Sharing the books I read in March and if I recommend adding them to your list!
Hi friends! How are you? I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far. I’m sorry I disappeared on ya the past couple of days. Usually I’m able to get blog posts written over the weekend, but after finishing 5 days in San Diego and Disney with the girls, I wasn’t able to get it done. I’m back now, and trying to last through all of the work I’ve neglected. It was worth it; we had an amazing time and I’ll share more later this week!
For today, I wanted to share the books I read in March and if I’d recommend them. There were a couple of gold stars in the mix, including the best book I’ve read in years, and an unexpected flop.
March 2023 Book Recap
No-Risk Abs
This was a re-read from years ago, when I was postpartum with P, dealing with… a lot… and I wasn’t sure how much I’d actually retained. This book is an excellent way to reframe how you think about the core muscles and pelvic floor.
Some of her advice is different than what we commonly hear in the core and pelvic floor world. For example, she emphasizes the outer portion of the transverse abdominal muscles (under the external and internal obliques) and how they draw the belly and corset the waist from the SIDES instead of the center. She also talks about the importance of full range of motion in the ribs, when many of us tend to only focus on keeping the ribs down to reduce strain on the linea alba (the connective tissue running down the center of the core in between the rectus abdominus, which stretches to make room for the baby and can lead to diastasis recti).
She focuses on strengthening and stretching the various muscles of the core for full range of motion and optimal strength, and also provides exercises on which exercises are visceral (muscular) and skeletal. One of my favorite tips: when you’re doing deep breathing and core engagement, think about contracting the muscles moving up, like a wave, instead of down. It’s very easy to think about just bringing in the center of our core, which can actually increase abdominal pressure and pelvic floor pressure.
If you’re a fitness nerd like me, and/or if you work with postpartum or female clients in a fitness environment, I highly recommend it. 9/10
From Amazon:
An illustrated guide to the anatomy of the abdominal muscles and how to tone them successfully without injury
• Presents the 16 most effective and safest abdominal exercises for great abs
• Reveals how common ab exercises, such as crunches, can damage the spine, pelvic floor, diaphragm, and internal organs
• Offers tips to get rid of belly fat–both superficial fat and deeper visceral fat
Pre