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Hypopressives for anxiety - Annmarie's story

I started to suffer with anxiety and obviously that brings in struggling to breathe sometimes and then panic attacks and that kind of thing.

I was also struggling with putting weight on and was mindful that I needed to do some exercise - I wanted to lose weight but also had anxiety going on.

I felt like all the other kind of exercise that I did - swimming, joining the gym, walking - they just never hit the anxiety. 

So I would do them and never feel relaxed or feel calm. And then I would go t…

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I got trolled

I've been posting a lot on Facebook recently as I'm trying to raise my profile a bit

And it's obviously working as I'm reaching more people

But with that come people who aren't really a good fit for what I do

This meant that last week I got trolled on one of my videos 

It was just a simple video - showing hip circles as a way to ease out your back and hips after sitting for a while

So nothing massively fitness about it and nothing controversial

But this bloke said that if I lost some fat t…

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Pelvic Organ Prolapse Solutions

POP solutions

It's been a while since my first blog about prolapse and a few things have changed since then.  So I thought I'd do a couple of updates

There are two ways you can look at helping with POP symptoms - what can you do to prevent things getting worse and what can you do to make things better.

So first we'll look at preventing things getting worse

One of the key things with this is looking at intra abdominal pressure (IAP)

IAP is the pressure within the abdominal cavity and is reliant on the flui…

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Is is good to go barefoot?

Pregnancy Blog Banners (1)

I had a Balinese-inspired massage last week and the beginning of the ritual was to put a heated eye mask on

I then enjoyed being massaged with small and large bamboo sticks as well as with hands. 

Then the time came to roll over...

Weirdly, having an eye mask on made it really difficult for me to turn! 

That small dulling of one of my senses affected the rest of my body, especially my proprioception - where I was in space.  In the end I had to lift it off my eyes so that I felt safe to move!…

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Everything you need to know about exercise in pregnancy

exercise in pregnancy blog

This should cover all the questions I'm normally asked about exercise and pregnancy, but if you have any questions I haven't covered please ask below!

For most women, exercising during pregnancy will be of great benefit.  You should always seek the advice of your healthcare provider first, especially if you have a higher risk pregnancy or an underlying health issue.  They will then advise you on the type of exercise that is suitable for you.

All the published guidelines and benefits are based …

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Can you train your abs in early pregnancy?

abs and pregnancy blog

What do you think?  Should you work your abdominals in pregnancy?  Or are they a no-go area?  And if so, what exercises are appropriate.

When I polled people about this recently I had a varied response but most tended towards yes you should, but gently.

My answer is... it depends.

It depends what you think of as the abdominal muscles.  

For most people, it's the ones you can see - the six pack muscles. The guidelines for these muscles (the rectus abdominis) is that there should be no direct …

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Fit For Life? The Benefits of Exercise

It was my birthday last week and I think my subconscious must have been telling me something - the Facebook posts that had been catching my eye were all of elderly exercisers!

It is one of my fitness aims that I will be able to stay healthy and mobile as I age. So these older women have become my new inspiration! And the great thing is - many of them came to exercise in later life because of their health problems. So it's never too late to start!

I know a lot of people, myself included, first turn…

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