Get Fit Friday - Diastasis Recti

After last week's post, several of you inquired about Diastasis Recti, mostly "Kris, what are you talking about"

Diastasis Recti is a condition in which the large muscles in the abdomen separate. Many women experience this when they are pregnant. Most times it heals itself, but sometimes (as in my case) it does not. Men who carry a significantly large amount of weight around their belly can develop it as well.

D.R. is most noticeable when the abdominal muscles are tense, like when you are doing a sit up, coughing, etc. It looks like a bulge (I thought mine was a hernia).  Here is visual for ya. Yu can see that the separation can be around the belly button, or above or below it. Mine is almost exactly like that last image and I started working on it because I realized that my belly won't be flat until I fix it.

If you want to determine whether or not you have D.R. or want to determine how significant yours is, here is a simple self-test that will help you determine if you have diastasis recti.

• Lie on your back with your knees bent, and the soles of your feet on the floor.
• Place one hand behind your head, and the other hand on your abdomen, with your fingertips across your midline, parallel with your waistline, at the level of your belly button.
• With your abdominal wall relaxed, gently press your fingertips into your abdomen.
• Roll your upper body off the floor into a “crunch,” making sure that your ribcage moves closer to your pelvis.
• Move your fingertips back and forth across your midline, feeling for the right and left sides of your rectus abdominis muscle. Test for separation at, above, and below your belly button.

Signs of Diastasis Recti/Abdominal Separation

• A gap of more than 2 1/2 finger-widths when the rectus abdominis is fully contracted.
• The gap does not shrink as you contract your abdominal wall.
• You can see a small mound protruding along the length of you midline.

Now then... IF you determine that you have D.R. there are exercises you can do to fix it! (yay!!!) I talked to one of the PLS Coaches about this and she gave me a list. (You can search YouTube for them if they are not familiar.) One thing she stressed was "belly button to spine"- keeping the abs tight and pulled in as well as keeping your back flat to the floor if you are doing the exercises that require you to lie on your back. Here's the list:

• Pelvic Tilts
• Heel Drops
• Heel slides
• Glute Bridge March
• Bird Dog
• Side Plank
• single leg lifts
• squats 
• Wall Sits

I'm doing these nightly for these 12 weeks. I started out with a 3 finger width D.R. and am very interested to see how it shrinks in 12 weeks.