Helping is Healing

Who NEEDS Surgery? Do I? Do I have a “functional” core?  I am alive with minimal athletic restrictions and doing well at the gym. However, what implications would there be 30 years from now? Would it be healthy to have my organs unsupported my whole life? Insurance apparently believes I am fine and that I should just get my hernia repaired since the rest is purely “cosmetic.”  However, my number one reason for getting surgery is function and long-term health, not ascetics. Don’t get me wrong, I do NOT want to look like this.    But, hypothetically, if I had this surgery and could never CrossFit again... I would take the way this stomach looks now over that scenario in a heartbeat. Even though surgery seems like the obvious answer in my case, it still isn’t an easy decision because there is so much unknown about my recovery and little guidance in the world about it. Brianna Battles is getting the same surgery for her long-term health, an...

Here are the 3 Golden Rules that you need to know before returning to the gym, Yoga, CrossFit, Stroller Strides, Pilates, OrangeTheory, Zumba, home DVD workouts, running, weightlifting, bootcamp, spin class, or any other fitness routine after having a baby. This is the information that I wish I had after having my first son. I felt “fine” and came back slowly, but I didn’t understand the complexities of the postpartum body like I do now. I thought since I waited a full 8 weeks and eased back into my workouts that I was being smart. However, because I was never assessed by a pelvic floor physical therapist, I had no idea that my stomach muscles and fascia were extremely dysfunctional (Diastasis Recti), so I continued to make myself worse and had to learn these 3 rules the hard way. 1 .Give your body time to heal and adjust, no matter your previous level of fitness. After birth, our bodies are bleeding, our organs are moving and resetting, our stomach muscles...