MOM BUTT! Who, What, When, Where and WHY?!

MOM BUTT! Who, What, When, Where and WHY!? 😱😩😝🍑🥞

Mamas; EVERY woman who has given birth is right here with you. If you've had a baby, you have one postpartum body thing or the other. Every pregnancy and every birth can affect a body differently. The "not-pretty" things we have trouble accepting and spend soooo much money and all of our spare energy trying to remedy--pelvic floor issues, skin elasticity changes, cellulite, stretch marks, muscular imbalances, boobs that aren't as perky as they once were. Real talk. If your postpartum booty looks a little less bubbly, there's a reason. The good news is, you don't have to live with it forever and there are many ways to improve the way your body changed post baby.

My story: Due to pregnancy hormones, I had extreme pain flare ups from a back injury I sustained during a car accident five years prior, which made moving around, sometimes just driving, an excruciating experience. Even though the very last thing I wanted to do some days during my pregnancy with my daughter was get out of bed, it was more important to me to continue to be active so that I felt I was physically strong to endure natural childbirth and have a quick recovery. SO, I did it. I lifted, I walked and sometimes ran and I taught yoga until two days before I gave birth. My goal was to get back in the gym as quickly as possible and come back even better than I was before. Two weeks postpartum I was back at it; a year postpartum and I am more happy with my body now than I ever have been. Do I still notice the differences? Yep. My hips are wider, my butt doesn't look the same and my skin in places is thinner and not as elastic as it was before baby. I spend money on things now that I never did before like hair vitamins, coffee scrub, collagen supplements, firming lotion... beauty doctor visits 😝😬. But above all this, I train differently and I've learned how to combat these changes from a movement perspective.

From an anatomical point of view, it all starts during pregnancy. We gain extra pounds that get distributed in all kinds of different places on our bodies. Mostly the front side. To compensate, our pelvis tilts forward to adjust to a new center of gravity and keep our spine aligned. Do an anterior pelvic tilt. What happens to your bum bum? The muscles get stretched funny and your glutes eventually weaken. The more preggers you get, the worse it gets. Post baby we're sitting and laying down to recover and breastfeed, and STILL holding sweet babe and full boobies on our fronts. You're losing baby weight and starting to notice. Hip flexors and hammies are getting angry and tight, upper back pain sets in...sounding familiar? Now we're a mess of imbalances and the booty department is one of them.

So, what's the solution? Remember how to connect and engage your glutes. Even when you're tired, be mindful of how you lift your child and do your laundry. Avoid exercises that train your hip flexors for a bit but DO stretch them out and give them love! Avoid sitting exercises like cycling. DO exercises that strengthen your pelvic floor, lower back and all three gluteal muscles! If you're pregnant now, you can still do exercises that prevent the muscular imbalances that cause Mom Bum before you give birth and keep it all going postpartum.

Stay tuned for my upcoming booty workout on our YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJbbwlOzKHzjJEKNZCno_zg) where I show you some exercises you can do at home to prevent and improve your new mommy bod 🤗💪🏼🍑💕!

XOXO,

Coach Elle