Pelvic floor and weight lifting

Ever since I first learned about core conditioning (probably at OSU in the late 90s) it made a lot of sense to me; however, I always thought something was missing. I thought that the "bottom of the core" was getting ignored, at least in the courses I was taking. No one ever said the word vagina or anus in lecture.

So, for the last half of my career I have been delving into this topic and found it a CRUCIAL missing link in MOST exercise programs, especially for women.

What does this have to do with the GI Jane experiment?

Activities that sharply increase intra-abdominal pressure can weaken the pelvic floor (pf). For the last years I have been sticking to low to mid intensity exercise so this hasn't been an issue especially since I do a lot of kegels and hypo-pressive abdominals and my core and pelvic floor are in good shape.

Well, doing all this heavy lifting with the GI Jane training, I notice the pressure. The last time I did this type of training was in the years prior to gaining this level of consciousness of my pf. Now with the better connection to my body I am really noticing this. It is quite incredible! With dead lifts and squats especially I notice the downward pressure on the pf. Before any lifts I always activate the whole core including the pf to protect it, but I can still see how this type of activity over time can wreck havoc on a woman's body! And imagine women who do intense training without a healthy and strong pf!

The solution:

1. Make sure you have (re)trained your entire core including the pelvic floor before engaging in activities that greatly increase the intra-abdominal pressure (running, weight lifting, golfing, aerobics, tennis, etc.)
2. If engaging in these activities, be sure to do diaphragmatic suction exercises after the sessions to counteract the heavy-duty downward pressure on the pelvic floor.
   

So, at the end of each GI Jane workout, I do a minimum of 10 of these hypo-pressure exercises to help out my pelvic floor and avoid problems in the future. Interestingly my hypos are super strong after the training!