Pelvic Anatomy — Understanding What You're About to Train

# Pelvic Anatomy — Understanding What You're About to Train

_Olga introduces the course and walks through the bones, ligaments, and muscles of the pelvis so you understand what every later exercise is actually working with._

Hi everyone! My name is Olga, and we're starting a course on diastasis and pelvic floor muscles. Before we get to the exercises, I'd like to give you a little theoretical background so you understand what we'll be working with. So, imagine our pelvis.

It consists of two bones connected in the front by the pubic symphysis, and in the back by the sacrum. This is a fusion of five bones that you can feel if you place your hand on the very lowest part of your back. The two pelvic bones form the pubic bones in front, and the iliac bones, which you can feel with your fingers. There are two crests right here.

The pubic bone is in the front. And at the bottom, if you sit like I am, or just sit on a chair, you'll feel two bumps in the center of your glutes. Your sit bones. Why do we need to know this?

When we do exercises for the pelvic floor muscles, we'll be pulling in and bringing the sit bones, pubic bone, and sacrum together, so you need to understand how it all looks. You can see it in the picture. Also, if you imagine the pelvic bones, at the bottom we have the pelvic diaphragm. It's several layers of muscle.

Imagine a dome that's positioned with a slight sag downwards. Again, the pelvic bones. And at the bottom, there's a floor. It's slightly convex downwards.

These are the pelvic floor muscles, or the pelvic diaphragm. It has very important functions. It's not just about supporting internal organs. Inside the pelvis, we have our pelvic organs.

The pelvic floor supports these organs and forms the birth canal. The muscles of the lower limbs, abs, and back all attach to the pelvis, so the pelvic floor works with all motor muscles—we can't look at it in isolation. A common mistake for those starting pelvic floor work is to only do specific exercises, like Kegels, or to use various training devices. But I want to emphasize that you'll only get results by working with your entire body.

We can't work with one muscle separately, as everything in our body is connected. Our pelvic floor muscles work together with our thoracic diaphragm. When you breathe, imagine how on the inhale our diaphragm moves down, creating intra-abdominal pressure. And on the exhale our thoracic diaphragm rises, and the cavity here expands.

And the function of our pelvic floor diaphragm depends on our thoracic diaphragm. They work together in sync. If there are breathing issues, if your upper diaphragm is tight, the load on our lower diaphragm increases. And the pelvic floor muscles will take more strain.

When these muscles—we're talking about the pelvic floor—become weak for various reasons, the load on the ligaments increases. A very common problem is the prolapse of internal organs. And when a problem like this... Becomes chronic, let's say, it can lead to uterine prolapse—quite unpleasant.

In my experience, incontinence isn't just an issue for the elderly—it can also affect women and even girls in their thirties. It can happen when running, laughing, or sneezing. Now, these muscles are quite thin. And we don't really feel them if we don't train them.

But they are muscles. And any muscle can be trained. So that's a huge plus. By training this muscle tissue, the pelvic floor, we can eliminate problems like incontinence.

The pelvic floor muscles don't just support internal organs and form the birth canal—they also connect the pelvic bones. They participate in movement along with the abs, back, and leg muscles. Like I said, It also helps retain and evacuate waste.

And we'll learn to work not just with our sphincters and urinary tract, You'll feel what it's like to control your deep muscle layers. There are three layers. The middle, the superficial, and the deep—we'll engage them all.

These are muscles we can feel on the surface, and we'll learn to do this in the first few classes. And muscles we can feel more deeply, as if we're pulling everything up. You'll definitely be able to do this too, if you practice regularly. I also want to point out that pelvic floor muscle function is lost with obesity, when weight increases.

For example, gaining 20-30 extra kilos dramatically increases the load on your pelvic floor muscles. This can also lead to unpleasant problems. For those who've already given birth, I recommend starting your workouts as soon as possible. Once your doctor gives you the okay after a C-section, or after a natural birth, you can start with simple breathing exercises on day two or three.

Don't put it off for long. Because the first six months of postpartum recovery are the most effective, and you can get much faster results. For those preparing to become a mom, I recommend doing these exercises during your pregnancy. Many of them can be done to prevent diastasis after childbirth and to avoid pelvic floor muscle problems.

I also want to explain that when we do exercises on our own, we build new neural pathways, and your muscles work in sync with your brain. When you use extra equipment, then Neurons and connections form differently. So your muscles are stimulated externally, right?

You're not doing it yourself, it's external. The same goes for massage, for example. Or there are those popular EMS workouts, where muscles contract from an electric current. So you get muscle contraction and relaxation, but your own neural pathways don't form.

That's a huge minus. So you'll only get results by training regularly. And most importantly, I want to warn you if you have a severe stage of diastasis. More than three centimeters.

If you have pelvic floor muscle issues, with regular practice you can see results in two to three months. Don't think your problem will be completely solved after two or three workouts. After the first couple of sessions, many people feel nothing, and that's normal too. Please don't get discouraged if you can't feel these muscles at all, and be sure to continue training.

That's first. Second, we don't rush. I don't recommend doing these exercises on the go—I ask you to be fully focused, give yourself these 10 minutes without distractions so you can immerse yourself in your body's sensations and do these exercises with attention. So, workout consistency is about how much time you can give yourself, preferably a little bit every day.

I also want to point out that you shouldn't try to achieve some super-result in a week—doing the workouts five times a day is totally unnecessary. Just as there can be pelvic floor weakness, there can also be hyper-tension. If you feel constant pain in your lower abdomen, or a pulling, unpleasant sensation there, I recommend you first check for muscle hypertonicity—and only your doctor can diagnose that for you. So please, listen to your body, and these exercises are contraindicated.

With hypertonicity, you need different exercises that will help relax these muscles. So in our first workout together, we'll try to identify diastasis and engage the pelvic floor. Move on to the next session, I'm sure you'll do great and I'll be waiting for your feedback.