Читать книгу An Unfit Mother: How to get your Health, Shape and Sanity back after Childbirth - Kate Cook - Страница 28

What it does: Imagine that at the bottom of your stomach there is a hammock-shaped muscle that is holding everything up—boy, has it gone a bit saggy after all that’s been sitting in it for the last few months. This exercise is therefore designed to help tone up the pelvic floor muscle, or that hammock. Don’t do this exercise when you are really having a pee as you could give yourself an infection, but you could do it after you are done—just sit there for 10 seconds longer and give them a squeeze. Try a sticky note on the loo paper holder.

What you need: A mat or towel.

1 First, to identify the muscle, imagine you are sitting on the loo and you want to stop peeing—the one you are squeezing right now is your pelvic floor.

2 Lie face up on the mat with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Keep your head and shoulders on the floor and put your arms by your sides, with palms facing down. You can also do this exercise while standing up.

3 Squeeze your pelvic floor muscle. Hold for a count of 10 seconds, then release.

4 Do this 12 times. Rest and then get on with another 12.

As many as one in three women suffer from stress incontinence after childbirth as a result of their hammock swinging low and loose. So if for no other reason, that’s surely a motivator. This exercise helps that not-knowing-if-you’re-going-to-get-the-key-in-the lock-in-time panic. And when you can even begin to think about it, it helps your sex life, too.