Alright, I have gathered a group of exercises that I especially like for hikers. I have taken care to stress hip flexors, glutes, and calves for the ascent, and quads and hamstrings for the descent. I also have two exercises listed for upper body, always being mindful of our postural exercises to hold shoulders back, helping to enhance breathing and lesson the load on the upper spine. The magic number of exercises for me is 6. It is complete, but also keeps the workout to around 20 minutes as long as you are alternating sets as … Continue Reading

I can confidently tell you that while pregnant, you can safely perform the series of Kegel exercises as coached on our Hab-It: Pelvic Floor DVD in any of the three positions demonstrated on the video. These positions include lying on your back, sitting, and standing. Although lying on your back can be contra-indicated during pregnancy due to pressure on your abdominal aorta, the two-minute segment of our Kegel sequence is sufficiently short to alleviate concern.

Today, however, I want to provide a 4th, alternate, position for those who want to avoid lying on their back altogether when doing … Continue Reading

I recently received a request to review optimal sitting posture, as one of our subscribers noted she sits quite a bit throughout her day. So let’s review…

To give your pelvic floor optimal support while sitting you want to sit on chairs that position your hips slightly higher than your knees. This takes the hamstring tension off your pelvis, allowing it to rock forward to a more neutral position with ease. In many chairs you can achieve this by sliding forward. Getting your buns to the front edge of the chair will help drop your knees down … Continue Reading

How does breathing and the diaphragm affect the pelvic floor?

Our abdominal cavity has only so much room, so as our diaphragm draws down to take in a breath, we need to learn to breathe by expanding our lower rib cage and upper chest to displace the volume that the diaphragm is taking up. If we cannot do this, then the descending diaphragm will cause an increase in abdominal pressure that will displace the pelvic floor down (although this downward displacement is natural to a certain degree). If you aren’t able to expand your lower rib cage and chest then you … Continue Reading