Possible to not have working stomach muscle?

carissa100

If I lie on the ground on my back flat with my legs out straight in front of me I can't lift my straight legs off the ground. They just don't move. I can bend my knees like sitting in a chair and them lift them off.

I have had three C-sections previously but the last one was 2 years ago now. I am not massively overweight and jog etc.

Anyone any ideas why I cant do this and is it a muscle I can rebuild?

Thank you ;-)

arditarose

Is your back too arched? I'm sure you can do it. Are you used to regular exercise/know how the form is supposed to look for this move?

Of course you can rebuild!

carissa100

I am doing Jillian Michaels ripped dvds and can do everything other then the leg rises..... which really frustrates me. Back is flat.... it I have my legs up straight in the air too and lower then straight all the way to floor then there is a point about 30cm to the floor where suddenly I have no control and have to let them drop.

Sabine_Stroehm

It's possible to have an extremely weak core, yes.

arditarose

Oh okay, so you're starting with them up in the air? Yeah, don't worry. It's not like a super easy thing to have your legs hover 30 cm above the ground. I collapse on stuff like that sometimes too. Just gotta keep doing it and try to strengthen that area.

JTick

With three kids...is it possible you have diastasis recti? I've heard that in very bad cases, you just don't have any strength at all there and may need to be surgically repaired.

sofaking6

Actually I think that's tough for a lot of people! Start with your legs straight up in the air, then slowly lower them until your back starts to arch. (repeat etc) As you get stronger you'll be able to lower them further.

Another thing to try is holding a weight over your lower stomach when you do the leg raises, I do that and it seems to help more than it should lol!

headofphat

It might help to put your hands under your butt.