Work your booty!

It is no surprise how strong the female form is! Physical strength, mental endurance & emotional maturity enables us to travel through our daily challenges. And then get up the next morning to do it all over again!

I think this will never be truer for all of the women out there who are Mums. The idea of pregnancy consisting of a 9-month build-up of such varying physical changes. Not to mention all the excitement & fears of the ‘what, when, where & how to carry on with our new little beings in our arms. The heightened interaction of hormones & the way they take hold over our entire bodies. Whilst absolutely necessary for the healthy development of your little bundle of joy & to prepare your body for birth, the hormone ‘relaxin’ is the main culprit to creating a little side-effect with your backside.

Yes, you heard correctly – your bottom.

So relaxin helps prepare the uterus & cervix for giving birth by relaxing the ligaments & muscles. It does not differentiate the pelvic area (where it should focus all its energy) from the rest of your entire body (which would be nice if it left the other bits alone!). This is where some of our major muscle groups need a little more love & attention to withhold a strength that is absolutely necessary to assist us through the marathon that is labour & delivery. As it turns out this side-effect actually has a title or a label or a tag – or whatever you want to appropriately call it – but ‘Flat butt’ or perhaps ‘Mum Flat Pancake Butt’ or more commonly known as ‘Mum bum syndrome.’ Have you heard of it before? I certainly had not.

After we have allowed our bodies the time to recover following our births (however positive or daunting our experiences were) it is important to begin the slow & steady building of strength back into our derrière & awakening our post-natal posterior! If you like to have a round rump like a Kardashian – sure thing! Your booty, your choice! But strong
glutes are directly related to a strong pelvic floor. This all sits right alongside a strong core that leads to the overall stability of a strong & healthy body.

Throughout Anita’s classes, she constantly makes reference to strengthening our booty & engaging our glutes. This is to combat this precise area of concern! Whether it be that you pregnant & participating in Anita’s Fit for 2 Pregnancy exercise classes or you are a post-natal Mumma looking to regain your strength after having your baby, booty exercises should be a very necessary part of your exercise regime.

Squats, lunges, glute bridges, thrusts & leg lifts to name a few of the traditional booty burning exercises. Now insert donkey kicks, reverse rainbow lunges, superman, bicycle curls, hamstring curls, clams, toe taps or the crab walk. The range of exercises out there that engages our gluteal muscles, the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius & gluteus minimus seems endless! Anita’s Fit for 2 exercises classes include them all – and much, much more!

I love how Anita structures each one of her classes for every level of fitness! This means if you are 35 weeks into your pregnancy or 8 weeks post-natal, you’re able to participate in any one of Anita’s classes as she incorporates modifications for every exercise, consisting of varying levels of intensity. And if I could add one last little recommendation, if I may, do yourself a favour & get a Booty Band! I love using my booty band during Anita’s classes! I love the resistance they provide to challenging this particular group of muscles to engage & get the most out of each exercise.

To experience a trial week register at www.fitfor2.com.au

Written By: Cath Mum of 4