Transverse Abdominis Workouts

Juliane_

What are some good workouts for these abs? I want to get these muscles in shape before I work on my main abs.

I hear that for Mommies this is the way to go to start correcting the abdominal diastasis.

steadyboost

I would try hanging leg raises. Here's a video of that.

http://youtu.be/G0ysNevIv0w

damie79

Do this thing called the Stomach Vaccum (and it's variations). I did these after my c section, and honestly it transformed my tummy. I've found lots of links to it, but I bet you can find it on youtube pretty easily.

dragonbug300

rotational movements of the torso will target the transverse abdominis. Don't be mistaken though: all ab exercises use all parts of the abdominal wall (lower, upper, and sides). Some just require a bit more use of one area than another.
The three easiest ones to explain are:
bicycles
side rotated crunches (lay on back, bring elbow to knee)
side crunches (starting on side, crunch up so you feel a pinch in your sides)

look up others on google. They're everywhere.

nseuell

Bump

leavinglasvegas

Here's one I learned from my physical therapist: (I hope you can understand without the pictures because my scanner is not working.)

Transverse Abdominal Activation:
Pull in belly button towards spine and then pull it in a little more. Hold for 5 seconds counting out loud, Then exhale with a "SHHHHHHHHHH" untill you are out of breath. Release and repeat up to 60 times per day.

She said that doing this 60 times per day you can easily lose two inches off your waist in 30 days. I do it when I'm at the computer, driving, just whenever I think of it. It works really well.

momogogo

Jillian Michaels says on her 30 Day SHred level 1 workout that laying on your back with legs bent then raising yuor butt off the floor is really good for that.

CharlieJimenez

The transversus abdominis muscle is activated before initiating any kind of movement that involves stabilizing the core, your body automatically compresses the abdominal region when for example you bend to pick something off the floor, etc.

Exercises that work the core (rectus abdominus - the "six-pack" muscle, the internal and external obliques and the low back muscles).

Try this workout (with your physician's approval of course):

* Warm up your body doing any kind of cardio until you reach the point of perspiration (about to sweat) - 5-10 minutes.

Repeat the following in a circuit fasion 3-4 times.
* Crunches - Lay on the floor and do abdominal crunches (10-20 repetitions). Add a medicine ball or some light weight if too easy.
* Hip Lifts - Laying on the floor knees bent at 90 degrees and feet on the floor raise your hips until you are straight , slowly return to the bottom position until your butt almost touches the floor. That's one repetition. Again, do 10-20.
* Laying rotations. Again Laying on the floor, bend your knees and raise both legs together (thighs are perpendicular to the floor and shins are parallel to the floor. Slowly rotate your legs one side until as far as you safely can, return to the center and then repeat on the other side. That's one repetition, do 10-20.

After you are done, you may add some cardio for added calorie burn.

This workout will exercise the entire core, strengthening your transverse abdominus in addition to the rest of your core, helping you to naturally deliver your baby. You can also throw in the "belly vaccum" that Damie79 mentioned as part of the circuit. Just do one, hold for 3 seconds and release, that's one rep, do 8-12.

Be sure to consult your physician before engaging in any form of exercise.

Good luck!

-Charlie

TrainingWithTonya

Here's a pic of a drawing of the abs with some sections cut out so you can see where the various things lay beneath others. The way to train specific muscles is to contract in the way the fibers lay. So, for the rectus abdominus you train with movements that move the rib cage toward the pelvic bone in order to work in line with those fibers. The transverse has the fibers going side to side, so twisting movements work it more. The obliques combine the movements of a crunch and a twist to get the diagonal for those fiber directions. Ideally, you should do some of each movement in your ab routine in order to work all of the muscles. The issue with diastasis is that the rectus abdominus separates into right and left halves, which is why the transverse work should help it by tightening up and pulling the rectus back together. A lot of people continue having problems because they focus on ab work thinking that just standard crunches or isolation work like planks and don't do anything to try and pull those muscles back together. My recommendation would be to do a well rounded program but add weight to your twisting exercises to really tighten the transverse.

Juliane_

Great responses! I read briefly through all your suggestions but I'm on my way to my kids teacher conference so I'll have to read this thoroughly tonight. I really want to pull back together that separation that occurs during pregnancy.

cmyrick75

bump!

delicatefade

This is an old post, but there is a lot of misinformation here. Wen you have a weak core, and any amount of abdominal separation, you need to be very mindful of what type of exercises you do. Crunches and planks can actually cause the separation to grow wider, and your pooch to look bigger! I found a fabulous website called Fit 2 B Us that explains it all much better than I can. They also have a huge collection of tummy safe exercises you can do to close the gap and strengthen your core.