OK, a few of my Mums have asked me about this 30 Days Abs challenge that is going around FB at the moment, thankfully they have asked me about it before starting it! I have always said how we need to work our deep core, those abs below the ‘6 pack abs’ so this challenge totally goes against the grain and is detrimental to you trying to flatten your tummy. I am going to explain why in simple terms doing crunches and sit ups don’t work, especially if your technique isn’t very good as your core isn’t strong enough to do it properly in the 1st place.
I want you do try it ONCE So you can watch/feel what happens to your hips/abs when you do a sit up or crunch! I mean only once and make sure you watch what happens & keep hands on your hip flexors/tummy if you can…… 1st thing you notice – for crunches or sit ups is that no matter how much you try to keep the tummy in towards your spine your tummy bulges outwards. The next thing you should notice/feel is that the hip flexors (top of your legs, pelvis) tense up and also crunch upwards. As with in pregnancy when the pelvis is tilted forwards it shortens and tightens the hip flexors and with constant repetition the glutes (the real power house in your body) will lengthen and flatten. That is another topic for discussion …… back to the abs…
Ok, you’ve all noticed tummy bulges because it is squashing the internal organs and pushing them outwards as there is nowhere else for them to go. If you aren’t strong enough from within, the deep trans abdominal muscles are not strong enough and will not support you in the sit up hence the abs all head outwards! This puts pressure on your back – which is also taking the pressure from overworking and doing the work that the glutes should be doing, hence glutes aren’t firing so the back kicks in first. So, lets focus on a 30 day deep abs challenge without sit ups, crunches and not even plank – post natally your abdomen is not strong enough to resist gravity and puts a lot of pressure on the abs as you cant draw the tummy up towards your spine. Next blog will give you the exercises to do every day and also just start focusing on eating a healthy diet avoiding too much sugar and eating lots of greens (spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, beans etc.).
