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NEW Progression: Double Leg Supported

 

You’re hearing it here first: there’s a new way to progress past single leg before you get to double leg in a supine position!

It’s double leg supported

Now… don’t rush this. We want to make sure you feel supported all the way through the process while working on your diastasis recti and core stability, but this will help you with that in between step.

Let’s talk through it.

First of all, start here, like how Becca is lying in our supine series.

Make sure your shoulders, head, ribs, spine, and hips are all on the floor. If you struggle in any area, it must be supported somehow, with a pillow, rolled up towel, etc. Don’t skip this part or the work won’t make any sense.

Remember… if you’re new to me and you haven’t worked your way through my program, you’ll need to keep your head and shoulder on the floor.

Start with moving one leg at a time.

When you are ready to progress, here is the double leg supported instruction:

Be really mindful of the core engagement piece throughout this practice.

And, as you get better at the support, you’ll want to play with double legs, but none too soon! Make sure you are doing it properly by following my protocol in the book or the course.

And you’ll be well on your way to a stable, functional core.

Do you like this new step? Does it help? Does it challenge you?

I’m here to help.

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Rib Flaring and Diastasis Recti

 

So, what is rib flaring anyway?

Rib flaring is pushing the chest forward beyond straight alignment, causing the ribs to be open between the sternum and the rectus abdominis

(image by Leslie McNabb)

As you can see, rib flaring can seem like good posture, because the shoulders are back and the chest is forward. I often see this posture in performance athletes and fine artists, as they have been taught to project upward in their posture.

But the issue is that it is actually not aligning the ribs over the hips, causing strain on the rectus abdominis, and knocks the rest of the frame off as well.

What do we do?

Here’s a quick video to start working on rib flaring:

You are going to want to work on it a little at a time, until your new alignment feels more normal.

Want more help? Check out my video series on alignment HERE.

Keep up the good work! You got this!

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A brief mental health moment…

 

My name is Carrie and I struggled with paralyzing anxiety for 25 years.

The kind where I would completely forget to breathe and have to remind myself to breathe… or pass out. And I did pass out on occasion.

Most people had no idea what struggle I was in. I got really good at pretending I was all confidence.

I set myself free from this constant state of fear about 11 years ago…

It tries to sneak back in to my brain every so often, usually when stuff is being piled onto my plate… especially when that stuff is out of my direct control.

The way out is to release control. Remind myself to breathe. Take a gratitude break. Remember who I am, why I am here, and who I serve.

And to remember Who sent me.

So if you’re struggling and up at night, I hear you and I understand. If you struggle to breathe at times, I will be here breathing on your behalf.

We are not meant to carry this; in fact, we have been instructed not to.

Ready? 💨 breathe in. 💨 breathe out
Today I am grateful for:
Today, I release the control of:
Today, I take one step at a time.

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Don’t think you have clients with Diastasis Recti?

I get perplexing messages from trainers sometimes, mostly because information around Diastasis Recti is confusing, to people with it and people who serve those with it.

One guy was like “do people actually HAVE this? Because I’ve been training women for 40 years and I’ve never had a client bring a diagnosis of this…”

Honey.

It won’t be diagnosed. It will be ignored by everyone. She will be told things like
“You’re just fat.”
“Lose the baby weight”
“You had a baby; it’s all over now.”
“Do more ab work.”
“Work harder.”

And if you perpetuate these messages, you are the problem.

She likely won’t get a diagnosis, but she will know inside that something is wrong. But because she is getting non-worthiness messages all around her, she is likely to shrivel up.

She is likely to not argue with you. She is likely to believe that she is just not good enough and not strong enough.

Many times, she will get hurt more training with you, won’t tell you, and will then find me in her moment of desperation.

So tell me. Since almost all pregnancies end in a level of Diastasis, and because 20-25% of your clients, even ones who have never had babies, struggle with Diastasis and core dysfunction, will you care enough to learn about it?

Or will you just keep blaming her? 

    • diastasis trainer
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A fun challenge for Diastasis Recti Work…. with Prizes!

 

Here’s your invitation!

Did you stop and start or never get started?
How about an incentive to get back in the game?
1. Choose the book, course, or class.
2. Take a full body image on or before October 5, 2021 and label it (save it!)
3. Stay consistent to your practice until January 1, 2022.
4. Take a full body image between January 1 and January 5, 2022
5. Send all images or an image collage, labeled with dates, to carrie@carriefit.com with your story (what you used, how it went, any part of your story you want to share)
6. Get a $10 gift card to amazon to use on yourself!
Here are the links to the solution products you can choose from:
1. “Flatten my Postpartum Belly” on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H9LP289/
2. “The Diastasis Recti Recovery System” on Udemy:

3. Carrie monthly subscription on moxie:
For inspiration, see what others have done
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The Ego and Gender

Processed with Lensa

Your DNA remembers your deep family trauma.

This means there are literal cellular memories of events that happened in your family, race, and gender past. Trauma is buried deep in us.

The ego knows this.

Let me give you an example.

I recently walked around a high school football game, and tuned in to the energy I felt around me. Women and the young women around me had a sense of nervousness. Their eyes darted. Their voices shook. They smiled nervously at the men around them.

The men there smiled with unabashed confidence. There was no darting of the eyes; no sense of fear. I don’t doubt that they have a level of a different kind of fear; maybe a fear of some kind of loss. But it’s undoubtedly different.

The ego knows and therefore is speaking very differently to us.

I once, in passing, heard The Medical Medium Anthony William say “The greatest fear of the male ego is that women will laugh at them. The greatest fear of the female ego is that men will kill them.”

That felt very real to me. It’s my life experience.

Women walk around with low level fear and anxiety. Women have to self protect in most environments, with a deep understanding that the male ego wants to power over them, which can lead to attack or worse.

Men walk around with an ego insisting that they take and maintain ultimate power, because powerlessness is emasculating. This is why male egos attack one another in a different way from how they attack the feminine.

This is merely an observation. I know and understand that we are working on a new day and a new earth. As we rise to the new earth, the ego will scream louder. But also the lines between those who rise above the ego will become blurred. We are becoming one solid force for good and for God. We also know we cannot be deterred.

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The Body’s Purpose

Edited in Prisma app with Leya

We’re all walking around with these things. What are they for?

As I have written about recently, I was brought up on and stuck to a very egoic philosophy for much of my life. That philosophy was that I am my body.

That I am judged for my body, controlled by a body, living in a body, and have life and death by bodily terms.

(see also https://www.carriefit.com/weight-loss-why/ and https://www.carriefit.com/normalize-all-bodies-in-fitness/)

These theories that I lived by caused years of anxiety and depression, ruined relationships, and destroyed my inner peace. Think about it: if you live and die by this body, what do you really have, and what kind of judgement have you placed on yourself?

I found A Course in Miracles around about 2005, thanks to Marianne Williamson, and got deeper into my daily practice around 2015. In between, there was a huge transition and major spiritual awakening that took place, which left me thinking:

What is this body and why?

A Course in Miracles explains that the body is merely a means of communication. This and only this.

Now, reading that, I was pretty confused at first.

This body that I walk around with does nothing but talk to people? Well, then, why have a body at all, why not just a head and a mouth? What’s the purpose of all of it?

As you know, my JOB is based on bodily health, which multiplied my confusion. Because, if the body doesn’t matter, does my WORK matter? I am quite convinced that it does, considering that the work in the body has greatly transformed people’s state of mental health and led to a greater quality of life.

Then, I was in a scary situation.

You’ve been there. You’re in a place where suddenly, everything in you starts firing up. Your heart races, you start sweating, and your hair stands up.

“Get the hell out of here” is what your body is telling you.

OH.

The body is a means of communication.

The body communicates with bodies, spiritual beings, instinct, and the divine.

And a body in good function can function in these places much better than one that is energetically blocked with poor health.

This is why my body matters, why my work matters, why our communication matters, why our mind-body-spiritual practices matter. Why we continue to develop the muscles and eat the food of the earth.

Being still and knowing is within the mind AND body, and that will be the means of communication from the spiritual guiding forces and the messages sent by other humans to and through you.

Yes, your body matters. Keep loving thy self and loving thy body.

More to discuss on walking around on this earth in a body that is female…. we have a lot to talk about on that topic. Because, guys, it’s not just our hormones and organs that make this life experience different. It is literally every moment of every life experience that makes female living a completely different experience.

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Weight Loss Why

I heard author and speaker Glennon Doyle say yesterday that when polled, the number one goal women have is to lose weight.

Number One. Lose Weight.

I think we need to sit on that for a moment.

Number one? It’s not changing the world, shifting a global movement, freeing people, creating a better place for our children, or working toward success on any front: relationships, careers, or health.

It’s losing weight. Becoming less.

I think it says a lot about us and I think it’s just time for us to recognize it for what it is. And I want to first of all say: it’s not your fault. That overarching importance of being smaller is not OF you. It was placed IN you, possibly for generations.

How it happened for me:

I remember wanting to lose weight when I was about nine. If you just read that in surprise, you must not be female, because nine is actually late comparative to other women who were told they were not enough at a very early age, and to be enough, you have to take up less physical space.

Be less in this world.

But I had been teased around age nine because I was still a little chubby. I still had a little baby/little girl chubbiness. And that wasn’t ok anymore. I wasn’t fitting the mold of pretty girlhood because I wasn’t thin enough.

So, I did what most women do. I made poor food choices.

So, you see, this “number one goal” has nothing to do with getting healthy. It has to do with being enough by being less.

I hit puberty at age 11, and the little girl chubbiness completely fell off of me. I was suddenly tall and rail-thin. This was exciting to me! Goal achieved. I take up less horizontal space, so I am better! Better than YOU, fat girl.

That’s right. This created a monster. 

I became overtly critical of other girls. That THEY were not enough because THEY took up too much space and THAT is not allowed.

I want you to really consider the consequences of all of this.

  1. I was blocked from being my best self
  2. I was blocking others from being their best self
  3. I was obsessing over food rather than being my best self
  4. I was projecting this philosophy onto others
  5. None of us were focused on things that matter

I learned as an adult how incredibly toxic all of this was. And if you know me, you know that I had a major awakening and have completely shifted my life, in hopes of helping others as well.

The paradox for me now is that I do help women lose weight. But I don’t want it to be the number one goal…. nor do I want anyone obsessing about their weight.

Because we have a lot of things we need to do in this world.

What I know is that when we are our healthiest, we can do more for this world. But our healthiest means in mind, body, and spirit.

And our healthiest bodies are not food obsessed. They are driven to fuel the body with quality and use the body for means that matter.

I want you to consider this if you are still stuck in this paradigm of diet culture.

  1. What are you NOT doing while you’re obsessed with weight loss?
  2. How much of your power is given away to diet culture?
  3. How much of your mind space is used up with thoughts of worthlessness?
  4. How are you impacting others with your fear?
  5. What COULD you be doing instead?

It’s going to take time, patience, and a lot of lovely warriors to help us break free from this cycle. But we CAN do it, and ladies, I want this done by the time your kids are old enough to get stuck in this pattern.

We don’t use the words “fat,” “skinny,” “weight loss,” or “diet” in my house. We use “healthy,” “strong,” “smart,” and “powerful.”

Can you help me shift this? What could we shift together?

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Working out with Peloton? Diastasis Recti? Here’s help

Major tech global digital fitness brands are all the rage.

 

And they are GREAT for general fitness. What I want you to recognize is that they are not specific to Diastasis Recti and core dysfunction. Where they may mention the issue in passing or even have a general info video on it, their workouts are not designed for recovery nor do their modifications even begin to help with your specific issue.

this is an issue because at least 1/5 users need the extra help

 

I created a little video to help you if you are using one of these brands for your fitness:

For a recovery program, refer to carriefit.com/diastasis-recti

To be part of the solution, refer to carriefit.com/the-abc-method

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In Solidarity for Women and Minorities Everywhere

texas broken heart
artwork by Radish White Ice

Because I live in Texas. I just want to share how I feel right now.

I love my neighbors deeply.
I love Austin deeply.
Our elected officials have broken our hearts over and over again.
They will continue to attempt to rip us apart and divide us
Until we choose differently.
Register to vote.
Vote the assholes out.

If you didn’t know, 665 laws designed to frighten people, oppress people, and violate people’s constitutional rights were passed in the state of texas on September 1, 2021. CarrieFit stands on the side of love, integrity, equality, and service, always, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, or religion.

 

Context: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-3-2021

 

We will not be silent. Silence aids the oppressor.

 

#texasstrong #annrichardsiswithus #barbarajordaniswithus