FIX that pain, says Katy Bowman

If you are one of my female clients and friends, you have probably heard of Katy Bowman. She is the lady who says ''alignment'' more times per day than you can say ''I'', she is your inspiration to kick your high heels, and probably the reason you don't have sneeze-pee after your baby arrived! Did her education make me a better personal trainer, did my pregnant and recovering moms experience better health...yes, yes and yes!  Am I looking forward to studying with her soon? You bet!

I am sharing a recent blog post that she published on Aligned and Well, which hits the heart of our physical challenges - why is it that when we have a physical problem, relating to pain, we do little to fix it, find all sorts of excuses, and ultimately, end up having to endure severe pain and discomfort, when we could have done something before it was too late. How do your thoughts challenge the process of pain management? How do you fix your pain and conquer your limiting beliefs?

Find the answers from Katy, below.

This morning there was a great question on our Aligned and Well Facebook page:

I’m active in a pregnancy group here on Facebook, and it’s so sad to hear all these women having problems with pelvic pain, leaking urine and even prolapse. They think it’s normal and just something they have to live with. I keep posting about your exercises, but can’t seem to get through to them. Does the idea of healing yourself with exercise and alignment perhaps sound too good to be true?

In 1975 two researchers (Becker and Maiman) developed something called the Health Belief Model (HBM). They suggested that the likelihood of someone adopting a behavior that would prevent or correct some disease or physical issue depended on two things. And, don’t worry. I’ll tell you what those are two things are.

And in case you are wondering that I am some sort of information freakazoid, let me introduce you to a little garage sale find called Advances in Exercise Adherence (pictured here, with my baby, and he simultaneously reads and plays in the trash).

This little textbook cost me a whopping three bucks. You never know what treasures are lying around other people’s houses. Which makes me sound a bit like a Klepto. No judgments on my klepto readers. I like shiny things too.

So, applying the HBM to your question, a woman would need two things to be motivated enough to follow your advice on alignment and the pelvic floor. She would need to:
1. believe that she had a personal vulnerability to PFD (or SI or hip pain) and
2. believe that the consequence of these conditions would be severe.

The first isn’t typically an issue because chances are, if they’re reading your posts (or mine) they already have an issue. There’s not a lot of wondering if they’re going to have PFD someday — someday is today.

The severity of the issue is more challenging. I don’t think that women understand that a little PFD now means a whole lot of PFD later.

I write until I’m blue in the, uh, fingers, that if you have a little PF issue now — perhaps a bit of a sneeze-pee — that in the not-to-distant future, your organs will be falling out. Your hips will need replacing. Your knees will need replacing. Your SI joint will wobble around and push on your sciatic nerve. Your toes will go numb. Your lumbar spine will degenerate. Your organs will need to be removed. Your vaginal delivery will likely turn into a cesarean.

When I read the above paragraph, I feel like a bad person because it sounds mean or something, right? I don’t say it because I’m trying to make money. I don’t say it because I’m trying to make you anymore tense than you already are. I say it because somebody has to. Somebody has to start saying that the way you are using your body is making you sick. And it will make you sick in the future. And it is your job — not mine — to hear it, and to take action.

I’ve just decided that the theme of 2012 is Personal Responsibility. Oh, and Upper Body Strength. Which reminds me that I need to go hang from my indoor monkey bars for three minutes before I spend anymore time on this post.

Ok, I’m back. And buff. And definitely in that order.

Now that I’ve explained the Human Belief Model, I need to add some more info. Cuz you see, the HBM is not really that complete. It turns out that many people know that they need to get exercise to avoid dying. They believe that they will die if they don’t do it. Yet they still don’t do it. And, we don’t even have to go to the extreme of dying from something. Most of you, dear readers, have some ailment that I’ve given you an ExRx or info to follow and you still don’t really comply with a regularity that matches your desire to no longer have Issue X. Well, not you, who is shaking your head right now and saying “not me, I follow your advice to a T.” I’m not talking about you. You used to sit in the front row of the class, didn’t you?

So why is it that we can’t seem to manage to execute the behaviors what we desire to? Enter the Self-Efficacy Theory. This 1977 theory (ha, I was born just before this came out) states that “all behavioral changes are mediated by a cognitive mechanism of perceived efficacy” — which is a lot of fancy words to say that you have to believe that you can perform the recommended behavior.

I like the word believe, because as a science-type (you know, all boring and math and lists and bad at art and no passion and left-brain and black and white and I don’t see in color and I can’t really taste food and my life is very straight and adventureless) I don’t really know what it means. Yet, I’ll bet that you, like me, know what it feels like to be 100% on board with what you believe.

Here are some indicators that might help you identify a lower level of self-efficacy:
“I’m afraid that I’m not doing it right”
“If I can’t do it 100% then I don’t feel good doing it at all”
“I’ve TRIED that healthy thing before and I couldn’t do it”
“My attempts at health have failed in the past”
“I’m not that coordinated”
“I’ve always had this ______”

Sound familiar?

Your belief system, especially your ability to physically do something, is learned from your personal experiences as well as the good and bad experiences of those you model (parents, peer group, etc.).

The Self Efficacy Theory has been researched and is believed to be the most successful in explaining habitual exercise behavior. Which is a lot of fancy words that says even if your organs are falling out and your hips hurt so badly that you can no longer walk, and even if you thought that them falling out would kill you (good news: it won’t) you STILL wouldn’t spend a couple hours a day doing your exercises and make a standing work station and give up your heeled shoes and value your health enough to really invest in it because you don’t believe that you can change.

And therein lies the problem. It doesn’t matter how many solutions you post, or how many blog posts I write and emails I answer. The steps toward repairing (anything) need to be taken by them, your readers. They have to value the repair more than you do. And that’s tough, because you’re excited and following it and posting about it because you’ve chosen to help others. They’re reading your FB posts as something to fill extra time and aren’t necessarily looking for answers — just interaction, which are two fundamentally different things. Interaction is often mistaken for taking action.

Then, original poster, there could be the other issue too — that they totally believe in themselves and just don’t believe what you are posting. The prevailing notion that our body injuries are a result of a single incident, and not the slow accumulation of micro-damage, makes it very difficult to even begin understanding our ailments.

In other words:

If asked, by a health practitioner, to explain how your back went out, you are much more likely to explain: “I was moving a 40-pound bag of cement up 27 flights of stairs,” than you are to say: “I’ve sat in a chair for 10 hours a day for, oh, I don’t know, 17 years, and then I’ve been under a lot of emotional stress too, when I used my body for a huge athletic feat with no training program whatsoever.”

In other other words:

We have an inexcusable lack of knowledge regarding our own function, and the inability to see that What We’ve Been Doing is what has led, directly, to the ailment you have now.

So, maybe they think you are spending your valuable and precious time posting nonsense. Although I believe (with the other half of my brain that’s more interesting and has a personality and passion and loves poetry and sewing and rainbows and fairies and stuff) that, if you have come here to read, or they have come to your site to read, that the material is resonating them on a cellular level. The fact that they don’t trust the info has more to do with trusting their own ability to do something with it — their efficacy.

P.S. I couldn’t post the problem without posting a solution, can I? If you feel that you might have an issue with self-efficacy, then do a little mental investigation.

1. Do you regularly interact with people who were in your household when you were growing up?

2. Do they (not you!! Do they — never you — this is about them) regularly make excuses to avoid learning or doing something new (doesn’t have to be body-related either)?

3. Even if you REALLY WANT to change something, do you have reasons that you’re not doing EVERYTHING THAT IT TAKES to make that change?

4. Even if they are *valid* reasons, write down every reason you can’t do something or didn’t do something today.

5. Do you TRULY believe that you can make something better, or are you skeptical? Give your skepticism a percentage, i.e I think that it’s PROBABLY true that I can make something better, but I’m 40% doubtful.

6. If you could only make yourself 25% better, does improving your health 25% have value to you, or if you can’t be 100% better, are you tempted to do nothing?

Once you start doing this type of research you might become aware of a more hidden efficacy issue. It’s really fun.

To find more about Katy and stay in touch with her, join the Aligned and Well Facebook page!

Childbirth as an athletic event

This post welcomes Lora, a wonderful baby girl who appeared in the world on October 25, after only 3 hours of labor! Warm and fuzzy congratulations to Nada and Stoiko! We are so happy and thrilled to have a healthy mom and baby and I am looking forward to meeting her in a couple of days!

Her mom is my client and friend and she spent her whole 9 moths of pregnancy being active and enjoying movement! We initially started working together getting Nada in shape to relieve low back pain and gain good control of posture and core stability, but in a couple of months she found out she was pregnant. At the time I was leaving for the US, so we carried on with an online program and she both did regular exercise in her home and met with one of my very talented colleagues at the gym.

To be honest, while I am absolutely aware and awake to the multiple benefits of training during pregnancy, it's not until I hear how the actual birth went, that I can say I am pleased and relieved. On the phone, Nada shared how much better she felt giving birth now, compared to giving birth a few years ago, when she wasn't physically preparing for the event. I heard the same from Milena a couple of months ago, who gave birth to her second child and said her recovery time was amazingly short and she felt way better than she expected (mind you, she is a professional figure skater, so she was in shape for her first baby, she just didn't keep her activity levels up the same way she did with the second pregnancy when we worked together).

Katie Bowman, one of the most inspiring professionals I have ever met, posted this video on Facebook a couple of days ago! Please watch it and let me know what you think! 



Other than being grateful I don't have to supervise training programs in the heavy skirt outfits these nurses in the video are wearing, I was absolutely stunned at the superb logic and program design involved. The other thing that floored me is how close to gymnastics and ballet this approach is, compared to what is conventionally included in most prenatal exercise programs. Spines are elongated, glutes are strengthened, hip mobility is promoted, and a light and almost joyful interaction with gravity and gait is present. Nothing is taken tooo seriously and there is even time for tea at the end - a celebration of training being a daily event, very much like tea time!

If your baby was a nutritionist...

...and if your baby could talk, he or she would probably look up at you and with that honestly concerned look that babies sometimes get on their faces, would probably ask one question:

"mommy, are you sure you are eating enough?''

If you are like the moms that come to me for training and nutrition advice toward or just after the end of their breastfeeding, your honest answer should be: '' I don't really know''. Yet, when I ask this question I usually hear: ''Oh yeah, I eat a lot, I eat very well.''

Most moms that come to me usually want to get back into a regular exercise routine, want to see their ''mommy tummies'' gone and still want to get rid of a few extra pounds they accumulated during pregnancy. It should be quite easy, with the right assessment and exercise prescription, to get them pretty awesome results within 12 to 16 weeks. While I sit and listen to them telling me about how they looked before they got pregnant, what they want to achieve and how fast they want it, I look for one thing that underlies that: do they have the energy to do it? Can they really add another possibly physically and mentally challenging task to their schedule, even if it's just three times a week, even if it's just 45 minutes of concentrated organized movement?

Then it's my turn to ask questions. How many hours of sleep do you get? What does your day look like? What do you do to relax? How many children do you have other than your baby/toddler? Oh yeah, you have twins? And a three year old? And your husband works out of town? Oh, you don't eat breakfast because you don't have time? But you eat lunch, right? You really like just fruit and wine for dinner, because you are watching your weight? Uh-uh.

In peace at my pc, after the interview with the mom, I get to look at a 7 day food log and enter it in a program that lets me see how many calories, grams of protein, fats, carbohydrate and fiber they get daily. And how much water. And how much estimated vitamins and minerals. There is the rare exception, when a mother really eats very well, and she has the energy to start a program, and the right attitude that will guarantee results. But here is the rest of the story.

9 times out of 10, I come upon the following:

1. A mom has no time to eat, so she normally skips breakfast, grabs various snack items to hold her through the day, such as a piece of fruit, nuts, candy, coffee with milk or a cookie. As a result she may experience mood and energy swings and feel deprived of food and the time to eat a good meal.

2. A mom will not drink enough water. Because she is too busy making sure everyone else has water. And juice. And a snack. And because if you just stopped breastfeeding, you are no longer feeling like you need to be drinking as much, so she will drink less and less than what's optimal for digestion, elimination and energy transport.

3. A mom will not have enough calories throughout the day. In fact, a significant portion of calories will come at night. When you only have one feeding opportunity, how many quality calories can you really get?

4. The same applies to protein. In fact, most moms will choose not to eat during the day, thinking it will help them lose the few extra pounds, and that leaves a small window for protein consumption. I will often see protein ranging from 20 to 40 grams a day, way under what's optimal and even way lower than the otherwise ridiculously low RDA.

5. Most moms will eat very little cooked food. They are so busy cooking for the family, they forget to cook for themselves and would rather thrive on restaurant food, fast food and snack items. They eat those faster than I can say poor nutrition.

6. Most moms won't eat enough fat, because they still believe fat makes you fat. I am the one to break it to them that calories and inappropriate food choices make you fat and that consumption of healthy fats is essential to brain and hormone function, the health of the immune system, as well as energy production and endurance. How about fewer mood swings?

I remember the last wonderful lady I consulted, who showed up to her third workout and said:
''I have been rather happy recently, and very energetic. Just two of these workouts made such a big difference!''. Of course it wasn't the workouts, she was finally eating three complete meals a day, with adequate calories and protein, after a couple of years of severe under eating. When we later discussed it, she said she had no idea she wasn't eating enough and was very surprised she could eat eggs, cheese and meats to get energy!

If you are a mom who recently stopped breastfeeding or who has a toddler, if you are looking to lose some weight and if you don't feel like you are functioning at your optimal levels, maybe you think it's just because you are tired, but you have to understand after spending months and months waking up at night, being focused on your baby's well being, and having little time for your own well being, it's very easy to think you are eating enough and resting enough, just because you are sleeping a bit more now than you used to or you are eating a little bit better (in your opinion) than you used to. You may be depriving yourself of nutrients, calories and protein without even realizing it. Before you start a program to get your flat tummy back and your muscles back to functioning (that is a whole other blog post without any mention of crunches and sit ups.), before you can even think of seeing your pre-pregnancy weight on the scale, you need to make sure you have the energy to do it. Training and fat loss require a happy attitude, the ability to perform exercise with good form and to adhere to a moderate amount of calories and do that for a long, long time. Anything that requires a long term commitment requires you have the energy to do it.

The easiest way to assess if you are eating enough is to write everything you eat and drink for 1 or two weeks. The longer, the better.

Once you are done with that, you need to be able to positively answer the following questions:

1. Am I eating three meals a day?
2. Do I get animal protein at every meal (if you are vegan/vegetarian that would mean appropriate sources of protein or protein replacements for your chosen diet)?
3. Do I get quality fats at every meal (olive oil, cream, butter, avocado, nuts)
4. Do I get fresh fruits or vegetables at every meal?
5. Am I drinking at least 10 glasses of water a day?
6. Do I tend to snack, rather than have full meals?
7. Do I have more than a couple of alcoholic drinks a week?

You will get enough insights right there to know what you are doing right and what you need to work on at the basic level. You may feel a whole lot better just getting protein, fruits and vegetables and high quality fats at every meal and by not skipping meals. Of course you can go as far as calculating calories and figuring out how many grams of protein you are eating and make adjustments from there, but for now just make sure you log and check your current habits and we can go into deeper detail later, after you have covered the basics. Just make sure if you baby asked you: '' mommy, are you eating enough?'', that you can answer: " I sure am!''

Building your home gym

I've had a few consultations recently where people tell me they have equipment at home and they usually own a pair of fixed 3 lb pink dumbbells and an incline bench for crunches. I always wonder how people think it's possible to get in decent shape with these next to nothing, and sometime even possibly dangerous pieces of equipment.

Just last night I was at a sports store, buying an adjustable dumbbell for my friend's birthday, and I saw this lady confused, trying to pick up dumbbells to take home. I asked her if she needed help and she said she doesn't know what to get. After I explained to her that adjustable dumbbells are wayy more cost effective than fixed once, she informed me she just wants to 'get in shape' and buying anything over 3 lbs is not necessary. I politely excused myself.

The convenience of training at home, especially if you are busy, or a work at home person, or a mom with a small baby on her hands, are innumerable. You don't waste time in commute, you don't have to fight for space in the gym during the busy times, and you can definitely not care what anyone thinks of your style of training. Of course, some people outgrow their home gyms, whether emotionally or physically, and they move on to the commercial gym, but wait, not yet.

At home, I personally own a set of resistance bands, a 16 kg kettlebell, and a mat. In a perfect world, a swiss ball would be a nice addition, but I do just fine with what I have, given that I normally train at a gym and I use the stuff at home to make up for a day lost in work.

Let's assume you don't own anything at home, but would like to start your home gym today.
If you are new to the world of bodyweight and total body training, you will need:

1. A mat: to comfortably lay on

2. A set of resistance bands: I recommend getting a set like this one

3. A swiss ball for your height (an inflated one should be slightly taller than your knee height)

4. A set of adjustable dumbbells. I must say that the Bowflex ones are my favorites, if the most cost ineffective.

5. A foam roller and a few tennis balls

6. A jump rope or a step to jump on

If you are a bit more advanced, installing a pull up bar and investing in a couple of kettlebells should set you on the right track for future fitness.

Of course, a home gym grows as your needs do, so start one thing at a time and build happily ever after. I would love to hear what everyone has at home beyond the bare essentials.

Some thoughts on immunity

I was asked to write an immune system diet. Funny that as I was writing it, I got sick.
God definitely has a sense of humor.

In short, the very long article said that you should try to avoid the habits and conditions that may weaken your immune system:

1. Overeating sugars. Did you know that juice, soda drinks, and foods generally rich in carbohydrate may weaken your T-cell response for up to 5 hours? If you crave the sweet taste, go for fruit, where at least you will also be getting antioxidants, too. Do not eat fruit on an empty stomach and go for 2-3 servings daily.

2. Being overweight. Did you know that the low grade inflammation that larger fat tissue causes may lead to more frequent susceptibility to colds and viruses? If you have a weight issue, go for losing 10% of your body weight before winter hits. Just make sure you do it while taking in adequate protein and essential fats.

3. Being stressed out. Stress hormones can nibble on your immune system like it's nobody's business. Disrupted sleep, over training, anger, frustration and lack of food may cause your system to tip, when it should be stable.

I kind of laughed at getting a sore throat after 2 extremely stressful days and funnily this helped me focus more on self care and self love than before, so I am grateful for this.


Here are my favorite stop the cold from developing remedies:

1. Fresh squeezed lemon/orange/grapefruit juice. Usually a piece of each fruit makes a nice cup of juice that will bathe you in plenty of Vitamin C. Drink it immediately after you feel you are getting a cold.

2. Ginger tea with lemon and honey. Take 3 slices of ginger and pour a cup of boiling water on top. Seep and then add a tablespoon of honey and some lemon juice. Wait for the tea to cool off before adding them.

3. Chicken soup. You will need a whole chicken to make the broth. Boil the chicken for 2 hours, take out of the broth and seperate the meat and the bones. Return the bones to the broth and keep cooking with a mix of vegetables. I like adding carrots, celery, onion, a little potato and parsley root. It is wonderful to let it cook for a very long time (3+ hours) and then add some fresh picked herbs on top.

4. Homeopathic medication. I find Oscilococcinum to work very well in the initial phases of a cold. Of course, the fact that it is made from duck liver would probably better remain unmentioned. It does however taste like nothing, just like all homeopathic remedies.

Off to have the chicken soup and finish cooking some amazing garlic chicken stew from what is left of the chicken meat. Look forward to pictures and a recipe later.

Meanwhile, if you want to really get ready for flu season, here are the habits and remedies to vaccinate you:



1. Get plenty of exercise and rest. If you are having a stressful time at work or are on a new training program, add half an hour to an hour of sleep to your schedule.

2. Eliminate junk from your diet and focus on good quality proteins, healthy fats, and plenty of vegetables and fruits.

3. Drink 30 ml of water for every kg of bodyweight.

4. Supplement your diet with vitamin A, E and C, zinc, magnesium and selenium. You should be able to find a good multivitamin to supply all of those and more. Invest in a fish oil supplement and add at least 1 gram of omega 3s from it daily.

5. Spend time in nature where clean air and plenty of oxygen will support your body in battling antigens.

9 Months Magazine Blog

I've been working with 9 Months Magazine for almost 2 years. I've written numerous articles on postnatal training, had amazing fun during photo shoots with babies, but more than anything, I have enjoyed lecturing to mothers and seeing them reap the results of training, feeling healthier, fitter, more energetic and looking great!

For those of you following me in Bulgarian, you can check out the blog that we started, hoping to get more moms to be active, and share their results!

http://blog.9m-bg.com/

Keep moving!

Mummy tummy time

I just spent a whole week lecturing to busy moms. They share three common issues:

1. They have no time to exercise

2. They all want to lose the baby pounds

3. They all want their flat tummies back

I have taught them ways to deal with the lack of time, exercising when baby's napping or using the stroller time in the park to get fit, and while they all try to eat healthy to lose the baby pounds, they know that a flat tummy means doing special abdominal techniques on a daily basis. But what if you are having a crazy day?

Try this simple pelvic roll:

Stand with your feet apart, and lean over with a neutral back. Inhale and as you exhale roll your pelvis forward, using your deep abdominal muscles. Hold for a count of three, go back to neutral and repeat 10-15 times. Do a few times during the day and get your flat tummy back in no time.

Baby Back Squats

The squat is the king of all lower body exercises and the wide (a.k.a. plie squat or sumo) squat is an excellent move to add to your routine if you are looking to strengthen your lower body and work on the shape of your glutes and the tightness of your inner thighs. If you are a new mom, and your baby can already sit, you can start using him or her as a weight. It's great fun for both mom and baby and it allows you to work with increasing overload as your baby grows up to allow you to make continuous improvements.

To do your first baby back squat:

1. Put baby on your shoulders and hold him or her by the hands.

2. Take a wide leg stance with feet slightly pointed out.

3. Stand up tall and take a breath into your lower abdomen, bracing your abs.

4. Lower yourself down as if you are sitting in a chair, making sure that your knees stay in line with your toes and your knee does not travel forward. It helps to imagine you are wearing ski shoes and your shin stays as vertical as possible.

5. Pause at the bottom and push yourself up through your glutes and hips, exhaling forcefully.

You can start with a few game reps, just to see how your little one reacts to them, but you can soon progress to sets of 10 or more. Take at least 45 seconds of rest between sets of 8-12 and do these in 3 to 5 sets for best results.

If you are looking to lose fat, log and revise your diet and keep moving.

KIDS' ALLERGIES AND BREASTFEEDING

A team of Bulgarian scientists is currently working on a study that is to link the chance of developing an allergy to the length or presence of breastfeeding.
The "ALLHOME" study states that 39.9% of the participants breastfed for 3 months, 27.1% breastfed between 3 and 6 months, 19.7% over 6 months and 13.3% did not breastfeed at all. 51% of mothers stated that their baby did get extra milk in hospital, whether adapted, hydrolyzed, or donors'. Preliminary data suggest that kids that were breastfed for longer than 3 months exhibit less symptoms of allergies and asthma, compared to those children that were breastfed for a shorted period or not breastfed at all.