30 Day Challenges

I love them
I really do I like everything about them
I can look up pictures on Pinterest
and find before and afters
I can look at the challenges and dream of getting together a big group of friends where we can support each other and taunt each other tease each other into doing them

I just completed this squat challenge with a friend of mine (HI LOONEY!)

It was fabulous and painful and not so easy but overall GREAT

I feel stronger
and leaner after doing this

of course doing this made me want to do an Ab challenge because my abs are buried under several layers of flab but I have abs and they need to be stronger

if I tighten those my stomach will look better
and my back will feel even better than it does now

and here is where we run into a problem
Like many women in my situation
I have Diastasi Recti
I know sounds like a great excuse to not exercise the abs
kinda like being big boned (which I am legit !)
is a good excuse to eat a bucket of chicken

but I digress

Diastasis Recti is serious in some cases it can lead to hernia or ruptures not pleasant at all
how did I get diastasis recti?
I'm short
I had 5 babies over 8lbs
I have been obese most of my adult life
I have had 3 cesarian sections

All of those factor lead to a split in the middle
if I try to do situps or crunches
you can see a football shaped dome in my stomach

and that is diastasis recti

doing things like sit ups and crunches and planks can make it worse and
make my tummy stick out even farther

my first response to learning this
fanfuckingtastic
so the search began to find a nice free exercise plan to fix this issue

why free?
I'm cheap
and I do not think good health should cost a stupid amount of money
I do not think I should pay to join a group
or pay for a program that comes with a belt and dvds

Been there done that
and I have piles of DVDs I do not use as it is
(hubs and I are the proud owners of some belly dancing DVDs and P90X )

So to google I went
wanna know what I found?

a lot of info
 and a lot of pay to join here and I will help you

and I searched Pinterest
LOADS of info on Diastasis Recti
but sadly
NO 30 day challanges!!
with the encouragement of some friends
and a willing partner in crime (Hello Sarah sweetie)
and hubs help

I have created

this : 
HERE you should be looking at a fabulous picture of a calender
sadly my program for that sucks so it did not work out
SO I'm looking for a volunteer to make me one AND in the meantime I will be using
as a template that ab workout calender above HERE are the substitutions for those of us with "mummy tummy"

Hip Bridge = sit ups
Squat = crunches
4 point kneeling = leg raises
Ballerina =   Planks

 

THE KEY to doing these exercises is holding in your tummy

things I have read say things like:

pull your belly button back toward your spine make sure you are breathing while holding it in.

Another direction is to stand tall and pretend to zip up your stomach imagine the whole thing just being zipped in from bottom to top

once you can do this breathe AND hold it while moving 

THEN you can do these exercises.

notice I did not chose the lunges 

I did this because they hurt my knees

The 4pt kneeling thing looks easy try it 

get on your knees and hold your stomach in tight while breathing for the amount of time that the challenge says 

Ready? lets DO IT !!