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Will you help with the next project?

My brain is all a-buzz this morning, working on serving people better with the systems that have shifted the course of so many people’s fitness journey.
In case you didn’t know, I have been a postpartum trainer for 16 years, with the past decade really focused on what is now known as THE ABC METHOD.
My method has evolved and progressed over time, and I am still learning every time I teach it.
So I want to know where you are at, if you are struggling in an area of your personal fitness OR if you are a trainer, and you feel like there Is a blind spot for your training and classes, I want to know about it.
You can help me with my next project, created with you in mind.
This simple survey can help me help you better!
You’ll notice that I have a special question section for professionals in the fitness/wellness field. That’s because I feel very strongly about teaching the teachers, so that we together are making a greater impact on the world.
Would you please forward this email or post the link for your trainer / instructor to see?
Thanks so much!
What are you working on today?
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What Your Trainer Doesn’t Know Could Hurt You

Please don’t take this the wrong way.

I do honestly believe that trainers and fitness instructors are there because they want to help people succeed. And that they are doing the best they can with the knowledge they have right now.

That being said, if your trainer does not understand how to differently train you with Diastasis Recti or core dysfunction (bad back? Issues with pelvic floor?), then you could walk away in pain or worse.

Here are a few tips for your training sessions:

  1. There is a difference between good pain and bad pain. Good pain feels like work. Bad pain feels like it’s wrong. If bad pain rises, you get out of the position immediately.
  2. There should never be a time where you feel form is compromised. If you’re all out of whack doing the exercise, imagine what your skeleton is doing.
  3. There is not an exercise that would fall out of the category of ABC. Do you know ABC? Does your trainer?

I would love to help you AND your trainer with your ABC’s. Trainers and instructors who take The ABC Method are more likely to find better exercises for you, and YOU are more likely to have more efficient and effective workouts (while recovering from Diastasis, back pain, or any core dysfunction).

Check out my work on youtube, or leave me a message and let’s talk about what’s next for you.

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July is Diastasis Recti Awareness Month

Happy Diastasis Recti Awareness Month?

Well…. at least we are more “aware” than 16 years ago when I first struggled with it. But it’s still a lot of white noise, not a lot of direct help and information, and me and the other ABC Method Instructors shouting “it’s not a hashtag! It’s an important medical issue!”

I’ve been working on answering your questions in the group, so if you’re not a member…. hello? It’s FREE!

Speaking of free, I have a FREE Text Accountability Group starting next week (July 19, 2021). Register HERE and let’s figure out the right path for you.

AND I’m speaking at a stupendous Mom Conference. You can hear me and all these incredible professionals in the mom wellness space HERE.

If you know a new mom, make sure she actually knows what Diastasis is, and don’t scare her. Just tell her to look out for it. Encourage her to take the steps now to prevent damage and to seek help from me or an ABC Method Instructor. And, of course, a licensed professional physical therapist.

Take a breath and enjoy the summer. I look forward to talking with you soon.

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Going all in? Or self sabotage?

You THINK going all in is going to be the answer, RIGHT?

Ok so let’s set up the all-or-nothing mindset journey for you….

Client: “I want the biggest personal training package. I’m IN. I’m ready. I want to do it ALL.”

Me: “ok. I have time Tuesday or Thursday between 12 and 3. What time do you want?”

C: “oh. I want Monday at midnight.”

M: “I have time on Tuesday or Thursday between 12 and 3.”

C: “I don’t want to do afternoon. I want Monday at midnight.”

M: “that is not available on my schedule. I have a book that leads you through my material. You can start there…”

C: “no. I don’t read.”

M: “it’s also available on audio.”

C: “no. I don’t listen.”

M: “I have the whole course on video..”

C: “no. I don’t watch.”

M: “I have a group class..”

C: “no. I won’t participate. The only way I will participate is one on one at midnight on Mondays.”

M: sigh. Well. This is a huge exception to my rule, but I will see you at midnight on Monday.”

11:59 Sunday:
C: “I’m tired. I’m not going to make it. Can you do 5 AM?”
😐

Truth: your brain will give you ridiculous hoops to jump through, convincing you that it’s the only way.

But the REAL truth is that you will actually adhere to the plan if it’s simple and doable.
So if personal training is not simple and doable for you right now, don’t ask for it!
I do have a book, a course, a class, and even a FREE text group to help you actually DO THE WORK.

Start where you are.
But START.
And stop listening to the “all or nothing” brain.

She’s really not on your side.

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How to have a Beach Body

How to have a beach body:
1. Have a body
2. Go to the beach.
🏖
I didn’t realize how much of my brain space was consumed with size and shape until I broke free.

Judging myself for the tone of my arms and the size of my thighs took too much of my power away.

So I decided to focus on these things:
1. What makes me feel good
2. What gives me energy
3. What makes me feel strong
4. What makes me comfortable in my body

THOSE things:

  • matter
  • rub off on my kids
  • leave me free to do the important work I was sent here to do
  • keep me free of pain and illness
  • give meJOY.

And we all need all those things.

Have you broken free yet? What things make you strong, powerful, and joyful?

Join my FREE Text Accountability group for the summer of 2021 to help focus on your wellbeing.

But DON’T stop going to the beach and loving the body you are in.

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The Solution to all the Questions

 

Diastasis Recti? The ABC METHOD
Core injury? The ABC METHOD
Core area surgery? The ABC METHOD

The program I developed over the past decade to help myself recovery from injury and surgery is the same that I use to help people with Diastasis Recti!

And it’s the same that I use for people with every kind of core dysfunction, injury, surgery, etc!

In a nutshell, DO THIS:
1. Get a referral to a quality physical therapist in your area.
2. Get the book or course (Flatten my Postpartum Belly is on amazon, The Diastasis Recti Recovery System is on Udemy)
3. Join my free special help group
4. Take it one day at a time.

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Is Diastasis Recti Normal?

What is Normal?

NORMAL?! What is normal?

 

Is it NORMAL to have Diastasis Recti from pregnancy?
Yes.
Is it NORMAL to need intervention for Diastasis Recti post pregnancy?
Yes.
Is it NORMAL to need some adjustments in life and fitness for a while?
Yes.

It’s all NORMAL.

What is NOT normal is that we don’t talk about it.
What is NOT normal is that almost no training systems address these issues.
That’s what I am here for. I’m here to make THE ABC METHOD NORMAL.
Because almost 100% of women who have had a full term pregnancy have core stability issues, along with about 20% of the rest of the population.
So we should make addressing it NORMAL.
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Can I Lift Weights with Diastasis Recti?

Sometimes you may need to stop all your fitness regimens while recovering from Diastasis Recti.

If this is the recommendation of your physical therapist or practitioner, then yes, follow the protocol first before getting back to weight lifting and other practices.

For most people that I work with, we can slowly integrate weight lifting and other fitness practices pretty quickly upon starting your Diastasis Recti program.

Here are some guidelines for weight lifting with Diastasis Recti:

CarrieFit kettlebell

  1. When lifting on the floor, roll onto your side and then onto your back. For this reason, the floor is preferable to a bench in chest press and other bench exercises. Roll out of the exercise, as well.
  2. Ground one leg or foot in every exercise.
  3. Keep shoulder and upper body work at the shoulder level, not above, until you have worked your way out of this phase (your ABC Method Instructor will help you transition).
  4. Maintain your ABC’s in every exercise.

You might want some more guidance, so TA-DA! I made 3 weight lifting classes for you! They are simple to get to. Go to my moxie account and use the collection “Core Safe Weight Lifting.” Monthly members get unlimited access to these, plus my other collections and constant class additions.

Further questions? Contact me HERE.

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Body Shame and Diastasis Recti

I find that women I work with on their Diastasis Recti and core function also tend to struggle with self love, self care, self awareness, and finding their internal power.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and really want to dive into what’s really happening behind our eyes.

I have been doing a really beautiful study on women and self love this week on a really wonderful blog community called One Commune (highly recommend). And on day 1, first speaker, first paragraph, the doctor gives us the stats.

95% of girls feel body shame before they are teens.

85% of girls are fat shamed as children.

She goes on to tell us how that affects our entire lives: our focus, our self worth, our relationships with ourselves and others…

I thought of my girls. And wondered how they are feeling about themselves today.

And then, I thought about me.

I was taken back to little Carrie; elementary aged Carrie. I was a bit chubby. I had round little arms and a round little belly.

I was a little girl.

I remember being teased for being fat. And I hated my body.

I was a little girl.

Then, at age 11, I hit puberty, shot up several inches, and became awkwardly and unbelievably skinny.

And I loved it.

I relished in it.

I started making fun of the “fat” (not really) girls. I started obsessing about getting and staying skinny. It ate up my thoughts and my very space. I WAS the skinny girl.

I was determined to obsess myself into lifelong skinniness.

I spent brain space and time and energy on skinniness. I purposefully shamed the non-skinny.

And then… again… I got just a little older… probably high school…. and I recognized that my place in the world was to be an object of attention for boys and men.

I normalized being stared or gawked at. I pretended the up-and-down scope out from men was “normal,” and I accepted that this was what female-ism is.

Skinniness. An object of appeal.

And as I write this, I am shaking with anger.

I spent hours of energy on this. This nothingness, this meaningless, this DUMBness, instead of focusing on any possible use of my brilliance in this world.

I hurt other girls and women.

I WAS hurting.

Its effect on me as a grown woman meant that I had to then spend hours of energy on reconnecting to ME, to be one with my mind, spirit, and body. To start to get closer to my meaning here.

Having female children was definitely the catalyst for me. Because I never EVER want them to feel the way I felt, on either side of the shame and the objectifying.

I changed how I talked about myself and to myself for THEM.

I am worthy.

I am enough.

My body is strong.

My body is amazing.

I have purpose.

I have everything I need on the inside of me.

I am not determined by person, male or female, but by the Almighty, whose image I am created in.

The other day at the grocery store, I got the up-and-down look from a man 10-15 years older than me. And the rage started to rise up to my throat.

But I chose to write this instead of unleash on him at the HEB (because that is frowned upon). Though maybe some men need to hear it first hand.

Women are to be revered and respected. We give and sustain life. We have incredible power and strength.

But because of our inner need to be needed, we have endured centuries of body shaming, beauty shaming, objectifying, and we have been expected to chase the ever-moving target of whatever “they” want us to be.

It’s all a distraction.

Distracted no more.

Now…. in relation to Diastasis Recti.

When you have lived your life separate from your body and objectifying it.. asking it to work without appreciation or any real connection to it, then when it pulls or pushes and becomes less functional, we have little space for that.

We have lost our love for seeing that we are hurt and need care.

When I train women who struggle here, the hardest part to get over is the self love and appreciation piece, AND the ability to own your own power and strength.

Women want the power to come from outside of themselves, they struggle to face their own challenges in their bodies, and they disconnect mentally from the core problem.

And then they ask questions like “how long does a Diastasis take to heal completely?”

Spoiler alert: there is no answer to that question. Every body is different. Much like ever body function and dysfunction. We all have our own timeline.

If you’re struggling with Diastasis Recti, the next thing I want you to do is journal on how grateful you are to this body for getting you to this place where you are.

I want you to draw on your mirror “I am enough.”

I want you to close your eyes, feel your breath, feel your power, feel your strength. Feel the YOU that is deep and real, and the you that can do all things.

That’s the path. That’s the road. That’s the way.

Keep going.

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Sacral Chakra and Diastasis Recti

I am taking quite a turn this week as I am open to the tradition of chakra studies from the yoga communities.

It really opened to my thought process while listening to The Energy Codes by Dr. Sue Morter. If you know there is much more to us than we appear as a body, join in this discussion with me, and check out this amazing book.

What are chakras?

The chakras are energy zones internally that apply to our overall spiritual being. What I know so far is that there is a flow to each chakra and when there is a block or energy stop, we suffer.

image credit Hands on Health Sheffield

Take note of the sacral chakra and the message: “I FEEL.”

This struck me particularly because when I was struggling with Diastasis Recti and other core issues, including Caesarians and later a debilitating surgery, I struggled to FEEL. I struggled to FEEL in all aspects, not just physically feeling. I felt disengaged. I felt absent from myself. I felt apart from that which I love and care so much about.

When I am working with women (and men) who are struggling with Diastasis Recti, in the beginning, I often see a look of bewilderment. “I can’t FEEL that,” they will say as I start talking about deep core engagement. “Where is that? What is that? I don’t FEEL anything down there.” This also applies to their pelvic floor, which is also right around that energy center.

I am not a therapist and we don’t necessarily go into other relationships in their lives, but in SELF relationship, I also often find in my clients a disconnect from self love, self appreciation, and self awareness. I have explained before that this strange disconnect seems to be linked to an internal trauma, where women sometimes don’t recognize the body they are currently in, perhaps due to a major body shift, like a pregnancy.

image credit: https://chloeleightonbulleid.com/blog/2018/1/9/chakras-for-beginners-the-sacral-chakra

The above list is amazing to me, because of course there are symptoms in the sacral chakra physical area, like abdominal and back pain, but also the tendencies of low self esteem, jealousy, fear, and insecurity! I find many of these symptoms and emotional issues exist in women (and men) struggling with Diastasis Recti. Again, I have attributed that to the trauma their bodies or brains dealt with, but on a more cosmic and spiritual level, it’s all circular. The energy affects the symptom and the symptom affects the energy.

One thing I have learned from “The Energy Codes” is that actually, the “fracture” starts from the energy and then manifests in the body. So, while I have always thought of trauma happening internally and then exuding through the energy field, it seems the energy field knows the trauma first and then creates a manifestation on the inside, which then continues a block of body and spirit.

I am new to this and I have a lot to learn. I have a lot to research. But isn’t it fascinating?

What major “AHA” just occurred to you? Have you ever felt these emotions? Have you ever related it to your injury? Are you working on progressing through both your body AND spiritual journey? How is it going?