your body should be ready for higher-level activity, we want to start incorporating Kegels into gym exercises. Week 6 would be a good time to consult with a pelvic physical therapist to create a customized return to gym program. 

Week 6-8 you should be starting in the gym with no weight followed by light weightlifting (around your baby's weight). 

Week 8-12 you can begin fast pace walking, and increase reps with light weights. You should avoid high-impact activities such as box jumps, double-unders, sprinting, and also strenuous abdominal exercises such as toes to bar and kipping pull-ups.

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The key to postpartum life is patience, listening to your body, re-training your pelvic floor muscles, and building up a relationship with your baby. :)

Why Is There a Gap In My Tummy?

How do I tell If I Have Diastasis Recti?

Diastasis recti is commonly seen in pregnant mothers but men can suffer from it too. In women, this condition can present during pregnancy or after delivery. Initially, people often notice a dome on their tummy when engaging their abdominal muscles, especially when getting out of bed. Some people also complain of feeling like their organs are falling out or feel their tummy is loose and unstable.

The most common question I get from people is: "Will the gap in my tummy close at any point?"

My answer to people who ask whether the gap will ever close is "I'm not sure". The severity of Diastasis Recti varies significantly. If the connective tissue that holds both sides of your abdominal muscles (also known as the "linea alba") is stretched out too much then you may need to consult with your surgeon to address that. However, regardless of how severe your diastasis recti is, everyone needs to strengthen their transverse abdominal and pelvic floor muscles to improve the ease of performing daily activities. The transverse abdominal muscle is the main muscle responsible for creating tension in your linea alba. Having proper linear alba tension helps to create a firm midline instead of a gap.

I’ve been doing a lot of ab workouts and core strengthening, but why isn't it getting better?

*If you’ve been doing core exercises for 6 weeks or it’s been 6 months after your delivery and you still haven’t seen any improvements, please consult a pelvic physical therapist for further assessment and treatment. 

There could be many factors preventing you from getting better:

1️⃣Your body hasn’t fully recovered from hormonal changes during pregnancy.

Your body needs at least 1 year to let your connective tissues (Linea Alba, muscles, ligaments) recover. *Please be patient! Your body has experienced a lot during pregnancy and we need to be nice to our bodies to help with recovery.

2️⃣You’re not using the right abdominal muscles.

We have two layers of muscles, the superficial layer consists of the external and internal abdominals, and the deeper layer consists of the transverse abdominals. Most people overstress their abs and engaging the superficial layer more instead of the deeper layer.

How would I know whether I’m using the right muscles?

When you contract the transverse abdominals properly, you will see a flattened tummy from your ribs down to your pelvis instead of seeing your rib cage flare-up.

3️⃣The exercises that you are doing are not designed to help you return to your everyday activities. In other words, your exercises are not activity-specific.

We mainly performs activities in an upright position, but many people only train their muscles lying down. For example, only doing reverse crunches will not help you engage your whole abdominal wall when you have to carry your baby.

You should incorporate upright positions in your work outs, such as lunges and squats with weights, to help you train your muscles in different positions.

4️⃣Your exercises are not challenging enough or too challenging. 

How do I know whether my exercises are too hard?

If you see a dome in your tummy while performing core exercises.

How would I know whether my exercises are too easy?

I want you to take a second to think about the frequency and reps you do per week. I understand it’s hard to find the time to do exercises because your life is occupied by your baby and you are very busy. However, I also want you to spare some time for yourself and your body. The exercise dosage should be 3-4 times/week. The intensity should make your muscles feel fatigued. *Please watch out for the dome!

5️⃣You still need to lose some fat tissue from pregnancy.

I normally tell my clients this when discussing their diet and nutrition intake. Most of the time, moms don’t have enough time to eat regularly and properly, and thus don’t get enough nutrition. This makes it harder for your body to recover and get back into shape. Please don’t compare yourself with moms on Instagram with beautiful bodies. Everyone’s body is different and we all have different healing times. We need to listen to our bodies. Focusing on yourself is the most important thing to do now. 😊

Is Urine Incontinence Normal?

Do you always need to go to the restroom before a trip “just in case?”

Your pelvic floor muscles are working 24/7 nonstop just like your diaphragm. It’s not only contracting when you want to hold your pee, hold your poop, or having sex, etc.. You need to train your pelvic floor muscles to contract, relax, and push down during various activities, such as driving in the car, standing in line for food as well as watching cat videos on Instagram. 🐱 

Can't wear your new cute leggings for fitness classes because you're worried about urine leakage?

Performing basic pelvic floor muscle exercises is fairly easy because you don’t need any equipment or a specific time to workout. Contracting your pelvic floor muscles is not like lifting heavyweights. Imagine you are holding a baby's finger, you are not going to squeeze as hard as you can. This squeeze is equivalent to contracting your pelvic floor muscles. I sometimes tell my clients to use 30% of their force to squeeze and if done correctly, it might feel like they're doing nothing. But, Yes! 30%! 💪

Cautious about sneezing or laughing because you don’t want to pee your pants? 😐

You've probably already googled Kegel exercises before you read this. But pelvic floor health is not just about Kegel exercises. Consulting a pelvic floor physical therapist about your problem can help you to understand your issues in-depth and guide you through your rehab journey. 🙂

Having urge/stress incontinence or urine leakage should not be a normal occurrence in your life. You shouldn't be ashamed because this is an issue that can be addressed. 🙌