EP 10 - ALL ABOUT ABS: PART 2

Okay, we say this about all of our episodes, but this one is a big favorite over here! If you missed Part 1, start there.

This week on GYST we’re digging into practical tips for breathing, bracing, and moving like a pro. Whether you have been strength training for a few weeks or a few years, we invite you to revisit these basics so you can feel strong for life. No pain, all gains babyyy.

We’re also chatting about prerequisites for common core exercises and some movements to just…ditch right meow.

Finally we round it out answering listener questions from you, including -

- How to start exercising postpartum or after healing diastasis recti (DR)?

- How to get rid of belly fat?

- Why does my back hurt when doing panks?

- How are hemorrhoids and core connection?

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

🧡 Practical tips for strong functional abs

🧡 Prerequisites for common core exercises

🧡 Movements to drop right now

🧡 Listener questions!

Resources & Good Shit

Episodes

• Ep 4 - Peloton and Your Period: How Cycling is Ruining Your Cycle

• Ep6 - How to Store Fat & Slow Your Metabolism: Are you running yourself into the ground?

• Ep9 - All About Abs: Part 1

What We’re Consuming

• Adina went to the Purposefully Primitive Strength Seminar with Marty Gallagher!

• Diane is getting her head on straight thanks to atlas orthogonal chiropractic adjustments and proper movement and lifestyle to hold her new alignment.

What We’re Watching & Listening To

• The Green Room (YouTube) to enjoy conversation between Judd Apatow, Bo Burnham, Ray Romano, Marc Maron, and Gary Shandling

• Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
  

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 😜

Adina: 0:30

Hello. And welcome back to another episode of the gyst podcast. I'm getting my, my radio announcer voice on.

Diane: 0:40

I am getting my phone operator voice on. Someone said that they're like, it's very soothing, either calm app, or maybe I need to be on one of those adult lines. I don't know if those even exist anymore with the internet. No.

Adina: 0:53

I love it. All right. What is going on, Diane? How are you doing? Catch us up.

Diane: 0:58

I'm a sleepy girl and I know y'all, can't see what I'm wearing, but oh my gosh.

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 1:02

Speaking of phone lines, what

Diane: 1:03

I'm wearing is a triple X L um, shirt dress, like it's, I'm swimming in the strand. I got it from a gas station and it says, don't ask me for shit on it. It's my pajama shirt. It's my Sunday shirt. Like, if you need something from me don't and I bought it because I'm 12 and I was like, Hey, it's on brand. Don't ask me for shit.

Adina: 1:25

I love it. It's actually I told Diane it would look cute with like some Jean shorts.

Diane: 1:30

Yeah, honestly, you might not even be able to see them unless I wore my influencer shorts. We talked about a couple of episodes ago, um, which Neil saw them. And he's so funny, his commentary he's like, are you going to go ride a bike?

Adina: 1:42

Neil. They are trendy.

Diane: 1:44

he's a Neil's into fashion. And I mean, it was all in good fun. Like he he's such a sweetheart doesn't care what I wear, but he was like, he is just not aware of what's. Hot on influencer fashion. And he really thought he was like, are you going to go ride a bike?

Adina: 1:59

took him by surprise. When was the last time you rode a bike?

Diane: 2:02

I don't know. It's in our base. I mean, we have dogs too, so I'm like, if I'm going to be outside, I'm going to go for a stroll with my dogs, unless I get like a sidecar

Adina: 2:11

Oh my God. I love those. Wait, speaking of just going for a stroll, I told you I was in Laguna last weekend a weekend ago, and I was cracking up because there's this beautiful gym with like these giant. Glass windows overlooking the ocean and Dani and I were cracking up from the people that were on the elliptical, looking at the ocean. I was like, go walk on the beach, like put your feet in the sand.

Diane: 2:40

Yes. Oh my gosh. That sounds so beautiful. I just want to stare at the horizon from one spot. Okay.

Adina: 2:47

Yeah. Yeah. I can understand the treadmill if you live in the Northeast and it's winter and you want to walk, but like, The elliptical, not to mention that that is a weird gait pattern and nobody should be walking like that. But like why we look in at the ocean on a machine designed for walking? Like, let's go walk on the beach. I don't anyway. Sorry. If you like to walk on your elliptical and look at the ocean, but that was just a puzzle to me.

Diane: 3:16

That was one of my gateway machines into the gym, like 10 years ago. I've definitely been there.

Adina: 3:22

a lot of people's entry point for sure.

Diane: 3:25

What do you do up to you over there? You just got back from another little old trip into the city this past weekend, right?

Adina: 3:30

I did slept at my friend Angelica's house. Shout out Angelica. She's an incredible kettlebell coach. She would listen to this episode, but I know she has a couple of our episodes backlog, so she won't hear this for awhile, but Angelica, I slept at her house. We went to we're consuming some education. If you guys know, I. Very much feel like the education just never stops when you're learning about the human body and that I've heard from a mentor of mine, we need to not be know-it-alls. We need to be learned at all. And so every opportunity I can to learn from these incredible experts who have been in the strength space for a really long time, I try to seize those opportunities. So I went yeah, to the perfect purposely primitive strength seminar with Marty Gallagher. He is. Oh man. He is a world record holder. He has been holding world records and power lifting and Olympic lifting since he was 18 years old, I think, and is still setting crazy records. He holds a record for having dead lifted over 400 pounds for the last 40 years. So we are talking true longevity, applicable strength. Like

Diane: 4:40

over 40 years. So he's, I think you said in his sixties, right?

Adina: 4:44

I believe. It's just wild to see what this man is still capable. Again. Age is just a number and our chronological age does not need to be the age that we feel the age that we can perform at. Anyways. I love his approach because I've mentioned this before, but training for elite strength and power should be no different than training for happy hormones, because it really values. Intensity appropriate intensity and then adequate rest to recover from that intensity. So Marty has, he holds his own world records and he has trained tons of world record powerlifters. And he has this approach of you only need to train one day a week. And the way that he programs is for squat bench deadlift overhead press one day a week.

Diane: 5:34

Most basic movements that you need for so many things.

Adina: 5:37

the core four as he calls it. And the way that he programs is that you can continue to improve your strength by just being on an appropriate program. What happens outside of that one day is extremely important. Rest nutrition, all that good stuff, but. You can accomplish the mostest with the leastest if you are in any of my strength training for happy hormones programs, you know, that is how I approach programming. And I do spread it out over the course of two to three days, because I think that shorter workouts two to three days can just fit in for more women, better than working out for an hour and a half, two hours on a Sunday.

Diane: 6:14

So this is your permission slip ladies. I mean, hold it there because I know so many women who have gone through splits or today's backdate on tomorrow's my right arm to, I don't know, six to seven days of six to seven days a week, or some, for some at the gym it's thumb day when they're like hugging some space, you know, texts

Adina: 6:34

that G yeah, that joke is visual. I'll explain that.

Diane: 6:37

Oh, a thumb day where maybe I'm waiting or someone is occupying a bench or something I want. And they're just kind of standing there five, 10 minutes, go by texting Tik TOK in whatever they're doing. I'm like, excuse me, can I work in or the old gym? Um, a lot of the older, the dads that would go there would just have jaw day where they're just yapping and chatting, taking up space in the weight area.

Adina: 7:01

I love it. I haven't been in a public gym in a while. It seems like I'm missing out on all the fun. Uh, yes.

Diane: 7:07

are, are cool, but anyway,

Adina: 7:09

Yeah. So again, I say again all the time, um, Absolutely. I do. Absolutely. I do. You know when Jim responds to Dwight? So it puzzles me. It puzzles me when people who are not competitive bodybuilders are doing splits and working out six to seven days a week because

Diane: 7:29

We don't have the time.

Adina: 7:31

doing that. We don't need to be doing that. And you're actually probably doing more harm than good when you do that. So I consume that consumed a whole bunch of education, and then I know we're not doing too much media today, but I did consume a very excellent YouTube video that my brother found. And then. Dani watched. And he was like, I need to watch this again. And I need you to join me. And it's called the green room and it was a round table of a bunch of comedians. Ray Romano, Garry Shandling, Judd, Apatow, mark Marin, and Bo Burnham. And again, I guess I'm on a little Bo Burnham kick, but it was, I think it was in like 2012. So Bo Burnham was like 20 and these other seasoned comedians were, it was very interesting to hear the dynamic,

Diane: 8:11

so are they doing standup or just a chat?

Adina: 8:14

that just them sitting around a table talking about the nature of comedy. It was so enjoyable. And I love mark Marin and I don't see him enough. I, I know he had a great podcast, but I loved him on glow, which it was the show about female wrestling. Yeah, it got canceled way too early. In my opinion, I was really enjoying that show and he was excellent in it. Really excellent. So if you haven't watched glow go do that. And if you love comedians, just sitting and talking about their careers and riffing and razzing on each other, then the green room, um, with that whole gang was excellent.

Diane: 8:52

I will check that one out. It doesn't sound like they're singing in there,

Adina: 8:56

Oh, there is actually Bo performs the song.

Diane: 8:59

no, I I'm just giving you some, but. Yeah, I'll check that. I do love comedy and have needed something funny lately. If you do like stuff like that, I think you might like Conan O'Brien. I mean, some people

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 9:10

don't love Conan I am obsessed.

Diane: 9:12

I remember in college, I went and saw him, um, saw him do a show when he stopped doing his TV show and it was touring and I just had a

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 9:21

thing for Conan and I think

Diane: 9:22

it could, that's my weird, it was it's hilarious, but he has a podcast. And so he has different actors and comedians on his show. And even as team are hilarious. So that's worth checking out.

Adina: 9:36

Yeah. And then I'm over. Bad kettlebell coaches. I am seeing some shit on the internet and it is bothering me because the kettlebell is an incredible tool. And I think it became really popular recently. And you need to learn how to use a kettlebell. It's not the same as just, you need to learn how to lift any load, but if you are doing ballistics, if you are doing dynamic kettlebell exercises, there's a lot of learning that goes into it. And we're going to be talking about this today with core stability and my prerequisites for movement. But I think because kettlebells got sexy and Instagrammy, and everyone was at home and they were easy to order and it was a good way to work out from the comfort of your own home, because you only need a few of them. I just see so many people calling themselves kettlebell coaches with no foundational understanding of programming and movement and teaching everyone in anyone how to swing. And the swings are looking like garbage. These people don't know how to breathe, embrace their core and are just setting themselves up for a lot of hurt. And that's what I need you to understand. The swing is super fun, but my ladies don't learn it until like week nine, if that, of my programming, because we need a real foundation of hinges, bracing, planking, shoulders, stability, like there's so much, you have to know how to do before you can swing. And just because. Swinging is fun, and everyone wants to learn how to do it. We still need to be wise. We need to be good with our programming and we need to understand what people need, not just what they want. Being a really good coach is about giving people what they need and then catering to what they want when that is appropriate. And being able to have conversations about. Why we're not implementing this thing yet. I think a lot of people are just out there trying to entertain their clients and not actually train their clients.

Diane: 11:32

Right, but that's not in their highest service. And. I think a marker of a good coach, like, like you and the coach I work with now in person is like, okay, for the goals that you describe, this is how I suggest getting there, because I don't want, I don't want for you is to hurt yourself or to end up frustrated and in the long run. So trust, trust the process, trust the coach and let yourself be a beginner. That goes for both fitness, but also nutritional therapy. If you feel like you've, oh, I've kind of done weightlifting or I've done whole 30 or whatever before, like let yourself be a beginner. There's so much value in that.

Adina: 12:08

And I think it's doing a disservice to the whole industry. When all these people are out there trying to entertain their clients and everyone gets accustomed to these bootcamp classes where. You're doing a different thing every week. And we talked about this in our first movement episode, but like muscle confusion is not a thing, but outside of that, just entertaining your clients is not a thing. if you are going to have long-term success with strength training on a program, you need to understand that sometimes it's going to be boring. Like you're going to be doing the same thing over and over again. And the fun in it is getting stronger, feeling more powerful, gaining a better command of the movement patterns like. My program looks so similar to what it did three years ago, but I'm still having fun because I'm getting stronger and the movements are fun and I love to get better at them and execute them better. But yeah, just trying to teach people, sexy things they saw on Instagram when they don't have the foundation is driving me bananas and I'm over it.

Diane: 13:05

did you say it's grinding your gears

Adina: 13:07

Ryan did.

Diane: 13:08

as Peter Griffin would say oh, well that gets me fired up and I'm not, not even a coach, but have. Seen or you've helped me develop my coach's eyes. You described it when we were working virtually because I had to review my own videos. Look at what good form looks like through the videos that you showed me. So that seminar just sounded so much fun. And I love seeing a glimpse of what you shared, how cool that he, not only, I think you said trained, world-class powerlifters, but also Navy seals too, which they are just. Like superhuman on another level, my dad was in the military for over 20 years in the Navy. We lived really close to the military base and we could see them training. And I can remember where we were and like would see them drop out of helicopters into the water, like just crazy stuff, but how cool, what an elite coach and those records for over 40 years, it's wild.

Adina: 13:56

seals or bananas. There actually was a Navy seal at the event that was assisting. And they're just a different breed of human that dude he holds a record for having he dead lifted 500 pounds for 50 reps. Like most people do that for a one rep max, and he just wanted to challenge himself as Navy seals do. And he did 50 reps, which I don't recommend.

Diane: 14:24

How many sets, if you told me it was in a row, I ain't going to

Adina: 14:27

know, I think, uh, what did he say? I think it ended up being like four or five sets, but I mean, are you kidding me? Like he said, he wanted to do it within 24 hours and then he was able to bang it out and like just a few sets, which is the craziest thing I've

Diane: 14:41

ma men PNAS well, in terms of what I'm over. But that's also has a positive spin to his neck pain. I think I might've mentioned this somewhere, maybe on Instagram or on a previous episode, but I used to get. Years ago, a lot of hormonal headaches. But lately over the last several months I was getting these horrible tension headaches, and I could just feel the sensitivity in the back of my neck, like something was sticking out. So I found an Atlas, orthogonal chiropractor at the recommendation of,

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 15:11

our friend, Alaena

Diane: 15:12

So instead of. What you might think of as traditional chiropractic, where they're cracking on you. I used to call it Cairo cracker, something that I just don't really personally like and enjoy is with this approach, they use 3d imaging so that we did x-rays and then use what he described as basically a huge vibrator, this percussion instrument. That's like very precisely adjust and it felt like he just

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 15:35

tapped on my atlas That first vertebrae. Right under

Diane: 15:40

your head. My head literally wasn't on straight. So it was like four millimeters out, which really explains a lot of the recurring pain. Like it was over the last few months. Sometimes I'd have two to three days of pain. I was cognizant of my posture, the way I'm moving in the gym. But it was. Horrible. Just sometimes I can think I'm just in so much pain. And so that definitely affected the way I showed up throughout the day and just how I felt emotionally, it's making such a huge difference. But alongside that found out, I have some slight scoliosis, I guess, perhaps in sharing some space with my twin who also had more severe scoliosis, and surgery on it. But anyway, I address it. I felt so much better after a couple adjustments, but he was really surprised at how. Or pleasantly surprised and pleased with how quickly I've improved. And, we were talking about how, the way that I move and train and strength training, uh, food and lifestyle has all supported that. So I'm just really grateful for health. Like when you're in the midst of that, of chronic pain, if that's something that you're experiencing, maybe all you can think of is I want this to go away and I've noticed I've shifted from, I just want it to go away too. I want to get back to the things that I enjoy. I love lifting. I love moving around. And when you don't have your health, like, or you don't feel good, it can just really dampen your day. So I'm just so grateful to be, uh, over that right now and not where I want to be at some times there's still some that pain or need to make sure I don't do anything to pop that out, but. Feeling so much better. And I know in this episode, we're going to talk about ways that we can support our strength and our resilience and why we just won't shut up about strength training, because it can just make so much of your life better. And what we don't want is to just think about something like chiropractic or some of these adjunct modalities, we can talk about. In another episode, like acupuncture massage or their body works stuff, but yeah, I'm just so happy to be feeling much better and yeah, that's wanting to share that.

Adina: 17:45

Yeah, I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy for you that you found that support and that it has been a positive experience. And like you said, I don't want someone to listen to this episode and be like, oh, that's my problem. That's what I need to go do. Like, certainly this was a great tool for you and your toolbox and actually my pelvic floor, physical therapist, she refers to things like adjustments and manual manipulations as opportunities, right? Like that creates an opportunity then for you to go into the gym and utilize. That new alignment and create stability around it. And so I actually just had a client, Jess, who I love. Tell me that she wasn't joining our training session one night because she had just gotten back from chiropractic because her shoulder and her neck were bothering her. And I was like, don't, you dare skip this session because when we go for an adjustment, we go for a massage, we go for a manual manipulation with a PT or anything like that. It's so important that we then. Create stability around that new range of motion that we turn that into practical strength that we now have, so that it sticks. And like you said, you came back to your chiropractor and he was so pleasantly surprised with how you held that adjustment. All too often. I see clients with no baseline of strength who are, it's just a revolving door with a chiropractor where. Every time, something hurts. They go into their chiropractor and yes, it's a more holistic modality, but it's the same thing as popping a pain killer. If you have no long-term plan for how to incorporate that into your life and continue on pain-free

Diane: 19:19

Yeah. And I'm glad that I had you to chat with about it. You were like, make sure you move afterwards. And he also said the same thing. Like, I'm glad that you are training after these adjustments. And he's amazing. He also has like raw honey, because his wife's a beekeeper that you can buy in the office and have eggs. So yeah, I'm just so happy that I'm feeling better. And there were some things that he said like, all right, let's chill on the compressive load. Some of the other things we're working through, I'm not going to chase a PR right now. So not going to go for that 225 pound squat just yet, but it means a lot to me that I can get back to movement. I enjoy. Eventually just come out of this stronger too. So with that in mind, and this episode, what we want to talk about is some ways that you can strengthen your core and start to think about these new concepts that maybe you haven't had the opportunity to learn about bracing and breath and how to move in a way that creates strong functional abs. Now, I know that this isn't a visual show, so there's that element that's missing. And we. Both heavily advocate for working with a coach. I know one that's pretty amazing to help you come back to these basics and really put these foundations in place with movement. But in this episode, we're going to talk about some things that you can just skip, Joe. So just take them off of your plan or your next workout, and some other things to think about moving forward.

Adina: 20:43

Yeah, exactly. So programming is super important when it comes to laying a strong foundation with your core. Like Diane said, some of these things are going to have a visual component. So if you do have a familiarity with a lot of these things, if you have a background with these things, this will be very beneficial in organizing some of that information for you. But if you have no foundation whatsoever and things we are mentioning, you have no visual reference for, or they are completely going over your head. I highly recommend working with a coach because. Our movement, our bodies, this is our vessel to be on this earth. And we knew all these things in our physical body when we were children most of the way that I program is moving through the same progressions that babies move through when they learn how to move. So kids know this intuitively, but we forget, we forget because of the way our modern life has us sitting all day. We are not moving intuitively in the way that we were designed to. So

Diane: 21:43

mess it up with shoes too. Cause everything's a heel truly.

Adina: 21:46

yes. Shoes as well. The feet are so important with everything here. And by the way, can we just take a second to talk about, I made a reel about training barefoot

Diane: 21:58

Oh, gosh, I remember.

Adina: 21:59

I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. And it went so viral, like over 500,000 views and the trolls were out to play. I did not think it was so controversial to talk about taking your shoes off for training, but apparently, apparently people felt a type of way about that.

Diane: 22:16

Thanks for the

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 22:17

engagement trolls

Adina: 22:19

Anyways, so again, It may sound crazy to you if you've never outsourced movement before to think that you have to learn how to move, but these are things that we have forgotten how to do in our body. And our modern environment has made it really challenging to relearn them on our own. So if you do feel like you really struggle with pain, you really struggle with not getting stronger and feeling good in your day to day. It can be such an incredible experience to work with someone and relearn what these patterns are supposed to look like and feel like.

Diane: 22:50

Yeah. So let's start first with talking about some practical tips for building better abs, and again, if you didn't. Get a chance to listen to our last episode, we talk about what we mean by strong functional abs we going for function and the physical strength of those things over physique goals. So just wanted to clarify that. So do you know where should someone start in building these better? Abs stronger functional abs.

Adina: 23:17

Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Here we go. You need to learn how to breathe. We mentioned this a million times on last episode. That means you need to learn how to take a deep breath in. That doesn't raise your shoulders up to your ears. You need to take a deep breath that moves your diaphragm down and moves your ribs out to the side. Really. You want like a 360 degree expansion ribs out to the side, back expanding as well and front expanding a bit as well. This isn't belly breathing. I see this all the time where

Diane: 23:51

Mm, good clarification. Yeah.

Adina: 23:53

belly breathing. That is where people like, think they need to go when it comes to diaphragmatic breathing. But. Oftentimes when your belly is expanding with that breath, first of all, it can be putting way too much pressure forward. If you struggle with something like diastisis, I know there was a question about that, which we'll get to later on, but. Pressure forward just from belly expansion is not solving the problem. It's not really managing that pressure well in the body. And you might not even be moving your diaphragm. You really need to get that rib expansion for the diaphragm to come down. So I focus on rib expansion, the most of my clients, because I find that that is the one that people struggle with the most. I think. Again, not to generalize because I really do value seeing people move because we are all so different. But what I find myself teaching the most often to women who may be, have a history of sucking their stomach in, or not really having that adequate breath come down and in, I feel like getting that rib expansion is something that really helps to put that picture together. So what I recommend you do, if this is the first time that you're hearing it, you can take your hands. Thumbs in the back, like make a little C shape and put your hands on your rib cage at the very bottom, at the very bottom of your ribs. So you want your thumbs to be on your back, your pointers to be on your front and the rest of your fingers to be on your front as well. Like a little C shape with your hand, put those hands on your ribs and take a deep inhale in and see if you feel those ribs move out to the side and you do want to feel them coming to the back a little bit in that thumb, but your goal should be to take that deep inhale in and let those ribs come out to the side. Okay, work on this for a long time. This is something that takes time to learn. So I want you to focus on that and that is your foundation until you can do that, you have no business doing core exercises. It is so, so unsuccessful to start trying to build a foundation of bracing. If you can't get a good, deep inhale down.

Diane: 25:53

right. What we're not going to do is wear a waist trainer or one of those, or one of those waist belts, just because we think that's going to cinch us in and support us, especially with like a heavy barbell squat or something. That's something I see a lot at the gym. Right. So would that be, and are there scenarios where something like a belt might be appropriate if you're moving a lot of load, like

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 26:13

a under a barbell

Adina: 26:14

Yes. I love that you asked that because it is really popular to wear a belt. I did it for years. I did it when I competed in power lifting. And it can be appropriate for something like that. Your average everyday person who just wants to get stronger. Yeah. I don't necessarily see it as a necessity. Not only that, especially with women with pelvic floor considerations, it can be harmful. And so certainly. Whatever the case may be. If you do end up wanting to utilize something like a belt to create more of that intra-abdominal pressure and help with some of that stability, because it can help you lift a heavier load. I have a lot of prerequisites day one under a barbell. I'm not going to put a belt on you. I want to make sure that you can. Get that inhaled down, create that core stability on your own. And later on, if you're a person who wants to say compete in power lifting, or just wants to push for those maxes where a belt can be helpful. I have a lot of prerequisites for what that might look like and how you are managing that pressure. Because full disclosure, I was doing it completely wrong when I was first competing in power lifting. And that is why I struggled with some pelvic floor stuff, because. Understanding how to manage pressure is very different than just creating a ton of pressure, which if you don't really know what you're doing, when you just inhale belt up and do the Valsalva maneuver, or just create that tension, you could be really mismanaging that pressure, just creating a whole bunch of pressure and compromising that pelvic floor function.

Diane: 27:50

Yeah. So learning to breathe and to brace are two really, really important starting points. Right. And those, I still struggle sometimes with my breath, especially as I start to fatigue. And if I am with my coach, it's wild. How much of a difference it can make in my pull-ups, for example, I've been really chasing now my strict pull-ups and maybe I'll get a few in and he can see that I'm like

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 28:11

losing my brace even though

Diane: 28:13

I'm just like. Tapping me from the front and the back. I feel like he's, I remember I said, I feel like you're pushing me up there and he's like, no, I'm really not in standing to the side. And just, he could see I was losing my breath or my brace, and I could bang out a few more. And he's like, that was all, you are just not bracing breathing correctly. So I still have to remind myself how to do that. And it took a lot of unlearning, especially if you're listening and you're like, okay, I thought of sucking in my stomach. You know, those things, all those. Dumb things that we do. Right. And so maybe that's where you might be going, like when you're trying to brace for a movement, but it's a lot more than that.

Adina: 28:51

Yeah. And I see a lot of coaches cue that too. Like they'll say like, oh, draw your belly button to your spine. That's how you brace your core. But for so many women that translate as suck in and up, and then we're not getting the breath down. Cause we're holding all that air in our shoulders really. And just sending the belly button to the spine is it's a cue that it just doesn't get understood in the body. So well, I, I kind of see people mistranslating that in their own body. So I tend to steer away from that cue. If you've never learned to brace effectively, the cue that I find to click for most people is work on that, inhale down and then brace your stomach as if. A toddler was about to jump on you and you wanted to prevent their elbows from going right into your organs or brace, like someone was about to punch you in the stomach and you didn't want their fist to go right into your organs. I think that translates a little bit better for people of understanding how to kind of like create that brace.

Diane: 29:49

the cue that you offer just a few moments ago about the ribs, because that really helped me connect a little bit more, especially when you're working together. One-on-one but again, I'm sitting here like, wait, am I doing it right? So this is, that's why we say to practice. We talk about yoga practice, but like breath, practice, strength, practice.

Adina: 30:07

know that's my favorite thing about yoga that people view it as a practice to keep coming back to. And I think with strength training and a lot of workouts. That get kind of bastardized and removed from the source so many people just feel like I have to get in there and get it done. And if you really think about like, I need to get in there and practice my pull-ups practice, my squats, it shifts the frame a little bit and really keeps the focus on that breath on that form on that proper execution. And I love that you brought up your coach and that tactile cue because not everyone needs to work with. Coach in person for the rest of their lives. But if that's something that you can afford and enjoy, you will always be better at lifting in that environment than

Diane: 30:54

and much faster too, like, Wow. Wow. Wow.

Adina: 30:57

Yeah, it will condense your timeline. They're writing you a program. They're focusing on you in that hour that you're with them. They're watching your patterns. I mean, again, if they're a good coach, they're watching your patterns and giving you an awesome cue like that, that helps you to reconnect because we get lost in the movement sometimes. And so that can be super, super help.

Diane: 31:18

Yeah, it really was. I, again, I was like, I swear, he's like lifting me up. He's like, no, I'd have to be behind

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 31:23

you. And I'm just tapping you

Diane: 31:24

in the front and the back to show you that you were losing your brace. And so it's wild. How much stronger you it's all there. You just have to learn how to use your body and move it and better. Um, more helpful ways. So you also mentioned here in our I'm looking at her notes were at practical better abs learning to fully relax your pelvic floor. Now, I don't know much about this and we can do a full, meaningful episodes about pelvic floor, but I thought, oh, you need to strengthen your pelvic floor, but that's not exactly what needs to happen. Right.

Adina: 31:55

Yeah, we are going to have to do an entire episode on this because I got a couple of questions in my DMS this week, actually about lifting during pregnancy and postpartum and postpartum recovery. So we certainly need to bring more attention to this, but just quickly for the purposes of this episode. Our pelvic floor, as we mentioned on our last episode is designed. It has a full range of motion it's designed to fully relax and then fully contract. And again, there's contractions in between that full contraction, but oftentimes women who struggle pelvic floor issues are just told, oh, do kegels. Oh, do kegels just act like you're holding in your pee when that is. Like doing half a rep of any other exercise. That's really not understanding the full that's like doing a quarter squat. That's like doing half a bicep curl. That's like pressing and stopping halfway up when your elbow is still completely bent, we need to understand the full range of motion of the pelvic floor. And when we can truly get that relaxation, which I find oftentimes athletes and women who have a history of like stress anxiety, really just clench. They clench the pelvic floor and.

Diane: 33:04

this is we're talking offline about like they have tight butthole and you don't want to,

Adina: 33:09

Yeah,

Diane: 33:10

you don't want to be so clenched and tight.

Adina: 33:12

yes. Relax your booty hole. This is important.

Diane: 33:15

Because wait, I didn't know when we were talking about like pelvic floor. I mean, I should know more about my anatomy, but Hey, haven't had that so much the opportunity to learn about this. I was like, wait, so your booty hole is involved in your pelvic floor to all like, it's not just,

Adina: 33:30

Oh my God, we need to do a pelvic floor episode. I'm like, I'm about to go off on this, but yes, your pelvic floor is a full sling, a little hammock that sits in your entire pelvis. So holding in your pee, holding in a fart that is all function of the pelvic floor. And if you are just too tight and clenched in the front, in the back in the middle, anywhere that is going to lead to dysfunction. And it oftentimes is going to lead to dysfunction at the abs at the core where. We are trying so hard to make this connection for you, that it's all connected. And same thing. When we talk about the difference between conventional medicine and truly holistic medicine to have a pelvic floor issue, and just look at the pelvic floor in isolation, kegels which so many doctors and even PT is continued to prescribe that is completely ignoring how the system functions as a whole. We need to understand the breath, the bracing, the core, the back, the pelvis. There's so much more that goes into that picture and that dysfunction.

Diane: 34:29

Sounds like I have a lot to learn about pelvic floor health. And I know that many of you have expressed interest in learning about this,

Ep 10 - Diane Audio 1: 34:36

especially you postpartum mama's. So

Diane: 34:38

we will spend more time talking about that. But Adina, you talked about how there's an order of operations in terms of strengthening your core and your abs. So can you talk a little bit more about that?

Adina: 34:50

Yeah, right. We talk about this all the time with nutritional therapy, that there is an order of operations that so many people ignore. And I see the same to be true in the training space. And even like all these core experts, these like Pilates core experts, which. Like we said last episode, some of them really are, and some of them are great, but there's just this missing piece on the programming of side of things and really understanding how to do this effectively. And like we said, the order of operations that goes on here. And so we will get into this a little bit more. We're going to toward the end of the episode, we'll talk specific programming stuff. But like I said, we really want to be thinking about how babies move. They start out on their back. They learn to get on their bellies. They learn to sit up, they learn to become more dynamic with it. They learn to push up into standing and then once they can stand, they sometimes can walk the order. Can vary baby to baby. And based on how many interventions parents come in with, which is a whole nother conversation, but they generally progress from lying on their backs, lying on their bellies, rolling between those two positions sitting up, pushing to standing crawling. And that can vary if it's going to be like an army hilarious army crawl, which Abe did for awhile. He always looked like a wounded soldier. Like I would see him come into frame in my kitchen, just like pulling his whole body across the floor.

Diane: 36:15

I've seen that in the background. It's hilarious.

Adina: 36:18

so funny, but yeah. And then ultimately they progress to crawling, which I love having my postpartum moms crawl. It is the most amazing brain training as well, which is why it's so hard for babies to learn it because it's truly. Right side of the brain talking to left side of the body and then left side of the brain talking to right side of the body. It's that cross hemisphere situation that they don't develop yet, which is why that comes in around the same time when baby starts to like hold things in front of their face, which I just think infant development is the coolest thing on the planet. But I think that we can learn so much about adult movement. From how babies progress through these things. And so then finally, once they can stand, once they can walk, then they start to lift and carry things. And so it doesn't always have to go this slowly. You don't need to necessarily spend, you know, a month, two months in each phase. Yeah. But really thinking about. Each one of these as unlocking the next skill. Right? Think of it like a video game. We can't

Diane: 37:20

Let alone locked.

Adina: 37:21

Exactly. We can't just go start swinging a kettlebell without unlocking these earlier levels.

Diane: 37:28

Yeah. And this reminds me of something that we like to say to each other, especially when we're talking about or laughing about Instagram ads, exercise ads that like to troll you. And that is that every exercise is an AB exercise. If you do it right enough. And the in contrast to that, every exercise is a low back exercise. If you do it wrong enough. Right. So can you expand on that?

Adina: 37:51

Yeah. This was a meme I saw a while ago and it just made me laugh so hard. Like every exercise is a low back exercise if you do it wrong

Diane: 37:58

Oh,

Adina: 37:59

It's so true. When we see this lack of. Understanding of the core canister how to utilize, like we talked about on last episode, how those abs are really designed to stabilize the spine. It can go wrong so quickly. And this is why so many of us deal with that low back pain. It's just this lack of understanding of how our body works and how to really create strength and stability around it, because this is getting into a whole nother tangent too, but you know how I feel about. People navigating specifically women away from load. And like we talked about

Diane: 38:36

oh, like it's bad. It hurts your knees. It hurts your back. Yeah. If you were not learning how to move properly, right.

Adina: 38:42

yeah. And that core being the center of all of it and a true understanding of how your breath works, how your abs work sets you up for real success with these movement patterns. And so. Let's stop navigating women away from load and telling them if this hurts, don't do it. And stead. Cause that's like, that's what you hear from every doctor always. Right? It's like this hurts. Okay. So don't do that. No, we need to do that. We need to figure out how we can unlock those earlier levels and gain access to this skill. Dead lifting isn't bad for your back. Dead lifting is bad for your back. If you don't know how to deadlift and brace your core.

Diane: 39:20

Yes. I've seen some examples, whether it's those awful Instagram ads or maybe even people in the gym who, um, Are really relying on that low back to pull that barbell up off the floor. And I think, Ooh, that hurts my back, just watching. And I early on, I made some of those mistakes and it would take me out for a while. And for a moment I would thought, all right, I just need to not lift because that's going to hurt me. But it was something that I really was interested in. I'm glad that I listened to my gut of let's learn how to move properly. Found a coach. You eventually who helped me work through that and develop my coaches. I would sign up. I know it's something that you focus on heavily with your virtual clients. That's a big advantage to working online because you have to film and record yourself and learn from your form and see it from different angles that you wouldn't have the opportunity to otherwise something I also wanted to mention. We talked last episode about how we hate fit shaming and fat shaming, but also to, can we stop with the age, these self-deprecating age memes? I truly believe that. The way you talk about yourself matters. And especially if you have littles, they're listening to you. So if you're bitching, like on 30, my back hurts, I'm old. I really hate that. It grinds my gears. When women talk about how, oh, I'm old, like, okay, what is someone who is 35, 40 of a fucking dinosaur? Like. No, no. Like we said, at the top of this episode, he just a number learn how to move properly and also stop insulting yourself and others by saying stuff like that or sharing names like you're, it may be common for women or for many people to experience back pain. But that's not normal. So look at the way that you're sitting, uh, think of tech neck. There are so many things that are modern lifestyle that are also contributing to our pain, but also how are you moving and how are you supporting that root cause? That's so important.

Adina: 41:11

Yeah. And how are you responding to pain too? Because pain, chronic pain. And being taken out by her pain is not normal, but there is a level of normalcy to aches and pains that we will experience as we go through life. And it's all about the pain response and it's all about different theories of pain. And we tend to pathologize pains so quickly where it's like, this thing hurts. I need to run and get an MRI and figure out what's structurally wrong with my body, because that must be the answer. When in actuality pain is just a signal. To the brain, to the body and it's communicating something to you. So instead of, like you said, instead of feeling a pain in the low back and thinking, oh, lifting is hurting me, let me go get an MRI and stop lifting. Let's take this as information and think maybe this can cue me into my strategies for movement. How am I picking that barbell off the floor? And if it's not a barbell. How am I picking up that bag of dog food off the floor? This is the reason I'm so passionate about not navigating women away from load, because the things we have to do in our day-to-day life are super hard. If you're going to tell a woman, oh, your knees hurt don't squat, or, oh, your back hurts. Don't deadlift. How are they supposed to pick up their dog food? How are they supposed to pick their kid up out of their crib? How are they supposed to carry a car seat with a 20 pound kid in it, down the stairs? Life is hard and it's demanding physically. And if we navigate away from load in the gym, which is a safe environment, barbells kettlebells, they are designed ergonomically to be easy to lift, to keep them over our base of support. It's easier to lift a kettlebell barbell than it is to lift a squirming toddler. And so if we don't. Learn how to effectively move load in a safe environment, like the gym then in an unsafe environment, like when your toddler is screaming and someone's honking you and you need to get them into the car, like it's absolutely going to go south when you try to do it, where there's these variables that you can't control. So instead of thinking of the gym as dangerous, let's think of life as a little dangerous. So we need to get more resilient in the gym where it's safe to do so.

Diane: 43:29

oh, yes. I'm just over here nodding along, because that gets me all fired up. These are practical skills and movements you absolutely need. And so there it is. How far did we make it before I said, absolutely need. I thought of you and a training the other day when I needed to go get charcoal. And I just didn't want to get a cart and just threw that over my shoulder, using proper mechanics and like felt comfortable walking through the store, carrying it to my car. Just doing, going about everyday things like gardening, picking up my squirming, 20 pound pug. When he tries to hula-hoop out, I'm always amazed at his strength. I don't know what his routine is like, but I'm like, how did you get so sick?

Adina: 44:11

Yeah. We call that like, when, if you're trying to pick up a toddler and they don't want to be picked up, we call that spaghetti. Like they turn into spaghetti and you can't. All of a sudden, their load makes no sense in space and you can't figure out how to get them off the ground.

Diane: 44:25

He hula hoops or when he's walking, he's pulling the entire time. And I think of like, speaking of bootcamp classes back in the day where, you know, where you strap a rope around your waist and it's like that resistance, you're running against it. He's doing that for like two miles. I'm like, bro, are you trying going so hard? You're on the walk already, like calm down.

Adina: 44:44

yeah, I love it. Oh, silly it, Doug. The pug.

Diane: 44:48

Okay. So we've talked a little bit. You probably have some sense of movements. We don't like, but we want to take that little bit further and maybe you can take this as like your permission slip of movements to just stop right now. Or some of these might be appropriate in some scenarios, but like Adina said, there need to be prerequisites in place. So let's run through them, starting with I'm having flashbacks to gym class days, crunches and sit ups.

Adina: 45:16

Yeah. So like you mentioned, these are kind of a list of exercises that you can ditch, but caveating that with, like, we don't want to label movement as bad. Movement is not bad. It's just a matter of, do we have the strength, the range, the stability to execute these things. So I wouldn't consider these bad movement patterns. I would just consider them like, kind of useless. Like they're not you don't

Diane: 45:45

right. You're not your pit. It's not practical. Practical, really,

Adina: 45:48

Exactly like you don't need to ever do a crunch again. You don't need to ever do a sit up again. If you enjoy them, truly enjoy them. Not like you're punishing yourself with them and you convince yourself, you enjoy them because you feel the burn in your abs. If you truly enjoy them, then sure. We can include them. But let's make sure you have those prerequisites down. So. All too often, I used to train clients. I would be in these classes and everyone says, oh, crunches hurt my neck. How do I fix that? That is a clear sign that you do not have the core strength to crunch up and you are just tugging on your neck.

Diane: 46:27

or using your neck to get up. That's what I used to

Adina: 46:30

Yeah. So if you can't take your neck out of it, if you can't get into a position where your neck is completely relaxed and not participating in that movement, your neck, your shoulders, if you can't get into a place where you can do that, this exercise is inappropriate for you and you need to build a stronger core foundation before you can approach something like a crunch or a up that's.

Diane: 46:51

those are kind of similar exercises. One just has more of a range that they're trying to move through. Right.

Adina: 46:56

Yeah. And another. Thought that comes to mind for me is there is a bunch of research. If you follow the research of Dr. Stuart McGill, he is a spine expert and he did a lot of research on pig spines and. Found that excessive flexion specifically flexion and rotation. So flexion would be what you're doing in a crunch where you're bringing your spine into that flexed position that, that bending forward position face to pelvis sort of position that excessive flection, and then coupled with rotation. So that would look more like what you were doing and something like a Russian twist.

Diane: 47:35

or bicycles. Is that another

Adina: 47:37

That's also And so that. Leads to disc slipping over time and not to say that those movement patterns are bad. Again, we're going to have to do those at some point in our lives. If you're sitting up off the floor, if you're sitting up out of bed, However, I don't think we need to put a large emphasis on those because we are already flexing our spine so much in our modern life. Often we are hunched over. And so I found when I used to teach group fitness classes, that most people couldn't get into a safe position for a Russian twist to begin with. They couldn't really find that extension of the spine. They were so hunched over and clamped down that I just saw it as unnecessary and more risk than reward.

Diane: 48:23

I also noticed that this is often, especially in group fitness classes done as like a finisher. I've also seen it in yoga classes, Vinyasa, yoga classes that I would go to. So you go through perhaps a pretty arduous workout at the end. They're like, we're going to finish with abs and maybe you're fatigued. So even if you do have those prerequisites in place, right, you might be fatigued and losing your form. But while we got to get through this. One minute of Russian twists and I'm going to try to go hard. Right. And sometimes they're also adding load like a medicine ball.

Adina: 48:52

oh my God. Loading those up is just such a recipe for disaster. And I friggin love that you made that connection to yourself. You have learned so much my baby girl,

Diane: 49:04

I've had some good coaches.

Adina: 49:06

I do the exact opposite with my clients. If I'm utilizing anything like this it's as a movement prep, it is the first thing we do in our workout to dial in the breathing, to connect to the core and pelvic floor, to prep the body for movement, to light up the nervous system so that we get a better workout out of it. But when we are fatigued, when we are spent, when it's the end of the day, the nervous system is fried. You are exhausted. Your abs may be burned out from whatever you did. Absolutely not. What I ever put my client in a position where there's danger involved in something like that. So like I said, I don't want to scare you out of movement. That's not something I ever want to do, but I do want you to become very aware. That these prerequisites are important. Programming is important, whether you put this at the beginning of the workout or the end of the workout is so important in setting you up for success in training that core stability. So while it's not Russian twists are absolutely dangerous and absolutely dangerous to put at the end of the workout. No, it's just, we need to look at the client in front of us and ask, do they have the core endurance, the core stability, the strength to do something like this to begin with. To load it up and to put it at the end of the workout. So lots of good questions to ask there.

Diane: 50:27

Yes. I love that. The next couple of exercises that we have in our list are what Adina I think considers the more advanced, like they could be appropriate for you. But again, think of those prerequisites and maybe you've seen people attempt these or do these in the gym. Maybe they've been part of your workout and they are AB wheel and hanging leg raises. So can these be appropriate? Um, and for who, for whom? For whom I always get that fucked up. Let us know. What's the deal here.

Adina: 50:55

Are there any English teachers in the house?

Diane: 50:57

Someone will let us know. I'm sure.

Adina: 50:59

yes. So the AB wheel, we've all seen it. Most of us have experienced back pain when we tried to approach it. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Could be just like a positional thing. Maybe some good queuing could get you in a better position to do an AB wheel rollout, but an AB wheel rollout is so hard. That is your entire body weight prone, like face down. Gravity pulling against you as you extend that wheel really far away. Like you're creating a long moment arm. If anybody knows anything about physics. And the only reason I do is because I'm a trainer never liked physics growing up when the examples were rollercoasters, but bringing a barbell on the human body and I get it. Um, so that actually this is a, this is a deep cut, but do you know, like Mike at all the movies. Oh, there's a, there's a scene in like Mike, where he like, can't figure out his algebra, but then they describe it to him in basketball plays.

Diane: 51:56

Yeah.

Adina: 51:56

So yeah, that's that made me laugh, but that's how it was for me. Like, I didn't really physics didn't click for me until it was about human movement and load, but anyways, so. If you are trying to move your body in that way, that's going to take a ton of spinal stability, a ton of core stability, really good ability to manage the breath. We talked last episode about holding the breath as this thing that we do when something feels really hard. This reflexive thing that just happens when something's hard. So I've rarely seen a client be able to actually breathe through an ab wheel roll out. And so it's not that this exercise is bad. It is just extremely advanced and we are not presenting it as that. If you are a person who likes the way that that feels, and you want to do a pattern like that, I would actually put you on a TRX, like a suspension trainer and have you be more at a higher incline so that it's not your full body weight against gravity. And then have you extend the arms of the TRX and even doing that on your knees to like shorten that lever this is one of my favorite core exercises when I was working in more of like a full gym for pregnant women as well, because there's less of that belly hanging down and we could still execute. That lengthening and asking the core to show up for us as we move limbs. So that is a way that I would modify it and then work yourself down to like steeper and steeper angles until you are prone to the floor

Diane: 53:25

which is something we worked on when we were together on my pushups. And I'm sure we're going to get into this when we talk about things that we would love for you to start with, but there's no shame in starting with these different progressions and modifying, like. I remember thinking, all right, I really want to do a pushup, like a full, complete pushup, but I needed to work to get there and starting with those little baby steps and those modifications really helped that happen.

Adina: 53:50

yeah. And something people ignore all the time is that pushups are just a moving plank. Pushups are a core exercise as like we said, every exercise should be an AB exercise. If you execute it correctly, if you do it right enough. So if you do pushups right enough, That is your entire core lit up to support your entire body moving in space. It's not just an arm exercise and that's where people miss the mark on it. There is no, don't be a hero with pushups, just like the AB wheel. Don't try to do them from the floor. If you don't yet have the core stability to move your entire body in space like that.

Diane: 54:27

Yeah. You know, the AB wheel just always looks so stressful and like my abs hurt just watching people do it, even if they are doing it well. So here's a permission slip, leave that in the corner of the gym. There are other things that will be more bang for your buck, which we'll talk about in a moment. Um, hanging leg raises. Sometimes I have that in my program. Does this kind of fall in the same category

Adina: 54:50

so again, hanging leg raises can be an excellent. Exercise. If they are executed properly, like we said, every exercise can be a low back exercise. If you do it wrong enough. With this one in particular, I find the issue as we talked earlier about how your hip flexor inserts into your spine as well. And so many of us have these overactive hip flexors from sitting all day from not knowing how to use our abs properly from not breathing properly. And so I see a lot when people try to do these hanging leg raises, it's really just all hip flexor, and they're not really getting into those low abs very much. So can be a great exercise if it's executed properly. So. I, this isn't where I would start. I would start with getting those lower abs on board, through breathing through. We'll talk a little bit about some regressions that you can make and how to program this. But I would start on the floor. I would not start with the hanging leg raise. There's a lot more moving parts there that

Diane: 55:48

Order of operations. That is the theme here forever. And always, this is one that I used to try to do on my own. And I made sure that this was several years ago, I was doing wrong. And when I've done them with my coach, Tavari like we'll do only a few. And I'm like, wow, I can feel now this is how it was supposed to feel because he's correcting me. And who does that burn?

Adina: 56:10

Yeah. There's, that's a funny thing too. When you see people programming out. Super high rep AB exercises. That's a red flag. That's a real red flag. Like, I mean, even pushups, like you see people, if your program says 50 pushups in it, that coach has no idea what they're talking about. My programming for my ladies has three pushups in it and they're executed perfectly and the entire body is on board and we're really playing with pace and time under tension. Those should be super hard. If you can do 50 pushups, like let me meet you.

Diane: 56:42

pushups. Yeah. They're, they're not easy. That's for sure. Uh, this isn't really an exercise, but it's something that I noticed, especially after working with you Adina and that is where people will kind of push their butt out. I, and I have no other way to describe this, except perhaps to make their, their exercises or their butt look IG ready. So kind of tilting that pelvis forward. Right? So that they're. There, butt sticks out more, but that can cause a lot of pain and from, or sitting, working with you and ugly butt this is what I put in the note is better. And so what do we mean by that?

Adina: 57:21

Yeah, we see this a lot on Instagram, right? If you are watching someone's workout videos on Instagram and their butt looks pop in and it looks cute. There is probably something wrong with the form there. So when we. Try to make our butt look bigger. Oftentimes it's dipping that pelvis forward and we're going to talk way more about this in like an episode on posture alignment, all that kind of stuff, but just be mindful for yourself. If you are watching someone's Instagram videos and their butt looks really cute while they're working out likely the form is not something you want to be emulating because it can get way too much in the low back. And it's really not bringing those lower abs on board.

Diane: 58:01

yes. And of course there is, if you are someone who has naturally larger glutes, that's one thing, but you might notice where they're kind of shifting that pelvis forward to stick that butt out.

Adina: 58:11

not talking about large glutes here. We're talking about that IG fitness model pose that IG fitness model squat, that IG fitness models, Sumo deadlift, that IG fitness model. Bird-dog like, I always troll those on my stories. Those, yeah. Those Pilate posts that are just like, Those donkey kicks were just those low abs are just completely shut off and they are just popping that booty. But again, that is pulling those low back muscles and really straining the low back and losing those low abs. Again, it's going to look different on every person, but this is a particular pattern that we see often with those IG fitness videos. Yes.

Diane: 58:51

yes. Like what I mean by ugly bot is. When I do RDLs I squeezed my butt ugly at the top to make sure I'm really getting that good squeeze. So, and now I think this is a good time to chat about how to get more bang for your buck and your programming. So movements that we do love. So Adina how do we start getting some movement? We do love.

Adina: 59:17

all right. So now that we've kind of learned. Why all those exercises are things you don't want to start with. Let's talk about what, like what you do want to start with. What do you want to start with? So we've talked about this, a bunch already breathing. Breathing is absolutely the foundation. We need to be breathing correctly before we move into any of those more strenuous and challenging AB exercises. The next thing you really want to be mindful of is your alignment. And like we said, we are going to do an entire episode on posture and alignment, but every joint impacts the joint above it and below it. So we need to be considering. Are we utilizing our abs to keep our ribs down, to keep our pelvis in the right place. We want to make sure that our joints are stacked on each other because this actually gives our breath opportunity to come down where it needs to go. And it gives our abs the opportunity to do the job they're supposed to do in stabilizing our spine. So making sure that those ribs and pelvis are stacked is a really great place to start. And then learning how to brace, like we said, so. Imagining that someone is punching you in the stomach or you're lying on your back and your toddler or your pup is about to jump on your stomach, like, think about how you need to brace to prevent any of those little limbs. Puncturing an organ. And so that's bracing. So we've, now we have breathing, we have alignment, we have bracing, and then we need to talk about movement strategies. So what is your tendency and is that tendency causing you pain again? There's no perfect posture. There's no perfect way to execute a movement pattern, but there are strategies that are going to give us better access to our abs, for example. So if you tend to an example, I like to give people is like, you always pick up your toddler and you put them on your left hip and you sink into your right hip to support them. It may not necessarily be bad, but we can get a lot more support out of those abs and do a much better job present, like preventing pain in that spine. If we can. Create alignment and brace, hold that toddler on the hip and not let that pelvis shift around like that, like really creating that stability. So

Diane: 1:01:27

which is another reason not to have five pound weights in your workouts, especially if you have a little, because you are carrying a lot more weight around every day.

Adina: 1:01:36

exactly. So there's a lot more to that conversation, obviously. And strategies, depending on the person they depend on your anatomy, they depend on your compensations, the specific strategies that you are using currently, all that kind of stuff. This is why I really like to work with people because everyone's strategies for movement are so different, everyone's compensations are so different where people experience symptoms, pain is so different. So. I just want to give you some awareness around movement around your body. Start to be more aware of what your movement, strategies and tendencies are. But again, if you really want a full program and really understanding how to do this inside your own body, that's going to be something that you would have to work with.

Diane: 1:02:19

Yeah, but working with you one-on-one was so helpful and just becoming aware of how I compensate, how I move. And you had the chance to know what my obstacles were throughout the day. So that was so helpful instead of just going about a one size fits none. Program, which I did in the past that does not consider my body mechanics, my anatomy and my goals too. So there's just so much nuance that a coach can help you work through. And, oh, I know a good one.

Adina: 1:02:46

Yeah, so like Diane said one size fits none programs. Let me tell you a little bit about progressions for your core and how to spot. If a program is one size fits none, or if it will actually help you to build strength and resilience in the core and the entire body. So something that I really want you to think about focusing on, like we said earlier is how babies move. So if your core is extremely weak, if your body is extremely de-conditioned, if you do not tolerate load very well, we need to start lying on your back. That is the easiest way to get in touch with your core. So things like. Supine like lying on your back heel slides, making sure that you can brace the core in that position, that you don't rotate the pelvis too much. As you learn to bring those abs on board. Again, breathing is always first. Once you've mastered that and start to feel some core control there, we would switch to prone. So that would be when you are facing down. So things like being in. All fours, things like being in a plank and progressing through those. Again, elevating the hands. If you can't tolerate the full presentation of gravity on your body yet, but moving from on your back to on your front, then moving into things like half kneeling, moving into standing, doing various carries. I love heavy offloaded carries to train the core. They're an amazing application for pregnancy postpartum. They are so, so applicable to your life because you carry groceries, groceries, you carry car

Diane: 1:04:14

one trip or die, right?

Adina: 1:04:17

you carry suitcases. So we need to learn how to carry effectively. So suitcase carries rack carries, overhead, carries all the carries. Those are like my absolute favorite core strength approach. And then. Gaining that core strength in half kneeling, learning to hinge, properly learning to squat, properly, learning to press pressing as a full body exercise. And especially when we offload it, this is why I love the kettlebell because when we put a bell in one of your hands, instead of both of your hands and the whole opposite side of your body, it needs to show up to keep you neutral, to keep that good alignment, to keep the core on board. That is absolutely everything. And that translates to you putting your suitcase in the overhead bin, putting away your groceries on the top shelf and making sure that you will be super resilient with that core through life.

Diane: 1:05:05

Speaking of presses can we just acknowledge the clip that you put on your story this past weekend, after you came back from your seminar? And I think it was what, one of your 50 pound bells so you use example of basically this is when you're. Your bag is a little overweight over the weight allowance for, but you don't need help and you press up. And I saw those abs pop in those strong of functional abs pop in, and there was no wiggling. There was no struggling. Didn't need to ask for help because you have those strong abs and core.

Adina: 1:05:35

Yeah, exactly. People don't realize that this is why movement prep is so important. When I program presses for my clients, The first half hour of the workout is just firing up the nervous system and getting that whole body ready to put something over your head. Pressing is not a shoulder exercise. Pressing is a standing plank. It is your entire body rooted into the ground. The feet need to wake up. The glutes need to wake up the quads to wake up, and those abs need to be poppin. If your abs are sleeping, when you are pressing 53 pounds overhead. That is straight to the spine, straight to the low back pain city. So that bell will never go over your head to begin with. And if it does dang, will it hurt. So really understanding that, like we've been saying this entire time, there's a progression to this. We need to learn how to breathe. We need to learn how to brace. We need to learn how to use our abs in every single position. Strong, functional abs are the key to a resilient body.

Diane: 1:06:31

Hell. Yes. I like it. I love it. Let's round this all out with some listener questions. So some folks submitted questions and we can absolutely go into full on episodes. And, oh my gosh. I have not, even at this point, it's just happening. It's just coming up. How many times did we say it anyway? So let's start with this first one, rapid fire style, anything or everything, core function postpartum. So not quite a question, but she's, asking about how to support her core function in that phase of life.

Adina: 1:07:04

Yeah. So listen to this episode, follow those progressions. We will be doing an entire episode on postpartum core function. Maybe just like some postpartum nourishment in general. I think I know that is something that people have been asking about, but follow those progressions, watch your baby move like your baby, but it starts with breathing. Do not neglect four weeks of learning how to breathe again, because when we are pregnant, our baby takes up that space in our body. And so it's really impossible to maintain good alignment. There are certain compensations that happen. Toward late stage of pregnancy, which are totally normal and can completely correct themselves on their own, but it does take a lot of attention and relearning. And so if you think about it, when you are in those late stages of pregnancy, your ribs are flared out, they're stretched your there's a lot of pressure forward on all those tissues in the abs. And so there is going to be a natural splitting of the abs, which is totally normal at that late stage in pregnancy. It's just a question of how do we get that back to functioning properly? And then your pelvis is often dipped forward. You are often taking a lot more from the low back to support that shifting load. Like your gravity has shifted completely. You're a center of gravity. And so there's a lot of very natural, muscular compensations that happen at the end of pregnancy. And so we really need to dedicate the time. To relearning that function, whether it was a vaginal delivery or a C-section, the core is going to be impacted. The pelvic floor is going to be impacted. People don't realize that even if you are cut open and that baby was taken out of your stomach, your pelvic floor will still be impacted because this is a pressure system. And so if the bottom of your abs have been cut through there, scar tissue there, and pressure management is often a really big issue. So really taking the time, dedicating the time. Learning how to breathe again, going through those progressions. And as you guys know, I am always going to be an advocate for hiring a coach, going through a program that is designed to help you go through these progressions and little teaser. I have been asked a lot. So eventually this year I will be releasing a strength training for happy hormones, postpartum program. It's just not happening. In the next few weeks, but so if you are struggling with this right now, strength training for happy hormones is still a good fit for you. And then just reach out to me for how to modify anything. If you do have questions about postpartum specifically, but that program is really set up to progress you through these, uh, these stages of core function.

Diane: 1:09:41

oh, I'm so excited for that, because like you've said in this episode, Too often, the suggestion is to do nothing or to just focus on kegels after you've had a baby or perhaps women throw themselves into the same workout classes that they enjoyed pre pregnancy that are not appropriate for them. And so we don't like that

Adina: 1:10:03

yeah. We talk about this a lot. Women's healthcare is just a goddamn joke sometimes. And the fact that you birth a baby. Nobody evaluates you for six weeks. When you're struggling with these dips and hormones, you have no idea how to carry load and you need to hold your baby. You have no idea how to breastfeed. You're exhausted. Like there's so much that is hard. You go to your provider at six weeks and they go, everything looks great. You're cleared for exercise and sex. And it's like, Are you kidding me? You were just expecting us to sit there for six weeks. Do absolutely nothing. And then go back to Barry's bootcamp. Like the approach to women returning to movement postpartum needs so much help

Diane: 1:10:46

Yeah, it's trash garbage. It gets us fired up. If you couldn't tell. And then beyond that, there's the message of get your body back. Uh, it's still your body. So. If you're listening to this and you're postpartum and feeling eager to get back, to get back to a certain size, hope you can give yourself some grace, you made a person that's a big deal, and there are going to be shifts and changes in your body. And that is okay. And so hopefully you can give yourself some grace and start with the breath. So similarly to Adina his answer to that last question, someone asked when can you start doing a workout when you are healing, diastasis recti, that. split in those abdominal muscles. Right. Um, so breath. And so what I'm hearing is the starting point for everyone, but especially women who are postpartum

Adina: 1:11:32

Yeah. Diastisis like I said, we are going to do an entire episode on this because I get way too fired up and I have to hold myself back from going too deep. But a thing that is happening in this space, like we've said earlier, is women are being navigated away from load and women are being told that you just can't do anything ab related. If you have diastisis, but your AB muscles. Our tissues, they need overload. They need stimulation to grow to repair. And so. There is a progression of how to do this safely, but we do need to contract that tissue if we're going to get it to heal. But that doesn't mean just start doing 100 crunches every day. If you are struggling with that, diastisis they asked us this is completely normal in late stage pregnancy, but we do need to do some work to repair it. Some women will have to do more. Some women will have to do less based on. Tissue health based on genetics, based on how you manage pressure. If you're getting sleep, nutrition is a big factor here too. Like what are you feeding those tissues? Do you have healthy fascia? All that good stuff, but breathing step one is breathing and you can start. I'm not your doctor full disclaimer, ask your doctor, but I think waiting six weeks. To start breathing is way too long. So I think that six week marker that they give women it's too soon to jump back into intensity and it's not soon enough to start working on things like breathing. So breathing should start two to four weeks. If you add a healthy delivery, if you have the capacity to do so, the sooner that you can implement those good breathing strategies and learning how to connect with core and pelvic floor, again, the sooner we can get to healing there.

Diane: 1:13:16

love that this one might be a quick one. My back hurts when I do planks help.

Adina: 1:13:23

So, this is kind of like we talked about those IG fitness videos. I would need to assess you to see why your specific back hurts because we all have different compensations. And some of us hurt with flexion some of us hurt with extension, but for most women that I see, this is. A positional thing, and this is a core weakness thing. So I would actually regress you to a hand elevated plank or get you in all fours in like a beast hold. And I would start you there and make sure that you really understood. How your pelvis works and how to move it in and out of positions and how to get to a position where you could really turn your lower abs on. So that's what I tend to see the most. And I think that planks might be a progression for you, and we would really want to regress that down and make sure you can breathe and brace, get your pelvis into a better position for you and access those low abs.

Diane: 1:14:18

Yeah, it's hard to see when we can't see this person's form but love those cues and just the cues that you give your clients in general, uh, when we're not in person that has to be on. Right. And I love the cues you would give for example, about the bucket of water in the position of your pelvis. That was just so helpful for me to tune into my body and how I was positioning it. Especially during a movement like a plank. Okay. How to get rid of belly fat? Not like give me a six pack, but extra.

Adina: 1:14:48

um, do you want to take this one?

Diane: 1:14:51

Yes. As we talked about earlier in this episode, we don't focus on spot training. So unfortunately there are a lot of classes that will lead you to believe that you could do that. Like butts and guts or

Adina: 1:15:02

you mentioned butts and guts on every episode. I think so.

Diane: 1:15:06

I might, I'm remembering a class from the Y the YMCA that I used to go to and I was like, oh, I mean, that sounds graphic. But anyway, something you want to think about here is as estrogen dominance, a factor for you being higher in estrogen. So whether it's outright estrogen, dominance, or relative estrogen dominance, and you might be holding some excess fat around your stomach where we hormonally as women will hold that, um, Or also too, do you have gut issues, which might cause some inflammation and maybe that's not an increase in fat and you're just bloated and inflamed too. So those are some other things we want to think about here. So some things that can also help you as always spoiler alert, building muscles, muscles, muscle, build all of them. But yeah, we don't ever focus on spot training or reducing. And so if you are. Getting after a full body quality strength training program, that's going to be in service there, but want to see what other opportunities might be in your routine, whether that is in your food. Are you sleeping well? How's your stress, other things that are going to, if they're not, um, dialed in, contribute to excess stress and hormonal imbalance.

Adina: 1:16:20

Yeah. We often see that belly specifically storing fat in the belly area with that excess estrogen picture. So certainly something to consider there, but again, muscle helps with all of it. Like muscle is everything. And. Like we said, spot treating is not an option. Just build overall muscle and a strong, resilient body.

Diane: 1:16:38

this is one that people might be embarrassed to ask about, but Adina has mentioned on online. Uh, someone said, I've heard, you mentioned hemorrhoids and core. What is the connection there?

Adina: 1:16:48

Ooh. Yes. We need to do an entire episode about hemorrhoids because I think this is happening to a lot of women and they are not talking about it. And. When you go to your GI with your hemorrhoids people first try to like treat them at home with whatever creams they find in the drug store. And if they do muster up the courage to go to a doctor, it's often a GI and the resolution is often. Oh, you just need more fiber. This is obviously you're just straining and you're pushing cause you're constipated. So you need more fiber, which we know constipation is not a fiber deficiency. So there's a lot more to that picture. We are going to do entire episodes on digestive health and constipation specifically, but. Like, we've been talking about this entire time, your core system, it's all about managing pressure. And if you are not managing pressure down very well, you can sprout hemorrhoids. Sprout is the

Diane: 1:17:42

Sprout.

Adina: 1:17:43

describe that. I couldn't think of any other word. So what happens here is, like we said, oftentimes stressed out women or athletic women have a tight booty hole and they don't realize it and they

Diane: 1:17:57

You don't want type a hole.

Adina: 1:17:59

No. So when their butthole is super tight and they are mismanaging that pressure, they're like pushing against a concrete wall when they're trying to poop. And so whether or not you're constipated, this can still lead to a lot of pressure issues. And I have women who have told me that they're experiencing hemorrhoids when lifting, but still think it's a GI issue. Like. This and, and oftentimes the advice is okay, so stop lifting heavy. No, that is absolutely not the advice. As we've talked about, take your fiber or stop lifting heavy. As we've talked about this entire time, lifting heavy is a life necessity. We need to do that. So we need to figure out how to do that and manage that pressure better. So my advice for you first and foremost, see a pelvic floor, physical therapist, don't see a GI doctor. If this is something that you struggle with. Again, not medical advice. See GI doctor, if you want to, but I'm telling you, you might have more success with a pelvic floor physical therapist, and then get yo ass. Get your tight ass on,

Diane: 1:18:54

Literally get your tight ass.

Adina: 1:18:56

on a well-designed program that will teach you how to manage your pressure well,

Diane: 1:19:03

Well, that was an excellent question. And Ooh, we went deep in this episode and I know that there are several these topics that deserve episodes all of their own. So we would love to hear from you, whether that's on Instagram or on our website, which ones you would like us to start in on first. So hopefully that helps you walk away with some tips of things to ditch and what to focus on next, whether you're at home or in the gym and who to seek for support. Again, if you're not already on Adina is wait list for her next round of strength, training for happy hormones, get yo ass on it. She's an amazing coach. And. When you work with her virtually, you'll just become so aware of your body and how to move it and really develop your own coaches eye, which will serve you so well for your own movement for years to come.

Adina: 1:19:52

thanks, Diane. All right. This was so much fun. I love talking about this stuff. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode and we will see you next week.

Diane: 1:20:02

Bye.