expert Q & A

Question:
Once I close my diastasis by doing your program can I go back to doing crunches?

Answer:
NO. Crunches create a diastasis or make a diastasis larger if you have one. A diastasis is caused by a forward forceful movement on the outermost abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis). When the shoulders come off the floor it is impossible to engage the transverse muscle. If you cannot engage the transverse muscle then it is going forward forcefully making the diastasis larger or creating one. Besides working the muscles in the wrong direction they also work the discs of the spine in the wrong direction.

Solution to safely increase the intensity of your abdominal work:

When doing the headlifts, bring your feet away from the buttocks. This brings the small of the back off the floor. The higher the small of the back is off the floor, the harder it is to use your abdominals to put it on the floor.

about the expert

julie tupler, RN
Executive Director, Founder
Julie Tupler, RN, was asked to teach a prenatal class at a local health club in 1987 because she was a Registered Nurse. When the women in the class found out that she was a nurse they started picking her brain about labor. In order to find out more about labor she became a childbirth educator. She realized that traditional childbirth education came at the end of the pregnancy and only prepared the mind. As in training for any athletic event, she realized you must prepare both the mind and the body. So Maternal Fitness® was conceived in October, 1990.

Julie is a Registered Nurse, NCSF Certified Trainer and a Certified Childbirth Educator. She has authored two books that quickly became a leading resource on pregnancy and postnatal recovery: Maternal Fitness®...Preparing for a Healthy Pregnancy, an Easier Labor, and a Quick Recovery and Lose Your Mummy Tummy. Julie is an Advisory Board Member of Fit Pregnancy, Alpha Moms TV, iParenting and the Women's Sports Foundation. She developed the proprietary Tupler Technique abdominal exercises and provides continuing education to numerous professionals. She is an Independent Health Council Member of The Association of Professional Team Physicians, a frequent keynote speaker and a consultant.

Julie lives in Gramercy Park with her daughter Flo.

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