Oblique work during pregnancy
Hi Sue,
You should still work obliques during pregnancy unless you have a "diastasis" or separation of the rectus muscle ("washboard" abdominal muscle). Your doctor or midwife can check you for this separation. A certified pre/postnatal fitness instructor can also check you. Normally the 2 recti muscles are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch apart. The seam that separates the two parts is a band of connective tissue that like other connective tissue in the body is affected by the hormones of pregnancy. These hormones soften connective tissue. Long story short..... due to the baby pushing out and the softening effect of the pregnancy hormones, this seam may actually separate. It happens to many women and is no big deal. It just has an effect on how you exercise your abdominals. If you have a separation, you should not do oblique work because the oblique muscles insert on the seam and by contracting them you could actually make the separation wider! (I highly recommend "Essential Exercises for the Childbearing Year" by Elizabeth Noble. It contains more information than you'll ever want to know about the abdominals and pelvic floor muscles during and after pregnancy. Seriously, I think every pregnant woman should own a copy!)
Now, let's assume that you do not have a separation and want to exercise your obliques during your pregnancy. Along with your pelvic tilts you can add some "tail wags" to your ab routine. You are on all 4's like the pelvic tilt and you "wag your right glute" to the right and look at it and then repeat on the left. Does this make sense? You actually turn your head and look at your glute. It's kind of like a side-bend on all 4's. Let me know if you have trouble trying to figure out what I am trying to say. Cathe if you can add anything to this exercise description, I would appreciate it.
Good luck!
Sheila
