EP 9 - ALL ABOUT ABS: PART 1

Jun 8

Abs are really misunderstood and, unfortunately, what we often see in the conventional fitness world is an attempt to ~spot train~ via things like ab-specific workouts and classes leaving many women frustrated and in pain. Unfortunately the holistic health space often misses the mark here as well.

Before we dive in, an important disclaimer! Around these parts we are not about chasing unrealistic expectations for a woman’s physique. We want for you to physically feel well, and to have strong functional abs and core for better health. We cover the nuance that’s often missing from the conventional fitness and holistic health spaces.

Also! We had some tech trubs with the audio on this episode, so just go ahead and ignore our blooper about what we were supposed to cut at the beginning ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Shit happens!

In this episode of Get Your Shit Together we chat about:

🧡 Common ab myths - are they made in the kitchen? Can you have abs and a healthy cycle?

🧡 Where the conventional fitness and holistic health spaces miss the mark on abs

🧡 Realistic physique goals for your body

🧡 The role of breath and pelvic floor in strong functional abs

🧡 Side effects of poor core strength that are common, not normal

Resources & Good Shit

Episodes

What We’re Consuming

Emme’s Plantains - locally (Grand Rapids, MI) made savory plantain chips! The Rosemary & Garlic are SO good.

What We’re Watching

Here’s the clip Adina was talking about from Bo Burnham’s “Inside” feature on Netflix, his comedy special filmed entirely in his home during quarantimes.
If you enjoy that, you’ll probably like the musical dramedy series Crazy Ex Girlfriend with Rachel Bloom (also Netflix).
Diane is watching Solos, a miniseries on Amazon! Each story follows a character facing an uncertain future...the cast is STACKED! Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Constance Wu, Helen Mirren, and Uzo Adubo all have separate episodes. A timely concept – this sci-fi series highlights how we’re all connected through the human experience, even when we feel most alone.
Don’t miss Best Picture winner Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand (Hulu). Also pretty awesome, director Chloe Zhao became the first Asian woman (and first woman of color) to win the Oscar for Best Director.

Connect with Adina:

Instagram: @adinarubin_

Website: www.adinarubincoaching.com

Connect with Diane

Instagram: @dianeteall

Website: www.diteawellness.com

Root Cause Reset: www.rcrprogram.com

Transcript

Transcript was auto-generated! There may be some errors, but you get the…GYST 😜

Diane: 0:31

Welcome back to the G Y S T podcast. Adina Welcome back to your home. I know you went on a trip first one in awhile without the kiddos. Is that right? Yeah,

Adina: 0:44

That is right. Thank you for the warm welcome. It doesn't feel great to be home. I'll tell you that much.

Diane: 0:51

because where, where are you tell everyone where you were

Adina: 0:53

Um, we were in beautiful California. It's funny because we were with a lot of new Yorkers. Like we were there for a friend's wedding and all of us were just. Loving the weather loving the scenery, but so grumpy about being on the west coast as true new Yorkers are like, all of us were just like, oh, the west coast sucks, California sucks.

Diane: 1:17

your skin gets spicy?

Adina: 1:19

No. Everything was amazing. My skin is so good when I'm on the west coast. Like, wow. We might, I was just so clear and glowy and like, my skin felt so good. I don't know if it's, it's probably a combination of like the dryness and the water there, but like coming home to that harsh Jersey water and that like a hundred percent humidity, it just like instantly my skin felt a

Diane: 1:46

An overcast. One of my clients who lives, not that far from you and New Jersey, so that it was cold and rainy. So you escape that. And honestly, whenever I saw the few clips that you were posting, while you were there, I just heard the OSI theme song. If anyone remembers that show oh man, Seth Cohen.

Adina: 2:06

also, um, like we were in LA for the weekend, but then we were in Laguna for the wedding and. I feel that those like sweeping views are just the intro montage to like any of those shows or some of like the Disney channel shows we watched growing up. I don't know if you were into those, but that's what I was feeling with those sweeping, sweeping ocean views.

Diane: 2:28

Yeah. So what were your favorite thing? I know that you're out there for a wedding. What were some things that you consumed out there? Some favorite moments?

Adina: 2:36

Oh, okay. What were we consuming? So, okay. As you guys know, we CA we keep strict kosher. So generally when we travel either we'll bring food with us. Sometimes there are kosher restaurants and the spots we're going to, so LA has a whole bunch of kosher options, but there is not much kosher in Laguna. And so what we will do when we're in a spot that doesn't have a kosher option is. Raw fish because fish is, you know, some fish are kosher, no matter what. And when you eat it raw, you exclude any of the issues that could come up with cooking. So we were just digging in some Pacific ocean cevice which was,

Diane: 3:19

oh, yum. And some sushi.

Adina: 3:22

Yeah. So good. So good. So that's what we are consuming on the food end of things, and really enjoyed that. And what else? Oh, what are we consuming? Media wise? Uh, in the airport, Dani and I watched Bo Burnham's new, special, which we all know how Diane feels about musicals, but here's the thing. I don't get it because like you like music. And sorry, for those of you who are not familiar, Bo Burnham is like a musical comedian and I love that delivery of comedy. I think it is so funny because it's basically adding another layer to the joke. Like the lyrics themselves are hilarious, but then you have the joke structure of like the dissonance between. The melody and the lyrics, which is so funny.

Diane: 4:17

You've lost me.

Adina: 4:19

how do you not like

Diane: 4:20

I don't know, it just makes me cringe or perhaps it reminds me of some guys I knew in college would like sing with their guitar out and it would just like make my skin itch, like to romance a woman. And I was like, oh, it made my skin crawl. So maybe it's like bringing the, I don't even know. That's just first. What comes to mind? I will say this. It doesn't bother me as much as that comedian who has the ventriloquist dummies. What's his name?

Adina: 4:45

Um, give me, uh

Diane: 4:47

Hate it. Enemy. I hate it. I hate ventral cause dummies.

Adina: 4:52

Ventriloquist dummies are creepy, but the thing about music is that it's great. And then the thing about musical comedy is that it's hilarious and great. So I don't get, what's not to

Diane: 5:03

two of your favorite things at one time. Huh?

Adina: 5:05

yeah, so. This is very similar to me. I know I've talked about this on the show before, but the show crazy ex-girlfriend that I love. So Rachel bloom is another incredible musical comedian. And so something about like when the there's like a complete incongruence between like the melody and the music. It's so hilarious. And I just showed you before we hopped on the white woman, Instagram one, which is so funny. Do you find that

Diane: 5:31

that was funny. I did have a little ha it was funny. It was funny. Yeah.

Adina: 5:36

Okay. So basically, if you are not familiar with this special Bo Burnham is a musical comedian and he struggled with some like panic attacks and anxiety related to performing live. And right before the quarantine set in right before the world shut down, he was planning on starting up with live performances. Again, he took like a little hiatus from performing live and then obviously chaos ensued. So he. Wrote and directed this entire special inside his room during quarantine. And it is cinema. Like the cinematography is a masterpiece. He's an incredible director, the lighting, like it feels so here's the crazy thing. It feels so giant in moments, but it also feels so tiny because like you're in his room the entire time. It's really awesome and moments are hilarious. And it also is which this is kind of interesting because this is similar to crazy ex-girlfriend too. It is kind of in moments, a commentary on mental health. And so I guess that's, that's a genre for me, like mental health musical.

Diane: 6:47

Yes. Well, maybe I will check it out perhaps,

Adina: 6:52

yeah, you should. You should let me know. You could text me the whole time if you want.

Diane: 6:58

while you were singing, as we were getting ready for this episode, so he was like, what are you talking about? And you mentioned crazy ex-girlfriend, which I haven't seen, but I actually started listening to a new podcast called bloodbath girls with another comedian who is just hilarious, Annie Letterman. And I think esther one of the co-hosts may have been a writer on crazy ex-girlfriend. So that sounded familiar.

Adina: 7:19

that would be one of those things that Donnie would have to hop in here and post and let us know if we're right or

Diane: 7:23

Yes. Just to have him pop in. Um, and okay, so that is cool that he filmed us in his room, in his apartment. And I mean, the video he showed me was funny, this whole dancing.

Adina: 7:34

sight to behold. Yeah. So what the song I was telling Diane about is called white woman, Instagram. It's basically the lyrics are like, it lists off all these things and it's like, is this heaven? Or is this a white woman's Instagram? And the visuals are so good. Like in every frame he's wearing a different, one of the like classic t-shirts like one of them says like maybe contain wine, LOL.

Diane: 7:56

well, him filming of that alone reminded me of what I've been watching, which is solos. And this is not a comedy. I do need some something funny. So, um, but this is on Amazon prime and it has quite a.

Adina: 8:11

Bo Burnham specials on Netflix. If you're looking for that, it will be in the show notes, obviously.

Diane: 8:15

well, it's like, wait, let's get let's before I go back into that, I wonder if there's a place to cut. So you can say where this was going to be, and then I'll just go into what I've been watching. Do you have do that?

Adina: 8:23

What was the last thing you said about.

Diane: 8:27

We'll just delete everything I just said. And then just say, um, so if you want to watch it.

IT’S A BLOOPERRRRRRR!!!!!!

Adina: 8:32

yeah. So it's definitely a sight to behold it's again, the cinematography is super cool and fun. Really interesting. The songs are hilarious and that will be on Netflix. You can find Bo Burnham special on Netflix.

Diane: 8:45

I love that we all have that Netflix would fill out that queue. I need something funny. I have been watching something really. Excellent. I'm a couple of episodes in, and it's called solos on Amazon. Prime has quite a star studded cast. So each episode is standalone. It reminds me of. Reminds me of black mirror, but this has seven really unique character driven stories with one actor per episode. The first one starts Ann Hathaway. The one that I just watched last night has Anthony Mackie, who I think is an Avengers, but immediately Neil's like, Hey, it's that guy? M and M had a rap battle with an eight mile. I don't know why that was what he recalled. It was a. It was, oh, Duba is in it. She was in, uh, orange is the new black Constance. Wu also has an episode Morgan Freeman. So I haven't gotten to those yet, but it's really interesting. Uh, when you're talking about Bo being in his room by himself, each episode is a character going off on an adventure or it's somewhere in an uncertain future. So that's where I'm thinking of kind of scifi meets a black mirror and it's. Really good. It's worth checking out. I don't want to ruin anything there, but highly recommended it kind of dives into how we're connected through the human experience. So check it out on Amazon prime. If you want something more drama, beautifully done, but not dark, not sad. At least the ones that I've cared about for the rest. I'm only three out of the seven, but, um, Anthony Mackie's episode did draw some tears, but it was really moving really good. And oh, Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren has an episode too.

Adina: 10:22

oh, cool.

Diane: 10:23

quite a cast.

Adina: 10:24

I think it's always interesting to see. I love like culture history and that kind of stuff. I think it's always interesting to see what people are drawn to in different seasons and Dani and I were saying this come Oscar as time. Like, I don't know if you saw nomad land, but. I feel like the reason it was so popular this year, obviously Frances McDormand is amazing. And like, it's a beautiful story, but I think because a lot of people felt so isolated this year, seeing wilderness and seeing community and people looking out for each other was just like, I think just drew people in. It's always so interesting to see, like these stories being told and developed when so many of us were just like alone in our homes for a year. So.

Diane: 11:07

Yeah. I couldn't see one. This was when they started filming this, but I'm surprised I haven't heard of it. It just popped up in my, in my queue. So other than that on the food friend over here, I've actually been consuming things from the gyst mini course cookbooks. So. Yes, delicious from ice cream to lamb meatballs. I love to hear, we love seeing your DMS of you cackling the names in our cookbook. I had a lot of fun naming them. We have things like Adina is matcha matcha latte, yaya

Adina: 11:39

Got to keep it on brand that the gyst brand is sta wrong.

Diane: 11:44

If we do say so ourselves, but we're happy to hear that y'all are loving it and that you're digging into the lesson. So if you missed out, somehow there are four self-paced video lessons in this mini course that give you a taste of nutritional therapy in a functional fitness. And we also added in the last couple of weeks, some. Juicy delicious extras. So that cookbook that I just mentioned and Adina put together for you four weeks of strength training that you can do in the comfort of your home. But the cookbook has some of the recipes that we mentioned here in our, what we're consuming segment and in past episodes. So. We this past weekend had some friends over to grill and chill. I made my duck fat taters. They will change her life. Those have been on repeat, like truly let us know if you try any of these recipes. They are so good. And then we also made a lamb meatball. So a variation of what I included in the cookbook. I love lamb. If you haven't varied your proteins. Give it a shot. I got some from our local farmer's market and then we made some Armenian bras yesterday. So has mint and garlic, and I made a tahini dressing to go with some cumin roasted carrots. It was fantastic if I do say so myself

Adina: 12:56

Yeah. Lamb, meatballs and tahini are just like such a killer combo.

Diane: 13:02

perfect match. Yeah. And Rosemary and lamb, another. Bang or a combo. I used some plantain chips from our farmer's market. There's this sweet Nigerian woman there who makes these different blends. She has garlic sea salt, but I love the Rosemary garlic. And instead of like a bread crumb, I process those and put them into Lammy balls. They're really good.

Adina: 13:24

Yum. That's a great, that's a great, um, binder, like a breadcrumb swap. I usually do in meatballs. I can, I've done oats in the past. You can do like cassava flour, anything that will just absorb some of that moisture. Uh, it doesn't always have to be gross. Processed bread Combs.

Diane: 13:43

Yeah. Yes. And then I just kind of snack on them as I'm making it. I mean, we think we all do that. Right. You got to do a little quality control taste test. So yeah, it was really yummy. And if you want to get in.

Adina: 13:54

to clarify Diane snacks on the plantain chips, not the raw meatballs Sure.

Diane: 13:59

So much, I just really like to exercise my immune system. Okay. I mean, we were talking about cookie dough. Um, I have to give her a separate shout out, Jamie, as a listener listener of our podcast. It, she made this hilarious meme. Like I almost choked on whatever I was. I was snacking on. Um, there's a. It was a shot of Pam from the office. And it was when she said, I feel God, in this Chili's tonight. And it was, I feel God, in this mini course, when she saw that there were cookie dough, there's a cookie dough recipe in our bedtime snacks in the mini course.

Adina: 14:32

yes. That cookie dough, that cookie dough, bedtime snack will change your slumber. I can tell you that from client experience,

Diane: 14:40

Hmm. And I mentioned it because apparently you're not supposed to eat raw cookie dough, like with eggs and with raw flour. Right. And I'm over here. Like I've been eating it by the pound since I was like a little kid.

Adina: 14:55

Yeah. Well, I think that goes back to our episode on raw milk as well. Like if you know where your eggs are coming from there again, we are not, this is not medical advice. Don't eat a million raw eggs and then Sue us disclaimer, but. When, you know the quality of your food, the sourcing of your food, it is much, there is a much better chance for you to not get sick from consuming something like raw eggs, a raw egg yolks can be a very nutrient dense food. Again,

Diane: 15:26

I mean, Diane is like seven year old, Diane eating half of the bowl of refined flour and like cheap ass eggs. They're cookie dough. Probably not the best, but we're here. We're strong. So,

Adina: 15:41

kicking. You're still kicking.

Diane: 15:43

Wow. Yeah. If you missed out on the GIS team, mini course, we will add a link in the show notes where you can see the full details and jump in, but let's jump into today's episode on a different tasty note. We're going to talk about movement and abs and core strength

Adina: 16:02

I'm so excited. I'm so excited for this episode. I have some myths to debunk. I have some real talk to come your way. This episode is all about abs

Diane: 16:16

yes. And specifically we want to kind of set the stage set, get clear on the intention that we have going into this episode. We feel that abs are really misunderstood and unfortunately what we both. See, I think a will agree. And the conventional fitness world is there's this attempt to spot train. I'm using air quotes via things like ab specific workouts, uh, other even machines that will like work your abs for you. Are you in these like these, um, and some of these classes and these approaches, they oftentimes leave women frustrated and in pain. And there's just a lot of misinformation there. And we want to your workout to work smarter, not harder. So with that in mind, this is at Adina's wheelhouse. This is her area of expertise. So let's dive into it and start with the most common myth. I think we both hear is that abs are made in the kitchen. And what do we mean by that?

Adina: 17:14

Okay. So there's a lot that goes into this conversation and Diane's going to have to continuously reign me in because. You guys know how I get when I talk about something I'm passionate about and especially something that is so misunderstood and harming so many women. And I think we need to come into this conversation with an understanding that if you've been listening to this podcast, you probably know our deal, but I'm guessing that some people might just see the title of this episode and jump into this one. So I do want to, I didn't want to preface with mine and Diane's very shared approach to. Bodies female bodies. And that is that I think there is so much, there's so much takers going on out there on the internet. So many takes on women's bodies and we are moving in this direction of there has forever, historically been fat shaming, and we are also now seeing a lot of fit shaming, and however you label it, however you market it, shaming women's bodies is a problem. And I think unrealistic expectations for women's physiques is a problem. And I think shaming people for wanting physique goals is a problem. I think what we are going to do in this episode is just take a step back and talk about what are these coveted abs, why are some people chasing them? What really, it means to. Try to build abs what are your abs even for, and again, I say abs loosely, just because I think it's a, you know, more of like a, a click baity and people have often used that word. We are going to be expanding on that a little bit, talking about abs talking about your core function. What are your abs actually made out of ab musculature that whole deal. But I just wanted to preface with that and saying that. If you have had a lot of issues with diet, culture, body image stuff, this conversation is still for you. This isn't just a, how to get a six pack,

Diane: 19:22

Yeah, none of that.

Adina: 19:24

Um, we are going to be talking a little bit about what that physique goal means is that appropriate for you as we always do, but I just wanted to kind of preface with that. Diane, is there anything else that you want to add

Diane: 19:37

no beautifully said, uh, I co-sign all of that. You may have heard this on other episodes, but if you haven't, we don't care about your FA your weight loss or fat loss goals above all else. Like, I know that this might be. Frustrating to hear for someone who might be new to this conversation. Like, listen, I want to tone up lean down. And that is just not something that we focus on in our practice. We want you for you to feel good, physically feel good first, because we know that when we get out of the body's way, we give it what it needs and we nourish it, that it will find where it wants to be. And that said, we're not. In these black or white camps, like you, you should strive for this certain physique or you, um, can't have goals about physique goals at all. It's fine to want to have physique goals, but again, we always want to come back to these foundations first, make sure that you are feeling good. And if you do have some goals, let's talk about what is realistic, how to properly move your body so that you aren't hurting yourself so that you are strong for life. And again, that you can work. Smarter not harder, not feel like you need to do these butts and guts, abs whatever trendy workout is out there. So we really wanted to frame that before we go into this conversation. So.

Adina: 20:52

So that being said, this myth of abs are made in the kitchen. Yes. There is a component of. Seeing your ab musculature that will be dependent on what you are eating. And that doesn't just mean. I think the misconception with this conversation in the fitness world is that you have to be eating broccoli and lean chicken. For the rest, like disgusting food for, there's nothing wrong with broccoli and chicken, but like just don't eat that every meal of every day. If you've been in the bodybuilding world, you know, all too well,

Diane: 21:32

Huh.

Adina: 21:32

tastes like and feels like. But this misconception that if you are looking for, to show abs, if you are looking to have that six pack quote, unquote, that. You need to do that in the kitchen, that it's all about eating low calorie and low fat and low carb, whatever the thing is that your bodybuilding coach or fitness magazine has told you that you need to be doing. So there is certainly truth to some people need to manipulate diet in order to show abs. However, this is such a limited perspective on what your abs even are. Like someone may show a six pack from doing all that bullshit, but their abs may be completely dysfunctional and may not work to do the job they need to do, which we will break down a little bit later in the episode exactly what that is and what we really need our abs and our core system to do for us. But all of that to say, just because someone shows a six pack doesn't mean that their Abs and their core are even functional and do what they are on our body to do.

Diane: 22:48

right. You've heard us talk about bio-individuality as it relates to diet and to nutritional therapy. And this does apply to, to the way that you move and the way that you show the way that your body holds fat or the way you carry weight on your body. Right.

Adina: 23:05

Yeah.

Diane: 23:05

Um, so that's part, so that one's partially true. I think this one goes hand in hand with the, we hear this all the time from like conventional Fitnesses. It's just about calories in calories out. So another one that is only partially true and it doesn't consider the rest of the nuance. So the next one is the myth that you need to do crunches and AB exercises. Oh, DAdinaI wish you could debunk this one and share it with my high school gym teacher. Okay.

Adina: 23:34

Yes. Oh man crunches and like abs specific exercises, is it to take a long, a long exhale on that one because it is completely missing the point of what our abs are designed to do. Again, our ab musculature is not just those six pack muscles. Those. Six pack muscles. Yes. Are involved in a contraction that would come from something like a crunch or a sit up, but there is so much more to that core system and to your abdominal muscles. And the majority of that job is actually for spinal stability. Your abs are designed to stabilize your entire trunk. When you do other things. Yeah. So if you think about the way we were designed to move in nature, we were not designed to lay on our backs and just crunch up a hundred times a day. That's not what we were designed to do. Yes. It is a function that we need at some points, right? If you're lying on the floor with your baby and you need to sit up with them, like let's figure out how to create that contraction when we need it. However, When you move in space, when you carry heavy things, if you were farming, if you were a hunter gathering.

Diane: 24:55

just picking something off the floor, right.

Adina: 24:58

Yeah. It's what do your abs need to do to stabilize your spine in those situations? So, It has, I think there has been a slight shift away from that. And more people have been embracing core stability exercises and really understanding the function of the abs. But it is still, we are still so far from the finish line on that one. Like I still see so many people

Diane: 25:21

see so many bicycles crunches sit ups. Lots of those. Yeah.

Adina: 25:27

Yeah. In my mind, wasting your time, potentially injuring your spine. And just, you can get so much more bang for your buck, really understanding how to do other movement, movement, movement, patterns, properly, while actually stabilizing your

Diane: 25:46

Yeah, I know. And this was, I'm thankful for these classes because it got me to get interested in movement. Like. Eight years, eight, 10 years ago. And that was going to the YMCA and going to a Pilates class. Like I, at that time was just so uncomfortable with doing things on my own, the gym. I hadn't started strength training yet. So eventually after going from Pilates, I moved into strength training, but. I definitely hurt myself a couple of times doing some of these twists with heavy medicine balls. And I just did not have the right core strength. So I was like, why does my back hurt? And like I said, gym class, I remember growing up having to do like a hundred sit-ups and just, no, thank you. No, thank you.

Adina: 26:30

yeah. A note on Pilates though, when you get a really good Pilates instructor, like. There can be a really good core foundation developed in those classes.

Diane: 26:41

wasn't it.

Adina: 26:42

Yeah. Again, a lot of people are missing the mark on that, and I do think it doesn't stop there. Like Pilates can be a good adjunct to strength training if, again, if it is taught well. And if someone is actually they're focusing on your forum, if someone there actually understands. The core system and understands that all humans are different because there are certain things that I see a lot of Pilates instructors default to that can leave women with a lot of like core and specifically pelvic floor issues. But I do think it can be like if the instructor is actually teaching you how to use your core properly, and they really have an understanding there, it can be a really nice adjunct to something like strength training.

Diane: 27:23

I love that clarification. Yeah. My issue was like low back pain, but I was like, oh, just power through it. No pain, no gain. So this next one, another myth that we hear. Yeah. Especially in the holistic health space. And we're going to get into this little deeper in the episode is that you won't have abs if you're fertile or in order to be fertile and to have a healthy menstrual cycle and fertility, you cannot have visible abs

Adina: 27:49

yes, I am so happy. We are talking about this because. I get it. I get why this happened. I get why this happened in our space. There are so many women who are coming from the conventional fitness world, the conventional diet world, and they are obsessed with their abs and obsessed with showing abs and struggling with their fertility. So I do think it was really important for people to start to move women away from that thinking of like must have abs must have abs because for some people. That is not realistic and it is getting in the way of your fertility goals. However, I think we swung so far in the other direction now where we're like shaming women for having visible abs. But the reality is which we'll talk about in a little bit, we're all so different. And there are so many factors that go into a healthy cycle and fertility, and then body fat percentage. The way our muscles are shaped and structured that some women will be super fertile and still show abs. So again, fit shaming, fat, shaming, whatever you are doing, if you are NA like zeroing in on one physique and saying, this physique is terrible, this physique is perfect. This, you know, like anything like that is going to cause issues. It's, it's not. The abs that are the issue. It's not the excess body fat. That is the issue. Like we can't zero in on one physique and say, we all need to strive for this physique or the flip side of like, nobody should have this physique. Like you don't know what's hiding under the surface of those abs. And it is true that a lot of people are in the fitness bodybuilding space and they're on the covers of magazines. And they're really struggling with terrible PMs or they don't have a cycle or painful periods, all that kind of stuff. And. All of these digestive issues, the bodybuilding world is filled with digestive issues. And so we may see those abs on the cover of a magazine and be like this person's perfect. I need to do their workout program and find out later on that there really are a little, a lot of issues going on under the surface. But again, we can't deduce that information from looking at someone's

Diane: 30:02

right. I think this myth did start with some good intentions. Like you said, uh, wanting to move women from striving for lean, lean, lean at any cost to oh yeah. Look at this person, she can't possibly have a healthy cycle. And that is just such a problem. I mean, I've even seen some examples where people are and they might scribble over their face on their story to hide someone's privacy identity, but they're saying, oh, this person can't have, you know what this doesn't show is her, her cycle issues, this, this, this, and that. And can we just stop commenting on what other people's bodies look like in that way? Like, it just it's frustrating.

Adina: 30:42

it's extremely frustrating. It's not like it's not fair either. You know, that's not fair. And again, like we've been saying. I see the good intention there. And I do think that a lot of women need to hear that in some way, but that is our intention with this conversation to bring more nuance into it, as we always do, it's not so black and white. And so yes, for some people, if they get to a body fat percentage where they show abs their fertility will suffer. But for others, that is absolutely not the case.

Diane: 31:18

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

Adina: 31:22

absolutely.

Diane: 31:24

I just sneak in some dad jokes in here. Okay. And some puns. So let's talk about abs and kind of give a high level overview of what makes, what makes your abs, because like Adina said earlier, touched on earlier. It's not just your six pack, your eight pack, but your entire core. And so those terms kind of overlap, right? Adina like abs and. Core and supporting with those. So can you clarify for everyone what your abs are?

Adina: 31:54

Absolutely. Absolutely. So bear with us, everyone. Cause I'm starting to feel like we're going to be making that joke from now until forever. So your abs, your abdominal muscles. The most famous of them all, we have all seen it. That six-pack muscle. That is your rectus abdominis. Okay. It is like two strips of tissue, basically that run down the front of your stomach. And that is again, very much used for those contractions. Like we said, those sit-ups those crunches, it is a mover. It is a mover of our abs. Then we also have. Our internal obliques and our external obliques. And those are kind of like, you've probably heard of your obliques. People say, oh, obliques. When they're doing like side crunches, those are also movers, but your internal obliques. Also serve the function of stability, stability of the core stability of the pelvis, stability of the spine. They all, all your abs are stabilizers, but again, that rectus, that six-pack muscle and your external obliques, the more outside obliques are these bigger movers of the spine. And then in sorry of the abs and then, well, the spine as well. Um, then inside. All of that is your transverse abdominis. And this is still very much a part of your AB muscles, but it is more integrated with your breathing than anything else. And it is really that stabilizer when we think of your abs for that spinal stability, that pelvic stability, that is those that transverse abdominis. And it really is. Much more difficult to learn how to use that. It seems very simple, like inhale, exhale. It should reflectively do its job, but there is a lot of stuff that we do to mess that up. One of them being tons and tons of crunches, if we tell our body. Time and time again, a hundred times a day, every day for a year. And sometimes for women, it's more than that. We've been there. If you have, are there, if you have been there, I see you. Like, it sucks when you think that you need to wake up every morning and do a hundred crunches. It sucks. It hurts and it sucks. It's stupid. It's a waste of our

Diane: 34:26

so wait, here's your permission slip. If you need it, you can stop doing crunches and sit ups.

Adina: 34:31

doing that. I I've been there like, oh my God, if you're hearing this emotion come out of me, it's just like, I'm thinking back on those days. And it sucks. And I'm sorry for all the women that go through that, it's a mental mind game. And again, it sets us up for this. Difficulty later on to actually learn how to use our abs properly. So again, we have that rectus muscle, that front muscle that's really our six-pack muscle. We have those external obliques again, also movers, but also involved in breathing those internal obliques. Again, more involved in breathing, but can be movers. And then that transverse abdominis all the way on the inside. It's kind of like this corset muscle that really assists us. In getting our breath out, which we'll talk way more about the integration of the breath and the core. But again, I've said again, like 3000 times here.

Diane: 35:22

again.

Adina: 35:23

again, that transverse abdominis. It is supposed to work reflexively, but when we do things like a million crunches, when we do things like spend all this time sucking in our SCUMPS our stomachs, cause we're trying to look skinnier or whatever dumb shit people told us. When we do that, we a little bit mess with the function of that transverse abdominis, which makes it kind of difficult to relearn how to actually use that muscle properly.

Diane: 35:50

Yes. Wait, so they don't need to get something like a waist trainer. I love, I love Kimmy K for other things like her cozy sets and stuff, but we don't need one of those. Do we

Adina: 36:02

please don't get away as trainer, please, please. Don't get a waist trainer. Don't do it, please, please, please. Don't do it.

Diane: 36:10

It speaking of breath. So of course we are going to go deeper into this, but something I think is often left out of the conversation when it comes to core and abs and strengthening, abs is your breath. And. Let's talk a little bit about core and how diaphragm and your diaphragm is involved in core strength and pelvic floor too. That's another big one that we could spend. We will spend entire episode aboutpelvic floor strength So how do diaphragm and pelvic floor relate to your core strength?

Adina: 36:40

Yes. So we just listed off those core muscles, right? Those are your abdominal muscles. Those muscles kind of create this like corset, like we said, and almost like this canister, this core canister is what a lot of people in the space referred to and your core canister is made up of. All those abdominal muscles. You want to think of those as like the body of the canister. And then the top of the canister is your diaphragm, your breathing muscle. It sits right under your lungs. When you inhale, it comes down when you exhale, it comes up and the bottom of that core canister. Is your pelvic floor musculature. So the bottom is the pelvic floor. The top is the diaphragm and those two need to work in tandem with one another. So just like I said, when you breathe in your diaphragm comes down, your pelvic floor will relax as well. Again, barring everything is working properly for so many of us. We kind of get into these like paradoxical patterns with our breathing, but what we want to have happen is you breathe in. There is this expansion at the ribs that diaphragm comes down, the pelvic floor comes down. So we create all this intra-abdominal pressure, this pressure inside of that abdominal canister. And then when we exhale, pelvic floor comes up, diaphragm comes up and that transverse abdominis and those core muscles corset. To push that air out of the lungs. And that is how your core is intended to work. And that is how it stabilizes your spine and makes you a better mover.

Diane: 38:18

Yeah, you might have seen Adina troll or Instagram ads troll Adina and she'll put them on her story and talk about what's going awry. Uh, and this comes to mind when she talks about spine spine stability. So a few years ago, before working with her, I didn't, I just. I mean, it makes sense now that I know it, but I didn't really think about the connection between breath and core strength to stabilizing my spine. So it was enough, you know, we'll talk about these ads like, oh, well, let's go look, what's going on with this back here or with their core. And I find that so fascinating being able to see these examples. And I know of course we are not a visual platform here. We can't show you, but what's. It's just really interesting how breath is often forgotten in these proper body mechanics and how so many people have not had the opportunity to learn how to manage that, that pressure and that breath

Adina: 39:08

Yes. It's like, it seems so simple. Like every time I tell a client, we need to dial this back to breathing. It's all about the breathing. It's so easy to want to dismiss that as a person who is lifting heavy load where you're thinking. Okay. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Breath thing, shorts for sure. But like, I just need to get this heavy barbell off the floor

Diane: 39:28

I'll admit I was resistant there and I, oh, I forgot why I brought up those ads too. But the spine stability, I mean, I think when we first started working together, when we were even maybe before that, when we were just little buds, it was that, um, I was talking about back pain and you were like, oh, well, core strength got to work on core strength and breath. And I just didn't make that connection or see how that could be related. So if you're someone who has low back pain and maybe this hasn't come up for you, we're calling you in to this episode.

Adina: 39:59

Yeah. Yes, exactly. And this is like what we were saying in the beginning about abs are made in the kitchen. Like sure. You can show visible. Abs if you get down to a certain body fat percentage, because you ate broccoli and chicken breasts for three months, but does your back kill, are you leaking when you're sneezing? Because your pelvic floor doesn't work like as it's supposed to, you know, it's like same thing we always talk about with nutrition and lifestyle. Like you can look a certain way. You can have a certain physique, you can have a certain weight, body, fat percentage, but are we seeing the whole story? Like tell, tell me how you feel every day. And then we'll talk about if these abs are worth your time, or if there's other things we need to be focusing on.

Diane: 40:44

Yeah, absolutely. Oh my gosh. He just comes out. Um, anyway, breathing, I think this also could be an whole whole episode on its own, and this is something that's so overlooked, not only in your workout, but with my nutritional therapy clients, we have this conversation a lot is coming back to breath before. You eat to really get into that calm, that restorative state, that parasympathetic state, which is best for digestion. And just observe when you take a deep breath, are your shoulders rising before your belly? A lot of us, especially for spending a lot of time in the sympathetic that fight or flight or that. Sit and stew. We are forgetting to take those deep restorative breasts and that's something that is accessible and free to you right now to come back to your breath, to try to calm yourself to do it before a meal. But throughout the day, if you're feeling really stressed, when was the last time you truly took a deep restorative breath?

Adina: 41:46

yes, deep breathing will. So when our diaphragm actually moves up and down properly, as it is intended to, again, with those deep breaths that move your ribs out to the side that relax the pelvic floor down, the diaphragm will actually stimulate the vagus nerve, which is the nerve that puts us into that rest and digest state that parasympathetic state, we spend so much time in that sympathetic fight or flight state. And oftentimes. It is connected to us having this very shallow breathing pattern. If you think of someone that is in an emergency situation, they won't be able to get a deep breath in our shallow breathing pattern tells our body there is an emergency here. You know, if you're like huffing and puffing and really nervous about something that anxious breath is that shallow breath, and that does not calm the body down. And this. Like there's so much to be said on this to actually utilize parasympathetic breath, to get you in a better place to build muscle, to digest food. Like there's so many benefits to that deep breath, but it starts there. It starts with the breath. It starts with really understanding how to do that and utilize that. So this episode is all about abs, but we can't talk about abs without talking about breathing.

Diane: 43:03

it's not, woowoo It th these are facts baby. And you don't have, if you don't have these foundations, right. You're going to have a lot more of a difficult time when you are trying to move that heavier load. And like I said, I was resistant to it. When I started working with Adina when we were coaching together, she was coaching me. One-on-one. But whenever I can get out of my head and into my body and I find myself in this flow, when I'm lifting now, I just, my performance is much better and I just feel good mentally, emotionally afterwards, when I leave the gym, like sometimes I'll text Adina and say, oh, I just feeling frustrated or whatever it may be that day. She's like, yeah, go, go lift. And not only am I, am I moving, but also getting back in touch with my breath and that feels so good.

Adina: 43:49

Yeah, that's also, this is kind of a tangent, but one of the things for me that separates running from strength training is you can still be really anxious while you run so many people say, oh, I run to clear my head. I I'm stressed out. So I'm going to go for a run. But. Running is very easy. Again, running is hard, but it is a very simple movement mechanic. You can do it without thinking about it. So some people have that, like runner's high, where they completely get lost in their thoughts. And they like, just everything flows away. If you are strength training, and you are not thinking about everything that you are doing, how you are breathing, how you're stabilizing, what those movement patterns are looking like. Like sometimes when I work with clients, they always say like, there's so many things going through my head and. Sometimes that is what actually can get you into your body and take you out of that anxious, cycling. That kind of just goes on in your mind. So another reason I love strength training, but again, that breath, that connection. That is how we actually train our core, our abs. And like Diane said about not making that connection of low back pain with your abs. That's the really interesting thing is that our spine, we all know how important our spine is. And the little, the muscles that are supposed to stabilize our spine are actually quite tiny. They're super small. Like if you understood what the spine was and that your head needs to be held up, and you look at the actual anatomy of what those muscles look like, they seem way too small to do that task. And that is why so many of us have back pain because our abs are far away from our spine. But it's really their job to stabilize our spine. So the way that we bring our abs to the party and get them to stabilize our spine is through the breath. And for so many of us, we're not doing that. And that's why our backs hurt so much because those little spinal muscles cannot do that job on their own is the job of our abs our entire core system, all of our ab musculature to stabilize the spine. And again, they do that. Through properly utilizing your breath.

Diane: 45:58

Yeah, we also sit many of us sit for hours upon hours per day, which, I mean, that's what we've known for a lot of our lives, our professional lives. Right. But for this, the grantor, like scope of human history, we haven't. Lived like this ever, and we really do need movement and we're big fans. We're here of that functional movement. That's strength training.

Adina: 46:25

yeah. Sitting for so long can shut down your abs if we're not using everything properly, again, like we said, that we'll actually shut off that function. It tightens the hips. Oftentimes it shuts down the glutes. And we've said this in many episodes. Many we've done eight, but it, we probably said it in each one that our bodies are expert compensators. And so if you are not using your abs properly, if you're not using your core properly, if you were not using your breath, your pelvic floor, your body is still going to do the task. You need it to do all day. It's just going to call on a different muscle to do it. So your. Hip flexors actually insert into your spine as well. So if you are not using your core properly to stabilize that spine, your hip flexors might take over. And so many of us have these tight hips from sitting. It shuts down the glutes. Like everyone just starts compensating for their neighbor because at the end of the day, the job needs to get done. So if the muscles that need to do the job, aren't showing up. If we're not utilizing those properly. Then our body's going to start pulling from somewhere else. And this is where we start to feel those pains, those compensations. This is where we start to think, oh, my hips are so tight. I just need to stretch my hips when like, maybe you just need to learn how to breathe and then everything will be fine.

Diane: 47:45

Yeah, it's like I'm sensing. Do an episode about spinal stability and posture?

Adina: 47:51

Yeah. Right.

Diane: 47:53

Well, let's talk about a common goal that we hear from new clients. I've seen this on. I can't even tell you how many applications and if this is you. There is no shame, judgment or judgment here. Again, if you have physique goals. That is fine, but let's talk about what's realistic. Right? So this common goal that we often hear on applications is I want to be lean and toned. And sometimes what that person might mean is I want to get into this. Certain size perhaps that they have in their mind that they had as a goal, or I want to show abs, but let's first talk about why some women might have visible abs and others do not. And what really is a realistic achievable goal.

Adina: 48:36

Yeah. So this is getting into that conversation of it's okay. To have physique goals. Again, there's other things we want to be in place, but you may. Say to yourself, oh, I want abs. And that may not even be realistic for you. And so this is kind of where it gets into the conversation of bio-individuality like, we need to understand that individual anatomy is at play. There is a lot to be said about the fascia, the muscle shape and length body fat percentage, and like specifically. What body fat percentage do you need to be at to show abs? So this is why we're saying that like, for some women, they show abs at a much higher body fat percentage because of fat distribution, their muscle shape and structure, their fascia, that, all that kind of stuff. So they might be super fertile and sleeping through the night and everything is great, but they still show visible abs. And for other women, when they get down to a body fat percentage where they will actually show abs. It's going to really compromise their health in all of these other metabolic markers. So there's so much individuality here.

Diane: 49:54

And we're on. Okay. Yes. All bodies are different. And remember, we've talked about bio-individuality as it relates to your nutrition and to your diet, but that also extends to the way that we move. And there are so many lifestyle factors that affect our abs visibly show or not. But regardless of whether your abs are visible or you want them to be, we all need good. Abs and what we mean by that is good. Strong muscles. So Adina what do we mean by having a good, strong, functional abs?

Adina: 50:30

strong and adaptive too. Like I think this is a misconception people have with. The pelvic floor specifically where they only talk about it in the context of being strong or weak, or, you know, your core being strong or weak And there's so much more to it. There's so much more that happens with those functions. Like I mentioned, there's this element of stability that needs to be there. And there's this element of movement contractile function that needs to be there, but there's also lengthening that needs to happen. There's a lot of different aspects to movement. At the abs at the core, at the pelvic floor that are completely different than every part of our body. And so we're really not understanding the full function of this muscle group when we are just doing things like sit-ups and crunches, we're not understanding the full range of these muscles and the demand that we need to put on them. So that. They work for us so that they do what they need to do in our daily life. So things we need to be considering, we talk about functional core and like a core that functions. Well, again, this is not just cosmetic, just because someone shows a six pack does not mean that their core and I'm including pelvic floor and diaphragm, and that does what we need it to do. So this means a true functional core, truly functional abs. Breathe properly. So this means that your diaphragm moves down your pelvic floor lengthens. When you inhale, this means that your ribs move out to the side. This means that there is expansion in your front and back when you take an inhale. So a lot needs to happen. A lot of pressure management and proper bracing, proper

Diane: 52:20

of these were something that were pretty new to me, at least in the way that you talked about it. When we trained together.

Adina: 52:25

Yeah, people, people have, everyone's heard the cue brace your core, but I found in my work with clients that very few people actually do what they're, what they need to do when you give them that cue. So something that I work on with my clients. Anyone who's worked with me knows this, that this

Diane: 52:42

the bucket.

Adina: 52:43

yeah, but in general, this is weeks. This is like weeks that we work on this. It's

Diane: 52:47

Yeah.

Adina: 52:48

like day one and done where we talk about breathing. This is, we are constantly coming back to it. We are constantly evaluating movement patterns. We are constantly evaluating when a new demand shows up. Can you still maintain. What we've learned about breathing, what we've learned about bracing, because actually Diane and I were talking about this before we started recording that she was saying, she's learned how to breathe. She knows how to breathe, but she still finds herself holding her breath when things get really heavy.

Diane: 53:15

Or if I'm just focusing on the movements, it's like a dance sometimes, right? Especially if you're progressively loading plates on that barbell, it's easy to forget.

Adina: 53:25

And, and the thing is that that's totally normal and that's a built in mechanism for humans. We hold our breath to stabilize our spine when things get really heavy and that's going to happen. But the question is, can we build up the resilience in the core, in the pelvic floor so that when we do breath, hold at that max load. And again, only at that max load, we don't want to be breath holding for every damn task because

Diane: 53:48

Nope.

Adina: 53:49

to be love on the pelvic floor. Um, but. When we get to this place where we do end up breath holding, can we remain symptom free? Can we not leak from the pelvic floor? Can we not have low back pain? So it's all about building that resiliency and really understanding the function at the core at the pelvic floor at the diaphragm and how this all works together. So functional abs again. You execute proper breathing patterns and can adjust those as needed based on the demand, because the demand is going to shift what that looks like. You can execute proper bracing, you can execute proper movement mechanics. So your core bracing. Shows up in your core or AB exercises, but it carries over to your squat, to your deadlift, to your presses. We don't want leaks in the chain. We don't want to be losing that core function when we need to do things in our lives. When we need to put our suitcase in the overhead bin, when we need to pick up our kid out of their crib, like we want those things to translate. And so even if someone shows a visible six pack, and even if that's at a body fat percentage, Where they still have a healthy cycle and they're sleeping through the night and their fertility is in check and all that good stuff. I still want to know, do your abs work the way that we need them to does your pelvic floor function the way we need it to does your diaphragm function the way we needed to, again, this whole system to really support our entire body. It's crazy that this system is responsible. For every movement pattern that we do when we completely ignore it. When we distill it down to doing my sit ups, doing my crunches, did my AB exercises. Like there's again, there's just so much more to this picture and getting out of pain, like so many of us experience back pain. That's one of the most common complaints that clients come to me with and a simple understanding of how to breathe properly, how to brace properly, proper core mechanics. Really solves that problem, like a hundred percent of the time

Diane: 55:46

truly, it's not just going to get a massage, staying off of all movement altogether, which we've talked about in previous episodes or going to your chiropractor. I have found some relief for some things like my neck pain, my neck, my back for, um, with a chiropractor, which we can talk about separately, but it, but what has made that recovery and my results better is. Making sure that I am moving Adina has been giving me some friendly reminders there, like, make sure you move. Like you're not just going and relying as that, or like outsourcing your pain relief to something like just chiropractic. So I just want you to think about, even in the holistic space, sometimes people are using band-aids or outsourcing their pain management without getting to that root function, which here we're talking about making sure you're moving, breathing, and all of that. It's so important to relieve pain and. Like back pain, which a lot of people I think might not connect their core or think about their abs and how it's related to their back. Right.

Adina: 56:45

Yeah. And you, we touched on this earlier when I troll those Instagram ads that be trolling me. Like, even though some of those Instagram models and fitness models show abs. I'm looking at them demoing these exercise that I'm just like, I know this bitch has back pain. And like, I know that she is leaking when she is jump roping, because there is no function there

Diane: 57:11

leaking pressure and PPA,

Adina: 57:13

Yes, the PP, they are leaking the PP and they're not talking about it. More women need to be talking about this because it's happening to a lot of women and it is dismissed. Either people are too embarrassed to talk about it. So they just don't even mention it. And they don't realize that that's something they can fix or it's normalized. And everyone on Tik TOK and Instagram reels is joking about how,

Diane: 57:36

I'm 30. Oh, it's all downhill. No, no.

Adina: 57:39

I had a baby. So now I can't go on a trampoline cause I just pee all the time. But like, no, no, there are experts that can help you with this. You need to learn proper breathing, proper bracing, proper pelvic floor function. There's so much to it. And you know, I could literally go on forever about this because this is, I know that my mission on this earth is to help women and to help women get stronger than they ever dreamed capable of, but to give them function and to give them. Ease of living like your day to day should be easy. And a big thing that makes that possible is a functional body, a resilient body, a strong body, a strong and functional core. Again, if you want to show abs and that's a realistic goal for you and all those other metabolic markers are in check, let's do that. Like, go ahead. Sure. But.

Diane: 58:32

Breathe right. And move right first.

Adina: 58:35

Like it's, it's just cosmetic and none of that other stuff is going right for you. We need to reevaluate how you got to that goal.

Diane: 58:44

yeah, it won't last and frankly will be very difficult to just chase that down and, okay, great. You got into your jeans from high school and like who's really seeking jeans right now anyway, leg prisons as I call them. But, but why, so we went deep in this episode. I know. You still have to cover things like practical tips. Yet we are going to be talking about movement, of course, for many episodes to come. But in our next episode, we'll talk more about some practical tips for better abs, more about breath and would love to hear if you have any questions you want us to cover that perhaps we haven't yet in this episode about movement, about abs and core strengthening that we'd love to get into that

Adina: 59:25

Hmm. So, so more on like the programming side of things. We're going to talk a little bit about what it actually looks like to train a co a functional core. We're going to talk about some things that you can implement to work on those breath strategies and how these muscles are supposed to function. And with that, like how you should be training them, how do we train them to translate over to that better function?

Diane: 59:46

Yeah, that was a big shift. Working with you one-on-one a few years ago really opened my eyes to so much more about movement. And what I learned with you. Not only helped improvements and performance in the gym, but also translated to the rest of my life too, and how I move and how I feel without pain. So that was so, so important. Now, if you're also listening and wants that for yourself, stay tuned for future episodes. And if you enjoy this episode, Leave us a review on apple podcasts. We like it. We love it. When you tell us what you think or send us a DM on Instagram, we love hearing from you and seeing where you're listening, watching you move. If you have our gyst mini course so follow us on Instagram getyourshittogetherpod

Adina: 1:00:31

yeah, I recently dipped into, I hadn't read our reviews in a while because we were checking them more regularly when we were giving away the free mini course. And I hadn't read them in a while. And the other day I was having a bad day and I was like looking through our reviews and I texted Diane. And I was like, if you need a pick me up, go read our podcast reviews because you. Ladies are the sweetest. I love how detailed their reviews are and how excited you are about the content. I'd read about this shift in the conversation of women's health, which is exactly what we were trying to accomplish. And just, it has felt so good. Like seeing those downloads feel so good, but hearing from you in those reviews, in the DMS, what you're enjoying and what a shift this is making in your life is just everything.

Diane: 1:01:17

Yeah. So thank you so so much. And we'll see you in the next episode. Bye.

Diane Teall Evans