Yep, climb right on into that tub and squat down. Rather than leaning way over it from one side, snatch the chance to work your core and pelvic floor from a more upright angle + improve your squatability! Use one hand to wipe, one hand to balance, and switch back and forth. Imagine wearing a crown, and don't let it fall off which will help you keep your body more upright and tall. Think: Long, lean & lifted through your torso and trunk.

Struggling with your squat? Here's a FREE video with tricks to hack your squatability really quickly: https://fit2b.us/little-things-squats-introduction-squatting/ or google "Fit2B Squatting"

I'm 44 and I couldn't squat deeply in my early 30's at all. I learned those tricks and I'm squatting better and better as I age! How cool is that?!

Your nerves know the last thing they sensed. If your abs haven't felt anything "good" since they experienced a trauma such as surgical slicing, damaging abuse, pregnancy loss, panic from danger, or pain from disease or illness, then is it any wonder you feel disconnected and hesitant to exercise them? If you do try exercising them, do they even respond? Do they hurt?

If you feel and look worse after an ab workout, and you have a history of any trauma to your core or pelvic floor (the bottom of your core) then give yourself grace to tally up all that things your belly has been through. It's probably a lot, especially if you're a female.

I wish I could reach through this screen and instantly heal your past and your pain. I wish I could undo what happened to you. I wish I could talk to you right after your trauma and get you pointed in the right direction sooner.

What I can actually do is keep showing up in this space. I can be here for you with my heart and my passion to help you and all those in your shoes with gentle, non-traumatizing workouts. I can offer you home exercise videos that help you meet your core where it's at like the following titles in our fitness library:

Kelly's Grief Routine Dark Days Purple Press Gentle Blend Red Redemption Orange Openers Pelvic Floor Connections

Those are just a few that we offer to people who are processing deep things in relation to their Diastasis Recti and pelvic floor issues.

Google "Fit2B PTSD" to preview more titles related to post-traumatic stress disorder. Google "Fit2B Pelvic Girdle Pain" for a free podcast with a free set of exercises Google "Fit2B Comforting Core" for our course to help with miscarriage and infant loss

How can doing these things when you're nervous, upset, feel weak or disconnected, or you're experiencing constipation or pain actually help?

Walking Outside: Gets your bowels moving, and looking at things beyond your 4 walls helps shift your mind and mood.

Fetal Positions: Curling up into a ball helps you feel safe. It also presses on your tummy to push out gas and stimulate your body's systems to "release."

Belly Breathing: Imagine your core is like a balloon. Fill that balloon with air, making your belly big. Then let your air out, so the balloon in your belly gets smaller. Try to inhale deeper and exhale further each time. This calms your nervous system and connects you to your core muscles.

Legs Up A Wall: Lay down near a wall and turn so you can put your feet up on the wall. Allow your legs to fall open wide. This position relaxes many major muscles, fights pelvic pain, and taking deep breaths here is very soothing.

Clockwise Massage: Rub your belly area in clockwise circles. This stimulates your lymph and your digestion. Trauma to the tummy can make us avoid touching it, but massaging your abs can bring lots of comfort.

Consult your doctor if these things bring more pain and discomfort. Visit Fit2b.com for more resources to help your core including:

Comforting The Core: Moving Through Miscarriage and Infant Loss https://fit2b.us/product/comforting-the-core-moving-through-miscarriage-infant-loss/

Whether it's from a car accident or surgery such as Cesarean Section, or your ab muscles were repeatedly punched, or you suffered pregnancy loss, got a massive hernia, work a job where your abs are constantly stressed, or have had chronic constipation and bloating issues... your abs can make a recovery.

Numbness, damaged muscles, instability, poor posture, weak muscles, lack of control, and bladder/bowel issues are ALL treatable.

Here on Fit2B we address the "fitness piece" of all those things. We can move - we can help you move - in ways that reduce numbness, strengthen your muscles, improve your posture, reclaim control of your core, minimize hernia growth, and get that digestion going properly!

Now, if grief is playing a role in your core disconnect, let me recommend our FREE "Grief Routine" that we made in cooperation with Kelly, physical therapist and founder of @thetummyteam whose story of 6 losses was the motivation for this set of movements.

Learn more and try it here: https://fit2b.us/grief-routine/

Anything that physically alters your abdominal muscles creates trauma to those muscles. You might be thinking, "How is constipation on the same level as being punched in the stomach?" Emotionally and mentally, it's not. Yet there's two things in common in all of the above scenarios: Fear and Pain.

Even if you had an amazing pregnancy, your abs were forced to morph and stretch a lot. Chronic constipation can cause the same amount of distension and it can feel like labor to finally poop. Your abs are used in the same ways for both labor and big bowel movements. If you have to strain...

If things get stuck...

If you feel out of control...

If you get scared...

Now you've got a traumatic emotional memory tied to your body, your muscle's performance.

If you have a c-section, your ab muscles will be traumatized as they are sliced through, and the surgeon cannot possible reap proximate all your nerve endings and muscle fibers. 

If you have been abused anywhere on your belly - or you've been in a car wreck where your midsection was struck - or you've suffered the loss of a baby on top of abdominal trauma, it gets even harder. The PTSD you may be experiencing can really impact how your abs perform when you ask them to do a hard workout. If they're shut down - if you're shut down - it will be harder for you to connect to your core. You may have a worse Diastasis Recti due to this, and you may struggle more to correct it. 

But there is hope. On Fit2B we know how to help. We offer a specific pathway of workout for people with PTSD and a course for women who've experienced miscarriage or infant loss. We do not take any of this lightly as our team has been through these things ourselves.

Preview the PTSD pathway here:

Our "Comforting The Core" course benefits @stillbirthday and you can learn about it here: