what's up guys hey Jared BEC strand here
doctor of physical therapy tone and
tighten calm and these are the five most
common questions that I get asked about
diastasis recti and postpartum abdominal
rehab I've even got a special guest with
me on this one it's gonna be a lot of
fun let's get into it right now
[Music]
all right everybody hey what's going on
special video today I have got a special
guest start with me you guys know my
wife Camille she's been in on a few of
my other videos it's a lot easier to
talk about diastasis recti with someone
who's actually been through diastasis
recti while i have had my fair share of
experience with patients and even with
my wife you know the truth is I've never
had it before and so and so it's always
good to bring her in and I thought it'd
be fun to kind of bring her in on this
video and see if we can help you guys
out you guys the more I talk about this
the more questions that I get about it
I've got quite a few videos here on
YouTube about diastasis recti and you
guys's comments are really awesome I
appreciate all the comments that you
leave in that video or in those videos
rather than responding to each one
individually I thought it'd be easier if
I just jump on here and shoot a quick
video all about the five most common
questions that I get as a physical
therapist as a postpartum specialist
about diastasis recti so that's what
this video is
let's get these questions I feel like
are ones that I had as well um
as we started the program like I am on
of these popped up for me to yeah so
yeah absolutely women you're not only
guys aren't alone for sure these are
really common questions okay so the
first one I've heard of diastasis recti
or abdominal separation but I don't
think I have it is it really that common
and and and that's that's a great
question that I get all the time as
people will say you know yeah I've heard
of it but that's one of those things
that just doesn't really happen to me
yeah it doesn't happen to me you guys
the truth of the matter is this is a
this is a thing that happens in 100% of
pregnancies if you made it to your third
trimester you had some degree of
abdominal separation now it might have
just been stretched there might be some
minor tearing or even with subsequent
pregnancies it can actually get a lot
worse and so really a diastasis recti or
abdominal separation happens 100 and 100
percent of pregnancies some of the
research that I've read on this they
looked at a six week follow-up and it
was still there in about 66 percent of
women so - and every three women still
have this at six weeks and
and you found something that they check
for it's it's really it's really it's
really not it's your Opie doesn't check
for it so you don't know it's funny to
ask that question sometimes I'll throw
that out there like in social
communities or whatever and just say hey
who has been checked for this and like
it just doesn't happen it's not
something your obesity so the
interesting part is that a one-year
follow-up it's still there in one third
of women so at about 30% at a one-year
follow-up still have some degree of this
abdominal separation so really moms one
in three of you very well likely has
this and so it is a fairly common
problem luckily there's a lot that we
can do about it yep learned that too
okay
question number two if I just work my
ABS really hard after pregnancy I will
be able I should be able to show my
stomach right yeah so you guys this one
this one kills me and especially like I
did that you're living proof yes I go I
go into the gym and like I'll see you
know moms in there and they just work so
hard and their sit-ups and their
trenches their planks their mountain
climbers like name and add exercise and
you guys kill it you like like you work
hard you're so guilty of this like
working just incredibly hard on it but
the thing is you guys postpartum fitness
and postpartum abdominal workouts don't
look the same as they did before you had
babies we need to make this mentality
shift of you know tone my abs to rehab
my abs there are certain exercises that
you absolutely must avoid and there are
other certain exercises that you
absolutely must be performing so the
ones and I have another video all about
this I'll leave it in a link in the
description down below
basically exercises to avoid are
anything that are going to activate that
rectus abdominis muscle basically
perpetuating the problem you want to
avoid your sit-ups or crunches your
planks anything where we're doing some
forward flexion should be avoided
because that's what we're taught to do
it again six-pack you've got to be
planking you've got to be doing situps
crunching right right and so basically
the take-home message here is is ab
workouts and ab rehab after your
pregnancy don't
the same as before you need to be doing
different muscles different exercises to
activate different muscles in different
ways in order to see the progress that
you're after alright so here's the next
one
and it goes right with that not seeing
much progress since giving birth I'm
probably just not working out hard
enough so exactly kind of a follow-up to
the question that we just answered this
is this is something that I tell
patients and clients all the time it's
not a question of necessarily working
out harder it's just a question of doing
things a little bit differently to get
you the results that you're after and so
again some of these ab ab exercises that
we just mentioned with the last question
if you do have a diastasis recti
condition if you have that abdominal
separation they can actually perpetuate
that problem as this diastasis recti is
one of the main culprits behind that
pooch or pouch or tummy like whatever
you guys want to call it doing those
exercises that exacerbate that problem
don't do anything to actually cure the
problem that you're trying to cure hope
you guys can follow that and so the
sit-ups the crunches the planks the
traditional ab work don't do anything to
heal the separation therefore you never
see progress therefore I think a lot of
us in our minds is I just got to work
out harder and that's not always the
case if you're just injuring that area
the idea is okay we don't necessarily
need you to work out harder we just need
you to work out smarter yeah and I think
too it comes down to like I just figured
high-intensity workout equipment that I
would burn more fat burn more calories
lose the weight faster right but that
wasn't necessarily the case and that's
one thing that your program taught me
absolutely that it's all about this
steady-state cardio right and being in
the right heart rate zone the right fat
burning zone you've got all this extra
fat around your belly from having a baby
you've got to burn that off
right so that was another iOpener for me
right and so a big part of the program
that I developed is the mommy tummy fix
program and a big part of that isn't you
know it's not all just about core rehab
if you're actually looking to fix your
mommy tummy there is some abdominal fat
that's going to be there I'm sorry I
know that's hard to hear but you
probably put on some weight with your
pregnancy 50 pounds
she goes big she goes big and so you
have to be doing some type of activity
that's actually going to burn that fat
now your go-to is always jump into the
highest intensity that you could go hard
yeah yeah yeah you want to you know I've
got thirty minutes till my kid wakes up
I'm gonna push as hard as I can as soon
as we kind of snap her out of that and
said okay fat burns a little bit
differently than your higher intensity
workouts you actually don't have to work
out that hard you can step that down a
little bit in kind of a fat burning
heart rate zone not get up into that
higher intensity heart rate zone and
still make progress yeah and so those
are a couple of things that we tried to
incorporate in this program and you made
fantastic progress with so as soon as I
started directing rec smarter not harder
perfect thank you okay all right next
question I've had friends get tummy
tucks to finally get rid of their
pooches yes after having kids is this
the only option look you guys the tummy
tuck yep yes our doctors will talk more
to us about a tummy tuck
then about doing exercises to Hill it
naturally isn't that fascinating
yeah and it's heartbreaking it really is
you don't have to have this invasive
surgery right and so here's what I
always tell people you guys so there
there is some skin stretching that does
occur with pregnancy and if you have
loose skin then yeah there's no amount
of core exercises that's going to
actually tighten your skin and so I'll
definitely I'll definitely say that
however if you're doing the tummy tuck
to lose abdominal fat if it's like the
liposuction procedure with the diastasis
repair procedure the thing is you're
looking at about six to eight weeks of
downtime so after the tummy tuck they
recommend six weeks of basically no
activity it's six weeks until those
incisions and those sutures and
everything heal up if you did opt to
have the diastasis repair so the two
halves of the abdomen that can they can
put that back together as well that's an
additional two weeks so again you're
looking at six to eight weeks of nothing
downtime yeah and then at that point
after the tummy tuck procedure that's
when you can actually start to rehab
your abs again so basically your
starting at square one six to eight
weeks after you've already had the
procedure and so my argument is give me
those six to eight weeks rather than
jump right into the tummy tuck I want
those six to eight weeks and I want you
to put in work and I want you to do the
exercises that I recommend I want to
clean up your eating and I want to
recommend the right type of cardio
activity and let's see what kind of
progress that we can make rather than
starting at square one in six to eight
weeks let's put in work now and see what
it looks like in six to eight weeks and
you know what you guys like one of the
biggest rewards for me is I'll have moms
come in and be like you know I just I
just had my consultation with my plastic
surgeon surgery is set for you know four
or five weeks from now and then in three
or four weeks they'll come you'll be
like I just canceled my surgery like I'm
making such good progress I've lost two
inches and I had a four finger abdominal
separation now it's a two finger of
nominal separation that's the reward you
guys that's like that's like the coolest
part and so while I do feel and and and
granted there are some instances where
you know you're just not gonna see all
the progress that you want with
conservative care and and and I'll get
that out of the way but let's not make
that the first option let's not make
that the very first leg this is what I'm
gonna do right out of the gate let's see
if we can do some natural some
conservative care and see what kind of
progress okay so let me ask you this
physical therapy there we go what are
the rehab exercises for someone who has
a tummy tuck you know what's fascinating
about that and you know what I'm going
I guarantee yeah so it's the exact same
exercises that we start with and the
mommy tummy fix program you guys the
goal of the mommy coming fix is to rehab
your abs most of the time for most of
the people out there who get this
it's rehabbing your abs after pregnancy
however if you have that time you have
procedure you have to rehab your abs and
I start at square one just like we start
at square one in this program and so you
can do it now and see what kind of
progress you can make or you can even do
these after your tummy tuck surgery and
see how they do from there yeah
regardless
you can make maybe it's obvious which
direction I tend to lean I hope so
okay so this is one of my questions that
I had talk to me
alright if I do core exercises everyday
yeah I'll get rid of this mom page oh
that's a good you guys
it's yeah and you know what this is this
is just like the culture that we live
and this is the society that we live in
of oh I've got I've got extra weight
around my abdomen I need to do sit-ups
and crunches and that's what's going to
get me this extra weight yep you're
exactly right and you hit it right on
the head you guys it's impossible to
spot treat fat meaning I can't just do
an exercise or an activity and lose
weight in my stomach that's just that's
not how it works
and so if you're if you're trying to
lose your mom pooch or mom pouch what
you need to do is kind of take a step
outside of that and say okay yeah I've
probably got an extra 10 or 15 pounds in
my stomach but if you look outside of
that you realize okay I probably have an
extra 20 pounds to lose
overall you might carry it differently
and women tend to carry it more kind of
in their hips and in their button-like
in their triceps
however after pregnancy again kind of
step outside yourself and say okay I
could probably stand to lose not just
fat right here but fat everywhere you
guys pregnancy like you're gonna gain
weight like it happens and like you're
not just going to reserve it right here
in your stomach and so that being said
when I designed the mommy tummy fix
program my goal was to make it as
comprehensive a program as possible in
order to actually fix that mommy tummy
you can't spot treat that you can't just
do that core work and expect miracles to
happen in that spot you have to kind of
step outside of that and realize okay I
need to do something different with my
activity I need to work out a little
more regularly I need to move a little
bit more regularly I need to stand this
heartburn or heartburn fat-burn Park
zone yeah pregnancy right
tums like Smarties you're you're getting
you're getting over you you need to you
need to stay in the fat burn heart rate
zone so activity is one big thing but
then also eating you guys you can never
outwork a bad diet you can try really
you can try and I did but it just comes
down to like food is fuel and you've got
to put good fuel in your body and
cutting out sugar cutting out soda all
those things that we turn to because we
think we need that even diet soda like
right it's not helping us it's making us
fat right so yeah and so and so that was
the goal and so with the mommy tummy fix
you not only get the core core workouts
core exercises but there's also cardio
to help you to increase your activity
the right way and then also some eating
guides and eating advice and menu plans
and things of that nature and so so
that's the approach that you need to
take and I and again I'm telling you
what's available with me and with my
program it doesn't necessarily have to
be that way just keep in mind that if
you want to see those results you need
to do the right core work you need to
eat the right things and you need to get
a little bit more activity you can't
just do your core work to see results it
needs to be more of a total body
approach
alright so hey thanks so much for
joining us you guys that was a lot of
fun to kind of brainstorm with you
brainstorm especially with my wife thank
you thanks for hanging out with me this
was fun and so you guys I hope that
helped you guys out if you have any
questions or comments please leave those
down below I'll get to those as soon as
I can and if you haven't done so already
I'd love if you subscribe to tone and
tighten here on YouTube you can do that
there's a little red subscribe button
right down there be sure to hit that
alright you guys thanks so much for
joining us if you want to subscribe to
the channel right down below if you have
more questions about diastasis recti hit
that one right over there if you have
more questions or want to learn more
about postpartum fitness that one right
down there is the one that you're gonna
click on thanks so much for joining us
we'll see you we'll see you again