FITNESS FOR THAT FLAT TUMMY AFTER PREGNANCY

By Herb Duncan

Twitter:@nexlev

After the initial excitement of your brand new child sets in you notice the bulge of your belly and wondering “Will I ever be able to make it go away?”  The great news is a loud yes! But let’s speak a little about science.  Right after birth that protruding belly could be at worst caused by what is called diastases, a separation of the outermost abdominal muscles that sometimes occurs during pregnancy. Left unworked after pregnancy this muscle separation will never improve.  This is one of the reasons a woman will continue to have backaches after pregnancy.  To prevent this problem and many others, general exercise is a must before and after pregnancy.

Rakesh C. Patel MD, Arizona Sun Family Medicine, recommends a good exercise and diet program as an important part of normal pregnancy. It has also been shown that women can increase their fitness levels during pregnancy without significant problems. There is also very little data to show the need to lower target heart rates or decrease the intensity of a exercise routine, although it is routinely recommended to keep heart rate at levels below 140 beats per minute or below 60 % of maximum. Regular exercise has been shown to decrease stress and anxiety and promote self-esteem. These are two areas that cause many women problems since hormones are running wild during pregnancy. The overall benefit for a good fitness program before and after pregnancy is your ability to return to your normal size quicker after pregnancy. The more lean tissue the body has the better it burns body fat.

The main muscle that returns that flat mid section to its pervious form is the transverse abdominal muscle. This innermost muscle wraps around your abdomen and back like a corset. It is one of the main muscles used in delivery of your child. Lamaze class teaches women how to control this muscle through certain breathing exercises, which help with a smoother childbirth since this muscle does most of the squeezing. The problem that remains is women are not taught how to properly strengthen this muscle before and after birth. Left untrained this muscle is one of the major reasons so many women have troubles losing this area after childbirth. Regaining this abdominal strength is crucial for women for many reasons.  It supports the back and helps avoid many after childbirth problems associated with daily activities and will speed up the process of this problem area regaining its flat form after childbirth. It’s crucial to learn how to draw this muscle in properly to activate it properly during exercise. Standing up straight place your right hand index finger on your naval. While continuing to breath draw your naval in as far as you can as if you were trying to touch your spine with it. Once you have gone as far as you can squeeze as hard as you can with your draw in abdominal muscles. Hold this for 15 to 20 sec and then relax. If done correctly you have just done your first abdominal exercise including your Transverse abdominal.

What types of exercises will achieve this result? Functional strength training is the key. Functional training, when done properly, demands these and other abdominal muscles function properly in order to perform the exercises.  The proper workout must demand these muscles strengthen. The stronger this muscle is the faster that flat tummy will return to its previous state.  Excellent ab fitness tools include JC bands, medicine and stability balls as well as airex pads. Also utilizing a trainer with good physiological knowledge of the human body and you will be on your way to a much firmer and slimmer mid section after that new born arrives. Until next time happy training!

Reference: Danforth's Obstetrics & Gynecology

Editor(s): Scott, James R., Gibbs, Ronald S., Karlan, Beth Y., Haney, Arthur F.

9th Edition © 2003 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Rakesh C. Patel MD

Arizona Sun Family Medicine, P.C.

Twitter:@drrcpatel

Email us at nexlevfitness@nexlev. com

TRAINER SHARES SIMPLE SECRETS TO BETTER FITNESS

By Larry Ward Staff Writer                                             When Herb Duncan played professional football he had a following. Things didn't change much after he retired from the Arena Football League where he was a member of the 1997 world champion Arizona Rattlers. But now, instead of giving autographs he is dispensing advice and facts on health and fitness through Nexlev, a innovative science based company at 633 E. Ray Rd. in Gilbert Arizona. Duncan's intimate storefront facility with a half-dozen exercise balls and a minimum of exercise machines is smaller than the lobby of some national franchise centers, but it is where clients like Maria Hernandez feel comfortable. "I was one of those people who was very intimidated by a gym," Hernandez said. "I couldn't do this by myself and I like the idea of not having to think about it and having someone else tell me what to do." An administrative assistant at a Phoenix hospital, she lives in Mesa, but has followed Duncan, a certified trainer, through two other more conventional facilities for almost three years. That may have been why she wasn't surprised to find exercise and medicine balls instead of heavy iron muscle machines at Nexlev. "The first thing people notice when they come in is that we're totally different from what they've seen before and right away it's stress time," Duncan said. "They see equipment and moments that they haven't seen before and, of course, the balls." The exercise balls are more challenging than they look, but they work, Duncan said. He uses one for a chair at his office desk. "Using nothing but the balls, I can have anyone sweating in an hour because it exposes all the weakness and requires more muscle discipline than people realize," Duncan said. "They require the body to operate the way it was designed as a unit, just sitting on one forces certain muscle groups to function. When you see tape of the Phoenix Suns doing a shoot-around in practice, or a boxer training for a fight, you'll see all kinds of movements and functional training equipment  in the background. "But health and fitness is measured by more than a pint of perspiration, Duncan added. It's part of the myth and twisted tales, according to Duncan "Promises at other places are very much exaggerated," Duncan said. "We Americans want stuff to happen overnight and there are people who play on that stuff. If someone came out with something that worked in five minutes you'd sell a million of him or her, and I'd be the first to use it. Professional athletes have $1 million bodies and if any of this stuff came close to working, especially for longevity, we'd be the first to use it." "But it's not as hard as it's made out to be to be fit for life," Duncan said. Magazines and media give people unreasonable expectations, with results based on temporarily fixes rather then life longevity Duncan added. "People are getting a twisted version of how to get fit and healthy," he said. "Not eating before you go to bed, for instance is a myth. The body wants smaller meals throughout the day instead of one at the end of the day. If I don't overeat and exercise, I'm not going to gain weight. But we tend to make a lot of excuses for why we gain weight, including what we eat." Duncan isn't training bodybuilders or football linemen. . "Something as simple as a golf swing requires getting stronger core functions," Duncan said. "Tiger Woods figured that out a long time ago and everyone else had to get over the idea of drinking beer and eating doughnuts to stay competitive. "Professional athletes do things to get stronger in movement that they use daily and we apply the same thing to simple everyday things like carrying groceries or stepping sideways to look for something on top of the refrigerator without getting hurt. We trains everyday people to strengthen their bodies to enjoy life, family and daily activities that we take for granted until we get hurt doing them like just picking up our children at the park" Hernandez explained most of the encouragement to continue is subtle. "Once you start to feel the difference," she said, "you want to work at it more." Duncan has heard the story before. "About 80 to 90 percent of my clients are finding something totally new," Duncan said. "It becomes a way of life and they really start enjoying things and do things that they haven't been able to do for a long time. It doesn't take as much effort as they think.".  The report can be reached at (480) 898-7915 or by e-mail at lward@aztrib.com.