Episode #48: Are you over-activating your pelvic floor, core and glutes?
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Audible
In this episode, Rhonda and Dayna chat about some common exercise tendencies, habits and strategies that could actually be hindering pelvic floor and core health - especially postpartum. We cover being aware of what is going on in our pelvic floor, as well as how to strengthen it and relax it!
===============================
If you liked this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness, share it with a friend, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or subscribe anywhere you listen to your podcasts!
PODCAST LINKS & RESOURCES:
🔹 We’ve learned so much from Antony Lo (The Physio Detective)
🔹 Check out Rhonda’s BRAND NEW SOLO TIER of the Strong at Home Membership!
🔹 Pelvic Health and Fitness Podcast
SHOW NOTES:
(0:52) - What we are talking about, today!
(3:22) - What is skipped, pelvic floor-wise, in physio school
(5:15) - Why over-activating your core may be making your symptoms worse
(7:15) - It’s a hard sell to get people to let go of tension in their pelvic floor
(9:08) - What holding tension in our tummies does to our core
(11:38) - Get curious in changing the amount of overactivation throughout the day
(12:56) - The idea of “Tension to Task”
(14:00) - The goal of checking in with yourself and relaxing the tension in your body
(15:18) - Over-cuing people with tension and 100% kegels in exercise
(16:25) - Do we keep doing kegels long-term?
(19:24) - The idea to “Spread the Load”
(20:15) - We do NOT need to squeeze our bums for max contraction
(24:40) - To all of the Type A, perfectionists out there…
(26:27) - On breath holding
(28:22) - The changes Rhonda is noticing being in tune as she gets back into Olympic weightlifting
(29:15) - Your cycle can change symptoms for some people
(31:15) - Wrap up
-
Episode #48: Are you over-activating your pelvic floor, core and glutes?
We're excited to have you join us for this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness. I'm Dayna Morellato, Mom, Orthopedic and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist. And I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, Mom, Orthopedic Physiotherapist and Pre Postnatal Fitness Coach. On this show, we have open and honest conversations about all phases of motherhood, including fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between.
We also provide helpful education and information on fitness, the pelvic floor, and many aspects of women's health, including physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Please remember as you listen to this podcast that this is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical conditions. Please contact your medical provider if you have specific questions or concerns.
Thanks so much for joining us. Grab a cup of coffee. Or wine. And enjoy!
Hey, welcome to the pelvic health and fitness podcast, Dayna and Rhonda here today. And we are going to chat a little bit about some common exercise mistakes. Mistakes might seem drastic, but some sort of common exercise tendencies or habits, strategies that people have during exercise in general, but certainly pregnancy postpartum that could act actually be hindering a pelvic floor or core health.
Yep. Um, I think this is something I definitely learned and I've talked about this on the podcast that yeah, being aware kind of what, what is going on in our pelvic floor and what it feels like to do a Kegel, what it feels like to relax our pelvic floor starting with that awareness piece is always so important.
So I don't know if you felt this Dayna, but like, even I actually just said this to a client this week. So even as a physio, we, a lot of people assume we would know about the pelvic floor and we would know, you know, we would be in tune with our pelvic floor. Um, but yes, even as a former athlete, where I was very quite in tune with my body, I'm now learning.
I wasn't that in tune with my body. I thought I was, but, um, just recognizing the fact that I had no idea what my pelvic floor was or felt like, or what it's supposed to feel like or what it's supposed to do. Um, so yeah, learning, bringing that awareness to my pelvic floor was like a huge part of the piece for me.
Absolutely. I think, yeah, for sure. When you think about any movement, a squat, Um, back handspring in gymnastics, you know, any sort of sport that you play, those are considered motor programs, right? Like our brain and our muscles have developed the skill to sort of coordinate that movement. But if you don't practice that skill, then that motor program doesn't strengthen for me.
You know, I don't really know how to hit a baseball, right? Like that's not something that I've ever really practiced in my life, but I can kick a soccer ball relatively well. I can do squats and deadlifts and things like that. Those are ones that I've practiced. And I think it is even more basic than that, right?
Our pelvic floor, especially because the messaging that we get. Has always been kegels always contract. It can feel very foreign to let go of tension in your pelvic floor or your core, which we're going to sort of get into a little bit more as we go through. So I think, yes, it's just, just because we have a little bit more anatomical knowledge as physios doesn't necessarily mean that we knew what was happening in the pelvic floor.
And as we've talked about this several times, like Listen, I love physio school. If you are some sort of association, a prof in these schools, yay physio school, but also the T spine and the pelvic floor just completely ignored. Yeah. So true. Yeah. Like the rib cage. Yeah. Yeah. And what do I spend a lot of my time treating at this stage?
The pelvis and the T spine. Yeah. So yeah, it, I remember being like, this is the neck and then there's this bit in the middle, and then there's the lumbar spine and then this bit in the middle there too. And then legs, like that's basically, I don't even remember hearing like the bit in the middle of the pelvic floor, like that was just like a no man's land.
Yeah, it was in, it was in the textbook for sure. I don't, was it okay up there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it was sort of like, you know, and, and seriously, there was a, there was an elective, a women's health elective. Yeah. And I think back to it now, and I've mentioned this on the podcast. I saw that elective and I was like, no way am I going in that direction?
Yeah, same. Um, I didn't, honestly didn't even like consider it. I was like, yeah, no, no interest. I would have, I would have just like shaken, shook my head at you if anyways, but now I obviously love it. And I think that it is so important, but the point being, you have to practice these things. In order for you to sort of be able to connect with what a contraction, what a relaxation phase feels like.
Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know, this comes down to, if you are someone that's dealing with symptoms, it takes on like a whole new layer, right? So, um, you know, when I was recovering postpartum, I've mentioned on the podcast that I dealt with prolapse symptoms. And yes, my first instinct and, you know, even by doing a bit of research, talking to a pelvic floor physio was to do Kegels.
And that is what's sold to us over and over. You know, if you've birthed a baby, you must be weak. You have to be weak because you just pushed a baby out of your vagina. Those muscles are super weak and you know, like, yeah, interesting to think about how much of that. This is a whole other topic. Radical.
Warning here. How much of that is rooted in the patriarchy? Oh my goodness. And not pleasurable and all that sort of thing. Like that's a whole rabbit hole. Honestly. Yeah. Like I think I actually read something about that, that like, I think it's Joseph Kegel or something that came up with the Kegel. That was kind of, The background of it is to tighten women's vaginas, which anyways, yes, side story.
Um, yes, but you know, then when I had actually an assessment done was found that my strength was actually very, very good. Um, my endurance needed a bit of work, but my strength was very good, but I had a really hard time. So she would say, you know, do your Kegel. Yes. Good. Okay. Now let go of that Kegel. What?
Try to relax. I am relaxing. Nope. Relax more. Oh, that's what it feels like. And so, yeah, for me, you know, again, I thought if I have an organ that's lowering into my vagina, I need to squeeze and tighten and pull it up to help that symptom feel better. No, if anything, that made my symptoms worse. And I think a lot of my symptoms came from the pelvic floor tension, not necessarily the prolapse itself.
Absolutely. And it's a hard sell as a physio, as a, you know, a coach, because if someone comes in, everybody lives in fear of prolapse, right? Or they're leaking. It is a hard sell. And I think it's probably just from messaging to get people to let it go. I've had several people who many of my clients are great.
Like they, they trust me and I, I, I don't take that for granted and they'll be like, okay, I'm going to let go of attention and they do get better. But there's always a few where they're like, well, she told me to do Kent 10 key goals. I have this feeling I'm still going to do the reverse key goals, but I'm going to do triple what she said to do key goals.
And their symptoms stay the same, or maybe even worsen. Our pelvic floor really is no different than our bicep muscle, right? Yeah. Shaking in the background. Pardon that. Um, so if you can imagine your bicep muscle carrying around your, you know, a stack of textbooks on your hand all day. That biceps working really, really hard.
If it starts to get sore, your strategy isn't generally put those books down and pick up a dumbbell and do bicep curls, right? It's usually put the stack of textbooks down and shake it out, Shake it out, stretch it, lengthen it, stretch it out. Yeah. Yeah. And as soon as we can sort of change our thinking there.
Light bulb moment. Now that's not to say there isn't situations or scenarios where that tension is happening because of weakness, or maybe you are getting sore because you are a week that can happen for sure. But I just think that's where sort of getting to know your body or checking in, if you're able with a coach or a pelvic physio to see what's going on with your muscles specifically can be really valuable.
Yeah, that's so true. And I will, you know, kind of venture into the core piece with this as well. So, you know, we talk all about the pelvic floor on this podcast, but the core is part of that core canister, diaphragm at the top, pelvic floor at the bottom, core muscles at the back, back muscles at the front, back muscles at the back.
And yes, this is also super common postpartum or just in in women's lives where somewhere along the way, we've been taught that we constantly have to squeeze our tummies, um, hold tension in our belly to have a flat tummy. Um, this also comes into play with pain as well. So if, if you're someone that has dealt with maybe chronic back pain, hip pain is a big one too.
You might have a tendency. to be gripping your belly and your glutes too. It's sort of a protective mechanism. Our body does at first to keep that area feeling safe and stable, but sometimes our body overdoes it. And then again, it's a learned behavior too. Cause maybe somewhere along the way, even a physio, you know, we're not all perfect.
Might have told you to like grip your core. If you're having back pain. But that, you know, is not a great long term strategy because that tension, similar to the pelvic floor example, if we're always tensioning and holding, uh, tension in our belly, that's not going to feel great over time. Those muscles fatigue, they can't do their job in that good way of being able to like fully relax and then contract.
So they're not actually supporting you as well as you think they are. If you're always gripping them. Absolutely. And yeah, the, and a common thing that I get to, especially postpartum when your abdominal wall is healing, a lot of us maybe feel some sort of way about how our abdominals look, or we want to have that flat tummy and bounce back.
Ew. My mouth a little bit. Um, we tend to have that tendency to pull in, or maybe it isn't that we want to look thinner. It just feels more secure. That's also valid. Um, A lot of people will come and say, my belly looks really bloated by the end of the day. And we get that sort of bowing out of the abdominal wall.
That is a tired muscle. Mm. Yeah. A tired muscle can't support your back, your pelvic floor itself as well. So yes, I think day to day. I've chatted about this before. One of the first things I get people standing in front of me, I have them, I check out their like back movement, sort of get them all loosey goosey.
And then I'll say, Kate, check in. Are you sucking your tummy in or clenching your bum right now? Yes. Nine times out of 10, I'll see one or both relax. And they look at me like, you know, where is she going with this? And then I will have people regardless of what they're coming to me for all the way from, you know, I am just here preventatively and to sort of learn about what's happening with my core to incontinence, prolapse, pain with sex, back pain, hip pain, sciatica.
I'm having people check in almost obnoxiously in the first two weeks. Check in and let it go. Check in and let it go. Link it to cues in your environment. Every time you wash your hands, change a diaper, stop at a red light because spoiler alert, you can be clenching while you're sitting as well. That's me.
Yeah. And my butt is just lifting me up. Yeah. Um, and just get curious and see if changing that amount of over activation just sort of habitually throughout your day changes your symptoms. Love it. Yeah. And it comes back to, we talk about Anthony Lowe all the time on this podcast, but his, you know, his little sayings are so, so helpful.
Tension to task. I always remind my clients about that term. So we only need to contract our muscles enough to do the job at hand. So if we are sitting and charting a big one for me is if I'm doing dishes, we don't need to be contracting basically any part of our body. More than like a one out of 10, I would say maybe even less than that because our body just naturally the muscles engage in a way to hold ourselves up without having to over activate.
So yeah, so if you are doing a body weight squat, maybe a little bit more attention might be required. If you're doing a 300 pound deadlift, yes, more attention will be required. But yes, most day to day tasks. We don't need to be contracting our glutes, our belly, our pelvic floor, our traps is a big one, right?
Like we don't need to be excessively gripping and contracting those muscles more than like a two out of 10 for most things, which is so important day to day for this overall core canister health. So it can reduce low back pain. If we can just have those muscles relax, I should, and I always am clear about this.
The goal isn't necessarily to shut it off. Some of these things are so deeply ingrained in our habits. Like for you, Rhonda, gymnast backgrounds in general, that's like very, you've been doing that since you were eight to 10 years old, right? Um, for some of us, it's maybe developed in our teen postpartum who it doesn't matter.
The goal is not to shut it off necessarily. It's just to get good at recognizing opportunities to let go of tension and give these muscles a break in your day. Yes. And we have a little bit more gas in the tank, so to speak, for when we want to strengthen or do workouts, we're not overloading that system.
And then even within exercise, maybe starting to think about some of our strategies. Right. This idea of tension to task. I, you know, I, I am a personal trainer. That's where my exercise knowledge sort of started. And, um, the training I had, and then I've done numerous fitness classes in my time, the queue, and this is not hating on the fitness industry again, cause it comes from your training.
I just. We, I think we're over queuing people. We don't have to have our belly buttons to our spine for every rep of every exercise until the end of time. Same with, yes, amen. Same with our pelvic floor, right? You know, I'm so, so grateful that the tides are turning. The pelvic floor is coming to the forefront, but yes, I think like anything, the pendulum can swing completely the opposite way where people are taught postpartum.
All right, lift your pelvic floor, lift your pelvic floor, lift your pelvic floor with every rep of everything that they're doing. And again, yes, there is a time and a place. We are not saying Kegels are terrible and never to do a Kegel. This is part of the rehab, but our body is so smart and so resilient and so adaptable.
Again, maybe in the beginning we do need to consciously pay attention to that Kegel motion. And yes, if you're having symptoms, maybe with every squat for the first little bit, let's pay attention to if we're feeling a bit of a lift, but we, to expect someone, first of all, to be able to do that longterm, like we are busy moms.
I don't know about you, but like I dropped doing Kegels pretty quickly postpartum. Cause I'm like, I just don't have time. Um, and my body was starting to feel good. Right? So if you're asymptomatic. Um, yeah, I think you can drop that like Kegel cue with every single movement pretty quickly. And that I can't give you like an answer.
People always say like, how long should I do those? Or I can't give you that answer because it's so person dependent. And yes, have that internal assessment to see if you are doing Kegel as well. If you do have that endurance, but long term you just pay attention to your symptoms. If you're starting to feel better.
Try drop, dropping that queuing and just see how it feels. Our bodies will reach a point of automaticity. That's another anti loathing where our body will just naturally know what to do because we've kind of retrained it and it just knows what to do. Even without that retraining, it knows what to do. You might need a bit of practice to kind of feel that and get in tune with that.
But it's very smart. It's we need to give our bodies more credit. It rehabs itself a lot of ways. Yeah. And I think what's important too, is like really, like if you're sort of utilizing the core and this is where I sort of think the retraining comes in is yes, we want to feel what that contract relaxation phase feels like for the pelvic floor on its own.
And then what does it feel like when it's working as part of a system? So you say, I don't really do Kegels anymore, but if you're doing a plank. With correct technique. I'm using air quotes. If you're listening, correct. Um, you are doing a key goal, right? It's sort of just becoming part of the whole system, which is the goal.
Now, I sort of sit in the camp of. Where we might not always have to do 10 to 15 key goals every single day till the end of the time. But if you aren't are symptom free and you're someone who's just like, I'm going to see if I had got that range of motion for mobility of your pelvic floor. I also think that's warranted.
I think our whole point here is we don't want to overdo it. Yes. You don't want to overdo it in day to day life in exercise. If you're having any sort of symptom with like a deadlift, let's use a deadlift because they tend to be heavier and you have been really contracting your core. Try to soften it a little bit, try more like a breathing technique versus a breath hold or a really contracted core and see if that changes anything for you.
Or if you haven't been doing that, maybe try a little Kegel and see if that lessens your symptoms. Like I think it's a tool. That we need to use to adjust one size, contract your core, do the things. 100%. Yeah. I think that's so important. And yeah, I think this, and another Anthony Lowe thing, he says like spread the load.
So yes, if you are someone that is very focused on your pelvic floor all the time, and maybe you're symptomatic. Maybe think about when you're doing a deadlift, think about what are my feet doing? Am I planting my feet? Maybe think about what is, what are my glutes doing? Am I like lifting, using my glutes to activate, to lift this, uh, barbell or dumbbell, whatever it might be.
So spread the load. Think about, we don't always have to be hyper focused on our pelvic floor. Sometimes that actually might be detrimental. If we're too hyper focused. Yeah. What you focus on, you pay attention to and you feel right. Yeah. I mean, we've been focusing here a lot on the abdomen. I said that weird, the abdominals, the abdominals and the pelvic floor.
But I know you talk about this all the time. We sort of mentioned it briefly. The bum is another one. We do not need to have our bums squeezed on for everything to max contraction. And I think after you listen to this, you might be shocked to find how often you're doing the dishes with your glutes just clenched right on how often you're driving around.
Yeah. How often you're driving around your city with your bum clenched on, just get good at recognizing that you don't need to be doing that. You know, if you're doing a really heavy, deep squat, sure. We need our glutes on, but we don't. We don't need them clenched on under us all the time. And that can actually lead to a lot of pelvic floor tension.
It can worsen any pelvic floor symptoms. It can cause back pain, um, hip pain. It's a very common postpartum, that sort of idea of a mum bum, where we have our, our upper body sort of back behind our pelvis as we're soothing babies, bouncing, bums clenched right on. Um, those muscles get fatigued and then it can sort of flatten out our butt a little bit, right?
So, um, Mom. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And let it go. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. I think, um, just the wording to write. So I think, you know, this is another Anthony low thing that, um, I always say to my clients, you know, this stuff isn't bad. I don't want you to feel guilty that you're doing these things. Um, Let's just, our body loves variety, right?
Our lovely, our body loves a variety of movement, variety of tension, variety of positions. So many of us are just really, really good at always contracting all those body parts. Yeah. Also try to get a little bit better at letting those muscles go. Um, so yeah, don't feel like, oh my goodness, I do this all the time.
I'm a terrible human, right? No, that's not what we're saying. Um, just tune in, get conscious of it. Yeah. Be curious. Um, so yeah, along with that glute, uh, theme to do Dayna, this is something, I don't know where I was taught this. Many of us were taught this, that at the top of every squat, every deadlift to do like an extra, I wish I could like show you guys, but like an extra little like squeeze.
Yeah. Hip thrust, tuck your tailbone under like. We've all heard that at some point. And again, not to say that that's bad. It's not a bad thing, but if we're doing that with every single rep, and then we're standing that way and like so many movements in so many positions in our day involves that like tailbone tucked under bum squeezed, you know, 10 tension.
Yes. Over time that habit could lead to symptoms. If we're not, you know, noticing it. So I always say to my clients, like your glutes know what to do to stand up from a squat. We don't need to like, again, over cue and over contract to like finish the squat, literally just stand up, go down to your squat and stand up.
Your butt is already contracting. You don't need to add. An additional contraction on top of that. Yeah, you know what I find interesting and I've had this come up a couple times with clients recently, but also in the history of my career. So many people at some point have been taught by well intentioned health care professionals that their glutes don't fire.
Yeah. Glute amnesia. And how are you standing up out of a chair? Like your glutes are firing. They don't just go out to lunch, right? Like they're there, they're contracting. Maybe we need to adjust strategy. Maybe that particular portion of your glute needs some strengthening, but. I sometimes think when I have these clients in front of me that they've developed these strategies of clenching because somewhere along the line they were told it was defective.
Yeah. And that it's maybe contributing to their pain, right? Yeah. So again, when we were talking, it'd be like, none of this is like, It's not meant to make you feel like, Oh gosh, I've been doing everything wrong my whole life. It's just get curious about what your body is doing. And if you've tried something for a long time and you have symptoms, try the opposite and see what happens.
Get curious. Let go of some tension is the general name of the game, but, um, that doesn't mean that there isn't an underlying weakness, you know, but just try the opposite. Get curious. It's okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think, uh, one more point to touch on a lot of this comes down to, I always say to my clients, there's so many layers to these conversations that, um, many of us or many of the clients I have anyways, and I come from this background as well, are sort of like that type a competitive, like.
Wanna do things perfectly, like yeah, if someone gives me instructions, I'm doing it 10 outta 10 or it doesn't count. Right? And so insert Taylor Swift's anti-hero in the background. Anti-hero. Yeah. be, hi. Yeah. So how many of us, you know, some are, you know, like you just said, data along the way we're told. To squeeze our bum with every squat, to contract our pelvic floor with every squat, to squeeze our belly so that we don't have back pain.
And then how many of us take that and run and say, okay, I'm going to do 10 all the time. And look at me go. I'm like, you know, a straight A student, I'm doing everything perfectly. And maybe even unconsciously and unconsciously true, right. Because we're such high achievers that we have to do it 10 out of 10.
Um, so yeah, I just remind my clients, you know, if I'm. Giving you these cues. Yes. Aim for two out of 10. Aim to be a subpar student on this task. D for degree. Um, also I think too, like, yeah, we're talking about our glutes shut off or, you know, you have back pain because you have a weak core. That's another one, which can happen, but my argument is just, is it truly weak or is it tired because you never shut it off?
Right. Yeah, some things, some things to think about. I think that's all of the things I had down, Dayna. Any pointers you missed? I think we, we got back into some of them, just sort of. One of the things that I always comes up here and there is breath holding rather than breathing or like really focusing on a breath hold for heavy lifts.
And I think it just comes down to a variety and matching that tension to your task. If you're breath holding every single time you lift baby out of the crib, And you have symptoms. Maybe we want to try to change that in terms of that pressurization. In general, when we breathe out, we get this lovely, nice up and in drawing of our pelvic floor and our abdominal wall, this gentle contraction that our body's good at.
And so for I, I believe that for most of our tasks day to day, and certainly with a lot of exercise. That's probably the more appropriate load strategy. Breath hold has its time and place, but I think a lot of us are pumping out 10 squats without taking a breath in. 100%. Yeah, I want 100 percent noticed that for myself coming from a CrossFit background and again, well intentioned coaches.
I remember someone teaching me that even if you're holding a dowel, which is like a practice bar. You should be doing it the same as if it's a 300 pound squat, because they want you to practice like good form, good technique. I understand what they were getting at, but again, me type a, all right, I'm going to be, I'm holding a stick and I'm like, everything's squeezed and I'm going to hold my breath.
I'm going to do a squat. And like, look at me go, like my veins are sticking out of my neck as I do that. Right? Like I'm holding a stick that weighs nothing. So yeah, I took that and ran with it. And so for someone like me and many of us. Yes. Yes. Like practice good form that yes, that's a thing, but yeah, if we don't need to do 10 out of 10 contraction, wind up everything, if we're doing a squat with a stick that we just don't need that.
And this has been interesting for me. I'm getting back into Olympic weightlifting. And so it's been really cool actually to kind of like just notice and pay attention now that I am more in tune. Um, I would notice with some reps feeling just like a little bit of tension in my bum, like nothing crazy. And again, it's like, I know not to be afraid of that.
It's just information. And so for me, yeah, I have to really focus on, I have done like a little bit of a breath hold technique, but I find if I'm like exhaling, as I'm coming out of a squat, that feels good for my pelvic floor and like my bum. And so, yeah, that might change as I get heavier, but for now, focusing on that exhale really does help.
Yeah, it might, it might change as you get, Oh gosh, I just feel like there's so many routes we could go down here, but to keep this concise also, it might change along your cycle. And I tell, I talk about people are talk about this all the time with people like, you know, runners, heavyweight lifters, whatever way you want to swing it, we are hormonal creatures.
And so we are, you know, as you know, If you're getting a cycle, we're sort of at the whim of these ups and downs in our cycle, and that can change symptoms for some people. Like for me personally, I'm not really, I'm not, okay, guys, I run three, three and a half kilometers. Sometimes certainly not in the blizzard that London, Ontario is currently having today.
I'm a fair weather runner, but when I am running, I'm not running in the first or the last two days before my period, or certainly the first two days of my period, everything feels heavy. Running is not supportive to me. I can weightlift that feels okay. Um, but running's just not my jam in that time. And so I think yes, all of these strategies.
And then if you're finding like, Hey, Dayna and Rhonda had this podcast and they told me to let go of tension. It helped a little bit, but then my period came and blew it out of the water. Start mapping these things on your cycle too. It's kind of interesting to, you might find that different strategies work at different times.
Yeah, and it just might mean like I know for me, you know, I weightlift once a week every week regardless of my cycle and I think I just know that yeah, I might have a bit more symptoms in and around my period and just remove the fear in those moments, right? Like, yeah. I'm a little bit more symptomatic.
I'm not doing damage to my body. Again, my body's just maybe reached its capacity a little bit sooner. That's okay. Maybe I spend a little bit more time doing some down training on those days. Straight, you know, do some good hip mobility, some good stretches, and that tends to settle my pelvic floor down.
So that's the thing too, right? Like no fear mongering. If you want to continue exercising during your period, even if you have symptoms, that is okay. Maybe just modify how you're doing it. Add some relaxation, whatever you need to do to feel good. No. Yeah, for sure. Do whatever you need to do to feel good.
How about we end with that sentiment and that thing that you might need to do is actually let go of tension. Yes. Give it a try right now. Ready? Deep breath. Let go. I was totally squeezing my bum. Me too.
Thanks for listening to today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. If you liked what you heard, we would love if you could share this with a friend, leave us a review or subscribe to anywhere that you listen to your podcasts.
Thanks for being here.
