My Workout - Transverse Abdominis

I am excited to share what I have been doing over the past 6 weeks after finding out that my transverse abdominis  (TA) was not firing. Here is a forewarning, it isn't exciting. It is really boring, but I have seen vast improvement!  I am not a doctor, and I can't promise this will work for everyone. I am simply recapping what has worked for me.

The first thing we did was find the TA by placing my hands on my sides, and just to the inside of my pelvis very near to the C-section scar.  It took a lot of mental power to press these muscles outward to feel a slight push on my fingers. Then try to do it while breathing...this was nearly impossible.  

So I practiced, 3 times a day, 10x3-5 seconds hold, and it quickly became easier. Like within the day even. Then we added the following series, all while activating and engaging as described above. 

1.Childs pose -- build up to 60 seconds. At first I could only hold this for 10-15 seconds at a time, and had to take breaks.

2. Cat Camel -- 3x10 holding the TA in the engaged position and slowly moving. At first I could only do 3 sets of 3 or 4 and slowly worked up to 10.  As soon as I could no longer keep the muscle engaged I would take 30 seconds break, and do as many of the next set as I could.

3. Supine Low Back Twist. -- 3x30 seconds. engage the TA and slowly lower the knees, holding each stretch for 30 seconds before slowly moving back to the middle and then to the next size. Again I could only hold for 10-15 seconds starting out, and had to take breaks.

4. Pelvic Tilt -- 3x10 moving very slowly, and maintaining engagement through the movement. 3-4 of each set was hard at first.

5. Bird Dog -- 3x10 again very slow movement keeping the TA engaged the entire time, and making sure the glute was firing to straighten the leg going back.

6. Mckenzie Extension -- 3x10 This was very hard for me, use your arms to push up using VERY LITTLE LOW BACK.  I struggled to do this for 2-3 weeks.  As soon as I would push up, I would let the TA loosen, and have to start over. I focused on doing one right, and slowly was able to do more. 

7. Bird Dog on the Physio Ball --3x10 same as bird dog.  I really struggled to be able to breathe while doing this at first. It took a lot of mental power to handle staying stable, breathing, keeping my TA engaged and using my glute. 

8. Prone Cross Crawl-- 3x10 Keeping the TA tight while slowly moving and firing the glute. 

I am sorry these are not photos of me, but I had such a response asking to see the exercises I wanted to get the blog out! 

To answer the question the Taylor Swift can't stop asking, NO we are not out of the woods yet! I have a lot of work to do, and I will be getting more progressive training exercises in the near future.  I look forward to sharing them with you. Please feel free to post any questions you may have!