During pregnancy, the abdominal muscles are weakened or lost as they are stretched. In addition, weight tends to be gained.
As a result, it is important for women to plan to exercise following pregnancy, especially if they have not been exercising through it. Exercise and abdominal workouts can help women develop strong abdominal muscles again and lose weight, as well as feel great when they become more physically in shape.
It is important to realize that getting back in shape will take time and patience as it usually takes anywhere from six to twelve weeks to achieve a pre-pregnancy state again. If everything goes well during the birth and if your doctor gives the okay, you should be able to begin these exercises as little as 24 to 48 hours after birth.
The doctor must give his or her approval for you to begin these exercises or you could end up hurting yourself even more. Be sure to follow his or her advice on how hard you should exercise at first as well.
Right after birth, your abdominal muscles may not remember how to respond to your orders to do a crunch or other core exercise. However, if you practice breathing correctly, you can help these muscles remember what they are supposed to do.
When you breathe in, make sure you fill your lungs and your abdomen. You will see your chest and your abdomen move out when you have breathed deeply enough.
Then, you will want to breathe out fully, allowing your chest and abdomen to flatten. By breathing in this manner, your abdomen will start to remember the in and out motion that is important for relaxing and contracting muscles.
When you get used to this, use your muscles to push out your stomach further and bring it in tighter. At this point, you should be able to start doing crunches again.
These breathing exercises can also help your muscles shrink or shorten again after being stretched out. It will be very difficult to strengthen these muscles until they have fully shortened again.
As your stomach grew larger during pregnancy, your center of gravity changed and you had to become accustomed to it so that you could balance yourself correctly. After you have given birth to the baby, you will have to accustom yourself to your old center of gravity again.
Practice several balancing exercises to get used to where your center of gravity is again. Be sure to keep an open posture while you perform these exercises as a good posture is very important for strengthening your muscles.
When you begin actual core exercises it is good to know that when your ribs and upper back move, you are focusing on strengthening your upper abdominal muscles. However, when your pelvis and lower back move, you are focusing on strengthening your lower abs.
Create your workout according to this knowledge and whether you want to focus on strengthening your upper abs or your lower abs. There are many different core exercises that you can do.
One of the exercises you may want to try are Kegels. Kegels are designed to strength the pelvic floor muscles and they can be done in any position.
Simply tighten the muscles that support the uterus, bladder, and bowels for five seconds and release. Doing this several times a day can really help strengthen those muscles.
Another exercise you may want to try is the pelvic tilt. To perform the pelvic tilt, lay on your back with your knees bent.
Then, tilt your pelvis back while tightening your abs and exhaling. While you are tightening your abs, try to bring your belly button in to touch your backbone while you push your lower back into the floor.
Stay tightened and pushing for five seconds before your inhale and relax. Even though these exercises may sound easy, exercising does not have to be extremely difficult in order to be effective.
Another exercise you may want to try is stretching out. For this, simply lie on your back with your arms and legs straight and your palms up.
Your toes should be pointing at the ceiling with the thigh muscles tightened and your knees should be pushed into the floor. Tighten your abdominal muscles in order to flatten your back and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
Stretch out your neck and press your hands into the bed. Again, be sure to hold this position for several second before you inhale and let your muscles relax.
Jack R. Landry has been writing about the exercise and health industry for years. He recommends using home exercise equipment to stay healthy and fit.
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Jack R. Landry
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