mommy tummy

So my sister Tami and I are way excited because we are starting our Lose your Mommy Tummy class out in the HUGE 3 story Sportsplex in Orland Park - it will be our 2nd location.

Our Supervisor Deborah told us that new classes are hard to pick up participants. Well, I called up yesterday to see how many people we have in our class, and it is completely full – they only allow us to have 28 people because of the room size – with a waiting list! YEAH – this is the first time our class has had a waiting list – waiting list people have to pay just in case it goes through. Also, for our next session down the road in October, we already have a lot of people signed up.

I was stunned, and a little giddyJ It really is something I LOVE to do. Some of the things any postpartum moms out there may be interested in knowing:

*In 98% of women, your rectus abdominus splits during pregnancy creating a diastisis. It does not come together on its own.

*We have noticed in 6 class sessions, most people close at least 1 or 2 (of 3) parts of their diastisis if they come consistently.

*We have noticed that the very skinny younger moms that we have taught have THINNER abdominals than people with more weight on their bodies. In fact, in many of the really skinny moms, their rectus abdominus is like a split thin pancake in width.

*The oldest person who took our class was 72. She had 13 kids.

*The widest diastisis we have seen is 5 fingerwidths on top (3 in. above bellybutton), 6 fingerwidths in the middle (at the belly button), and 5 fingerwidths on the bottom (3 inches below the belly button)

*The people with the thickest rectus abdominus tend to have layers – for example – the deepest part of the diastisis may be 1 fingerwidth, and the surface most layer may be a 1.

*Most postpartum women have a 2 to 3 finger width gap in their diastisis.

*People that have closed their diastisis have reopened it during the 6 weeks by carrying things that were too heavy.

*The women who had the largest diastisis and the thinnest rectus abdominus tended to have back problems.

*You can do the Tupler exercises we teach within 24 hours of having a baby – and within a week if you had a C Section.

*During the 6 weeks, people tend to lose 1 to 2 inches in their waist.

*Tautness of (belly) skin is age and genetics.

*The ideal for a Postpartum women is 10 sets of Seated Tupler Exercises a day.

*You can do them anywhere because its intrinsic. As long as your don't wear a constipated look on your face from concentrating and using your muscles you can do them in line at a store, church, movie - anywhere!

*Some people pay a ton of money to take the class and never come once.

*The exercises are designed to close the diastisis, shink the waistline, tone the muscles, correct bad posture, correct back problems and increase energy

*Since initially closing all 3 parts of my diastisis, I have noticed that I reopen it by carrying things that are too heavy or jackknifing out of bed. It takes me1 class session to bring it completely back together.

*I lost 7 inches in my waist from the Tupler exercises – over 5 months (after baby #2).

*We have had pregnant women in our class who have actually CLOSED their diastisis while their stomach is growing. This helps in labor tremendously because they have full strength of their pushing muscle (the transverse)

*Crunches are terrible for a post partum woman or pregnant women. DIASTISIS CITY!

*Tami and I are the only teachers of this class for the entire south suburbs of Chicago. There may be others in Chicagoland, but I don’t know of any.

These in a nutshell are my observations and education thus far in testing and teaching literally hundreds of pregnant and postpartum women.