It is really normal after the birth of a child to experience some level of incontinence. Mothers who have experience a vaginal or c-section birth are both at risk. But little leaks or sneaky farts are not something you have to live with forever.
Do you want to be able to jump on the trampoline with your kids without having to go inside to change your undies? Umm… YES!
Today I am going to teach you about the ‘T’ zone!
The ‘T zone’ is the group of muscles we refer to when teaching you to activate your transversus abdominal muscles (deep layer of your core) and pelvic floor. We want to gently activate these muscles when doing everyday exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor and start to heal abdominal separation.
Imagine you are drawing a line from your right hip bone to your left hip bone. This forms the top of the T.
Then imagine you are drawing a line from the middle of that line down to your pubis. Now you have created the capital letter T. Your ‘T Zone’.
Here are my top tips for finding and turning on your ‘T Zone’:
- Start with the cough test. Lie on your back, bend your knees up and place your fingers about 2cm inside each hip bone, then cough. You should feel your transversus muscle pop up. So when you want to exercise the ‘T Zone’ you want to feel that muscle lift gently.
- Imagine you are using your lower abdominal muscles to pull your two hip bones together.
- Lift up through your pelvic floor. Zip from bottom to the top. Avoid pushing down.
- Gently contract these muscles only and stop other muscles like your upper abdominals and butt muscle contracting to help.
- You may need to concentrate and close your eyes initially to focus on this, but try to breathe normally through it.
- Turn on this ‘T Zone’ for physical activity, doing your pelvic floor exercises, before you do any core exercises and for every day lifting.
How often do you need to do these?
- Do your pelvic floor sets 3 times per day until you can hold contractions for 10 seconds.
- Once you can hold for 10 seconds, you only need to do these once a day (for life) to maintain lifetime strength.
- Complete a mixture of short and long holds, such as;
- 8-12 x 2 second holds, and 8-12 x 10 second holds.
One of the hardest things about doing these exercises is remembering to do them. So find a simple cue that prompts you to do them. Something that you do regularly each day, such as:
While breastfeeding, in the shower, when you open the fridge, when you brush your teeth, before you go to bed, when you hear Kanga songs on the radio, and whenever you wash your hands.
So before you click away, do a set NOW
Tell me what you think! I would love to hear your feedback and questions on Facebook.
Keep Movin’
Philippa Bowman
Expert Pre/Postnatal Fitness Coach
Founder of Nurtured Fitness
November 2015