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Protecting Your Core in Pregnancy

core pregnancy

I remember wanting to keep my core perfectly strong during pregnancy. I figured a strong core would mean a strong delivery and a strong postpartum recovery.

Well… I went about it all wrong.

Here is what I know about pregnancy core work now.

  1. Posture first. Your gravity will shift as your body changes. Your goal is to focus on alignment and good posture, even when your center of gravity changes. Believe it or not, that is hard work, all day long.
  2. Give yourself breaks. Speaking of having to work hard all day long, it will be taxing on the muscles to keep realigning and readjusting. Along with all the other things you are doing internally to grow a human, you will be tired. Take breaks. Sit or lie down often, especially in later stages of pregnancy (always lie on your SIDE, not your back)
  3. Breathe. Your belly will start to take up more and more lung and diaphragmatic space. Take the energy to get full breaths, for your core health and the health of your baby.
  4. Deep muscles are your friend. Think in terms of lifting from the base of your belly upward. This supports your deepest core muscles and takes the pressure off your back.
  5. Get help. You may want to use a prenatal splint as the belly grows, just for extra support and to take the pressure off your back.

What do you think? What has helped you maintain core function in your pregnancy?

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Flatten My Postpartum Belly Chapter 9 Supplemental Videos

The following is taken directly from the book “Flatten my Postpartum Belly” by Carrie Harper and cannot be reused without written consent.

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There are 56sections of instruction in the book “Flatten My Postpartum Belly”  for specific core strengthening. These should not be done without proper understanding. Please refer to the book for more direction.

Section 1: Supine

Section 2: Prone Position

 

Section 3: Side-lying series

 

Section 4: Quadruped

 

Section 5: Seated

Section 6: Standing

Exit Protocol

Make sure you have picked up your own copy of the book “Flatten my Postpartum Belly” for all the information you need to get to this point.

Order yours HERE 

Get more help HERE

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Just START.

starting lineWhat is your goal? What is the next big thing that drives you? What do you know, down deep, that you REALLY need to do?

  • for your health
  • for your life
  • for your career
  • for your family
  • for your spiritual life

What is it? Can you see it? Can you feel it coming? Can you envision the outcome? Have you written it down?

There are lots of programs about goal setting. I recommend using Chalene Johnson’s method of starting on your goals and reverse-engineering your goals. But I’m here with one message.

Just Start.

Yes, the image is important. Yes, the end-goal is important. Yes, it’s important to start with the end IN MIND. But don’t let that image hold you back.

Why would it hold you back?

It would hold you back because if you are a perfectionist. a planner, or a control-freak, seeing that image is intimidating!

  • What if I fail?
  • What if it doesn’t turn out right?
  • What if it doesn’t look the way I envision?

So, now I’m telling you to have the image but don’t be married to it. Have some looseness in the outcome. Have some flexibility in how it looks once you start. The end image may change as you dive in and start, and that’s OK. It’s ok to fail in the steps along the way. In every failure is the lesson. The lesson is never “just give up.” The lesson is a closed door in a maze that leads you down a new path. Once you have made this goal, and once you have really envisioned what you need to do, it’s like putting it out there in the universe, for the universe to take care of you. Allow it to shift and mold. Allow it to change you and to move you forward as a person. That new path that you have to take may be much more beautiful than the first.

I’m going to give you a generic example.

Beth wants to lose her baby-weight. She thinks she needs to lose around 30 pounds. She has a cruise coming up in the spring. She is thinking 10 pounds a month is reasonable. She writes it down, finds a picture she wants to emulate, and thinks through all that she needs to do to lose 10 pounds. You’ve been there, right? You get invigorated with the thought of what you can do….and then you get overwhelmed with the process. The fears set in:

  • what if I can’t maintain this schedule?
  • what if I can’t fix fresh foods every day?
  • what if I can’t control my cravings?
  • what if I can’t fit exercise into my day?
  • what if I try everything and I FAIL?

Can you relate? Do you set a big goal, and then as you start planning, all the fears set in? This is a defining moment for Beth. She has a big choice. She can just say “oh, well, it was a nice thought, but I know I’ll fail, so I’ll give up now.” OR, she can say

“Just START.”

If Beth just starts with one day, Beth has 100% chance of doing better than if she just gives up. Do you get that? Tomorrow, she gets to focus on tomorrow and it starts all over. The bad news is that change is challenging. The good news is that once you train yourself to accept and push against the challenge, you begin to change.

YOU begin to change.

I am a recovering perfectionist. I am a recovering introvert. If I had let these personality traits take over my life, would I be able to run a business? Let’s be real here. If I held myself accountable to starting BIG and taking over the fitness market by a certain date, where would I be? Completely defeated. Retreated. Broken. In my shell. Afraid.

I said “Just Start.”

My business is not perfect. I am not perfect. Things are NOT yet the way that I envisioned. I shape and mold how my business looks every day. I push against the resistance. I push against the negativity. It forces me to grow as a person and to make my business an expression of my beliefs as a teacher: Join the person where she is and take her where she is going.

Are you staring at a goal? Are you afraid of it? Are you afraid to start? Tell me about it. I’ll be your partner. We all need a hand to hold sometimes. Contact me here.

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Vision

visionVision.

Do you have one? Now, be honest. Most of us have one. A dream that is more like an unfinished reality…

I have one. Can I tell you about it?

I love my life as a trainer and coach. I love my live classes. I love bringing people to fitness. I love helping people with their nutrition. I love helping people get healthy.

But here’s the next vision, and I think this one is really big.

I have the vision of helping other people bring their vision to fruition. I have a vision of a huge network of fitness people who are all bringing their vision to fruition. We all work together while seeing our own vision through. So, see, the more we bring people into our network, the more people we help, and the bigger we grow.

Can you see it? Can you see it becoming HUGE?

I’m talking to you if you’ve ever thought you could either enter the health and fitness profession OR you’re already there and you need a boost…for whatever reason. I’m talking to:

  • fitness business owners who need a new plan to pump up their business
  • fitness professionals who don’t want to settle for less
  • athletes who want to inspire others
  • business start-ups that can envision something new
  • fitness enthusiasts who love to spread their love for their sport or activity
  • quiet individuals who just want to help others in the comfort of their own home, in their own time

I’m talking to ALL of you, because I see a place for ALL of you, and I want to help you get there!

I get a charge out of helping other people start health and fitness businesses, or improve the ones they have.

So, what’s your vision? Leave me a comment here or email me at Carrie@CarrieFit.com