QuestionHi Helene
I worked out a lot during my 1st Pregnancy and did a lot of Pilates as well.
I had my first child 20 months ago and had a serious divarication following this of 8 centimetres, using your DVD and Pilates I was able to reduce the gap to 2 fingers. My stomach still had a slightly uneven appearance in profile.
I am now 11 weeks into my 2nd pregnancy and I can already see that my belly button is popping out and my belly looks odd much more pooched out down the midline. I am not sure if there is anything I can do during the pregnancy to reduce the risk of serious damage
Thanks
Susanna
AnswerMost likely, your abs will separate again. For some women, this is how their bodies respond to pregnancy. So don't blame yourself for doing something wrong.
To lessen the amount of separation, you should try to get your Transverse Abdominis (TvA) as strong as possible, and maintain as much strength as you can as your abdomen expands.
Conversely, you should also refrain from all movements that stretch your mid line and exercises that flex the upper body off the floor, like crunches and all Pilates exercises that utilize the "head float" position.
Make sure that as your pregnancy progresses, you prevent your pelvis from tipping (or as much as you can) because this common pregnancy posture increases the stress on the mid line. To view illustrations of how pregnancy can impact posture go to: http://www.befitmom.com/physiological_adaptations.html
You should perform TvA isolations daily to strengthen the muscle. These can be done side-lying, sitting, or standing. My web site features two safe TvA standing variations that you can do throughout your pregnancy. Since your first separation was severe, I suggest that you add on manual splinting of the Rectus Abdominis as you do both of them. For the exercise descriptions go to: http://www.befitmom.com/strength_training.html and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
To learn more about what moves to avoid go to: http://www.befitmom.com/abdominal_separation.html
