The original “shapewear”!

Girdles, Spanx, Shapewear–all designed to help “cinch you in” and make you look slimmer.

But you don’t need them!

You have a God-given “girdle” of muscles that can naturally cinch you in, support your organs, and still allow you to breathe! 😉

Not quite as pretty, but much more effective–and natural!

The abdominal muscles are so easy to relax and allow to follow the path of least resistance.  I’ve even seen young teen girls who are not activating their abs, and although they might not have any abdominal fat, it’s not just about excess fat storage.  It’s also about joint health.

As we allow our abs to relax, we affect the lower and upper back, hips, knees, ankles, feet, shoulders, arms, neck….everywhere!

When the abs aren’t doing their job, our whole body alignment gets out of kilter, causing a chain reaction of imbalanced muscles, extra weight on joints, and spinal subluxation.   Often it includes a collapsed core and dropping the ribcage, causing internal organs to have less room for optimal function.

One of the first things you can do to reverse this trend and help strengthen the abs is sit up straight!  Keep those ribs up–think of a string pulling your head up to the ceiling, elongating your spine vertically.  But don’t hunch those shoulders!

It’s important, especially for women, that we don’t injure or make things worse when we work on our tummy area.  Traditional sit-ups and crunches are not good if you can’t keep your abs activated, and they are particularly bad for those who have diastasis recti.

 When I first found T-Tapp, I didn’t do much floorwork other than Organs in Place (OIP) and Half Frogs (HFs) with the dvd that came with the book, Fit and Fabulous in Fifteen Minutes.

A year or so later I tried to do floorwork and it was HARD!  I just thought that was normal after 10 term pregnancies and letting myself get out of shape.  I started with Hit the Floor Softer, then tried Hit the Floor.  I couldn’t keep up!  Then I tried LadyBug floor and thought was easy!  I now know that that is not a good sign! :p

As I discovered that I was not activating my abs and that the floor workouts were making my diastasis worse, I stopped all floorwork, except for the OIP and HF moves.

A few years later I took a class with a trainer who had us focus on just a few floor moves.  She as well as other trainers have spoken of “staying in the muscle”.  That basically means to think about what muscle(s) are supposed to be doing the work, and don’t focus on going as far/high/fast as Teresa.  When I did that during the class, my muffin disappeared!

The past few years I’ve not done much floorwork.  The year my mom passed away, I had a hard time being consistent.  Then last year I was training for TWO and MORE, and due to my adrenal fatigue I couldn’t add other workouts.

I’m currently training to certify for Hit the Floor.  Today I did just 4 reps of all the moves, and I focused on staying in the muscle.  I also had to consult my “cheat sheet” a lot to make sure I was doing the right moves at the right time!  And I used a rolled handtowel just below the tailbone to better help me curl the core against the floor.

Just.Four.Reps.

Lots.Of.Stops.

With.A.Towel.

I am amazed that even a few hours after my workout, my abs felt worked in a good way, I was able to keep my core activated and ribs up, and my muffin (that has reappeared due to my continuing metabolic healing) was visibly smaller!

Hit the Floor Combo has Hit the Floor Softer (HTFS) which is a weighted shoe workout.  I never have used weighted shoes!  Regular Skechers are quite enough weight, thankyouverymuch!

HTFS has a little slower pace, and the moves are a bit different than Hit the Floor (HTF), but there are a lot of similarities.

HTF goes faster, and most moves have 10 reps.

I started with HTFS, and later I tackled HTF.  After understanding about staying in the muscle, I decided that I would only do a move as long as I could keep my abs activated. As soon as I lost the activation, that move was done. I reset and got ready for the next one.  There would be some moves where I only got in ONE rep!

I eventually worked up to all ten reps!  Woo-HOO!

After a few years “off”, I’m starting over–well, not quite!  Today I was able to stay activated for all 4 moves!

If you’re ready to “hit the floor” and work on those abs, and you understand it’s more important to stay in the muscle vs. doing all the reps or going as far as Teresa, why not check out the Hit the Floor Combo in the Variety Workouts section today?

Your posture, organs, joints, back and tummy will all thank you!

And when someone asks what brand of shapewear you use–you can say the “natural” one! 😉

Corset photo credit