Exercise for prolapse

Strength training is ABSOLUTELY the way forward for anyone with prolapse.

We are told to fear movement and avoid it, but as someone that has CONQUERED prolapse and helped hundreds of other women do the same, I can tell you with absolute certainty, you need to strength train to beat this.

The question is HOW?

There are three requirements to using strength training to heal prolapse.

You MUST:

1. Harness the power of the breath-your breath is your core stability system and if you don't use it properly, your weak core will result in your pushing DOWN on your pelvic organs and OUT on your Diastasis recti.
   
   

2. Make room in the thorax. Without sufficient room in the thorax for expansion in movement and breath, we are left shoving too much pressure into the pelvic cavity, worsening existing prolapse. To get the LIFT you need, you have to make SPACE in the compartment above your pelvis, i.e. your thorax.
   
   

3. Stop trying to shed fat and instead learn how to build your body.
   Chasing the same old exercise methods and mindsets is part of what got you into this mess. If you want to overcome prolapse, then you have to ditch the diet and weightless mentalities and focus on BUILDING a stronger, better functioning body.
   Yes, that can and will involve leaning out, but in a holistic and health-promoting way. The binging, over-doing it approach to exercise results in women increasing their prolapse symptoms and sitting on the bench. The sitting out on the bench waiting for a miracle or surgery to fix everything doesn’t work either. If you want the confident and competent body of someone that is in shape, then you’ll have to try a new way that honors BETTER movement patterns, MUSCLE growth, REST and RECOVERY.

Using squats

to beat prolapse is just ONE way we strengthen the pelvic floor, quads and glutes!

If you’re ready to try a NEW thing, then it’s time for you to join Hold Up™ and conquer your prolapse!

In this program you will learn how to:

1. Exercise with and to combat prolapse for physique changes and feeling amazing in your body

2. Recover and restore after training

3. Change your mindset around your body, injury and exercise

4. Detox your liver for balanced hormones-this plays a role in your prolapse!

5. Improve your gut health-essential for better pelvic tissue, routine pooping and reduced pressure in the abdomen and pelvis
   
   And SO MUCH MORE!

Use the code SQUATS for 15% off when you sign up TODAY!
Monthly payment options available.

Heal your prolapse

Exercise, education and the essentials for overcoming prolapse!

This course is closed for enrollment

How your mouth-breathing is harming your gut and your pelvic floor

Airway health is all the rage these days with the popularity of James Nestor’s Breath and Wim Hoff’s breathing strategies, more and more people are awakening to the power of their breath.

I myself started my own airway health journey back in 2018, when I learned that my tongue was supposed to NATURALLY rest on the roof of my mouth.

Spoiler alert-it wasn’t.

As I studied breath mechanics more deeply I learned that my breathing limitations were MAJORLY contributing to my pelvic floor problems.

Yes. Mouth breathing and pelvic floor dysfunction are linked.
Mouth breathing and gut health struggles are linked.
And of course mouth breathing and pelvic organ prolapse are also linked.

Why?

Here’s the dirt on breathing.

When the tongue comfortably rests on the roof of the mouth, this signals to our nasal passages to open, making nasal breathing easier.
Breathing through the nose has NUMEROUS benefits.

• Stronger immune system and less inflammation. Nasal breathing filters our air, stopping our immune system from having to clean up all the articles we would otherwise INHALE if we were mouth breathing, hello NOSE HAIRS have a purpose! When we don’t filter particulates with our nose hairs, the junk we inhale gets lodged in our lungs and our immune systems need to clear it which keeps them too busy to do other things like clear inflammation in the body well.

• Better core and pelvic floor strength. When our tongue is on the roof of our mouth and we breathe through the nose, this signals to the diaphragm to MOVE when we breathe-if you don’t already know this, the DIAPHRAGM and the PELVIC floor move together to stabilize the torso and give you….CORE STRENGTH! So by simply pressing the tongue on the roof of your mouth when breathing you move your diaphragm and exercise your pelvic floor, it’s Better Than Kegels, which is why I made a FREE course on it.

• Improves Posture. The tongue on the roof of our mouth ALSO sets our posture. Tongue position dictates head position, think tongue on the bottom of my mouth-head falls forward, posture collapses. Tongue on the roof of the mouth keeps the head over our skeleton, neutralizes our posture AND even stabilizes our pelvis (providing we are engaging the back of the tongue as well as the front. (See pics)

• Keeps your gut health and digestion healthy. Mouth breathing is our fight or flight breath. It involves breathing INTO the chest which creates stiffness and lack of movement in our abdomen. This lack of movement slows digestion and leads to constipation, toxic build up of undigested food and can cause SIBO, bloating, cramping and overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria. Breathing through the nose is the type o breath we use when we are in the parasympathetic side of the nervous system, AKA “rest and digest”. Simply breathing through the nose and moving the diaphragm better can be a HUGE game changer for gut health issues as well as any thing else in the body mediated by the nervous system, so like EVERYTHING….

• Calms your nervous system for better sleep and less pain. Some folks have found that by simply taking my free breathing course and dialing in their nasal and diaphragmatic breathing they have been able to alleviate pelvic pain caused to Interstitial Cystitis, hypertonic pelvic floors and pelvic organ prolapse. Why? Because mouth breathing actually changes your body’s biochemistry making muscles more tense and pain more INTENSE.
  
  
  
  

Ok so hopefully by now I’ve at least SOMEWHAT convinced you that nasal breathing is worth trying.
So what can you do to get started?

Sign up for my subscription library and get access to my digital courses, ALL of which teach breath work.

dirtystrength.com

And for MORE information on how tongue and breathing habits impact your health, come and listen to a couple of my Dirty Strength Radio™ episodes on how your tongue is causing your pelvic floor problems.

The Wise Women's Circle tips for managing fevers

The wise women community features a diversity of minds, expertise and experiences.

Because I wanted a collaborative feel and experience in our community, not just a one-sided me talking at you type phenomenon, I opened up the conversation to the other women there via a new series of posts called, “Wise Women Weight In”.

This week we started with fevers with fevers!

Fevers send lots of folks to CVS, the medicine cabinet and urgent care.

But a fever is actually GOOD for the body.
Fevers are a natural part of our immune response to various experiences of the body.
Fevers help the body to not only OVERCOME a challenge, but to comeback from said challenge stronger.

Checkout this excerpt from a Dr. Tenpenny article.

“If parents understood the importance of fever and how to appropriately support their child during a fever, parents would acquire a comfort level with caring for an ill child. They would rid themselves of unnecessary stress, unnecessary doctor and emergency room visits and most of all, their child would benefit from infection-fighting fevers. The concern of parents about fever is not justified but is understandable without appropriate information. Health education to counteract “fever phobia” should be a part of routine medical care for children.

However, contrary to the reflex need to give an aspirin to make a fever stop, an elevated temperature can be an expression of the immune system working at its best. The number of white blood cells is increased and cascades of molecules to flood the blood stream, in rapid pursuit of the host’s invaders. Fever impairs the ability of bacteria and viruses to replicate, creating an inhospitable environment for the invading organisms.”

And this from Weston A. Price:

“There are numerous recorded cases of cancers going into remission when the patient contracts an infectious disease, strep being the most likely candidate to cure the patient of cancer. Strep has been used in cancer vaccines, most particularly by the surgeon John Coley, MD who reported an almost 40 percent remission rate in patients with cancer who received his cancer vaccine. In modern oncology, the tuberculosis bacillus is still used in bladder cancer as it is injected into the bladders of those with this form of cancer. In fact, some pediatricians and oncologists have postulated the modern epidemic of cancer in children as the predictable outcome of our mania for preventing fever in our children, by giving them aspirin, tylenol and anti-biotics.” -Tom Cowan, MD Weston A Price. Com

I know fevers can be scary.
My little one used to experience febrile seizures (which are creepy and weird, but not associated with any longterm health problems) which really freaked me out, but I also think this is an area where parents have been misinformed and once again disempowered, so consequently feel scared and ill-equipped.

Believing that they aren’t qualified to care for their child once the number on the thermometer begin to rise, many a parent remove their children from the safety and comfort of their home and bed and bring them somewhere bright, noisy, “germy” and loud to be medicated and inspected.

Suzanne Humphries puts it best when she says,
"Trying to smack down a fever when a child is sick is like shooting your attack dog when someone is breaking into your house." — Suzanne Humphries, MD

For more information on why the fever process is beneficial, head here.




Ok so now lets’ get to the meat and potatoes the Wise Women are weighing in and sharing their strategies for dealing with fever.
See below!

I love this post so much! I totally overused Tylenol on my oldest when he was little and my younger 3 boys have barely had it. I appreciate the wisdom of Dr. Tenpenny and Weston A. Price!
-Nora

Tofu compress on the forehead, ice cold wet socks with dry wool socks over the top at night.
I tried to always follow my daughters’ energy level and interest in activities. Food and water intake as indicators of health more than the number on the thermometer.
I also found that a spoonful of water at a time helped to keep them hydrated.

-Brenna

Check out calcium lactate and how it can help fevers. I found a chiropractor that wrote a blog about it. Pretty. cool to find out that calcium lactate is actually what the body is trying to access from your bones when it produces a fever, which is why you can be so achey.
I used it for the first time when my toddler had a 105 fever for awhile and was beginning to be very uncomfortable. It seemed to help~ Vinegar socks are another strategy and coconut water for hydration.

-Jeanette

I never give fever reducers unless the fever is sustained (longer than 6 hours) over 102 or reaches 104. I don’t call the doctor unless they’ve had a fever long than 2 days and I generally take them to the chiropractor first for almost all things. Neck adjustments for stomach issues, sinuses, ear infections and IR light for lymph nodes and sinuses as well help with no medication at all!

-Adriann

We just ride out fevers. I’ll do a lukewarm bath or cool rag if one of my boys is really uncomfortable. I”m comfortable with handling them this way now, but I still get a ton of pushback from family when I reject Tylenol.

-Rose

Uh oh, I might not shut up, Sarah, LOL! Fevers are friends. They are only a danger if there’s heat exhaustion in question. Fevers offer so many benefits especially to children. When we suppress them, we drive the illness deeper. A fever is not a symptom of illness, but rather a gift from our Abba to heal the body when there is illness present.
Hydrate with bone broth and coconut water like crazy.
Consider other symptoms that are causing discomfort.
Treat those with homeopathy.
Support the body with rest.
We diffuse and apply essential oils as well.

-Marie

There’s an old remedy of putting raw egg in socks to draw down a fever.
I found and shared it with a friend whose intent was to break the fever at the time for his daughter. I can’t speak to the wisdom of the medicine, but it seemed to work!

Not directly about fever but I just learned that cystic fibrosis could be viewed as a selection against cholera. I love seeing the intermingled webs.
-Sam

Let it ride! It isn’t always fun, but it’s one of your body’s cool DIY mechanisms.
A cool cloth to the neck until it gets uncomfortable enough.
Otherwise stay hydrated, drink electrolytes, rest and let it ride!

-Amy

I second a cool rage. I have a 5 year old with a fever recently and I just let her ride it out.

-Kayla

We are just scratching the surface here for helpful ways to manage fever and associated discomfort, but that I LOVE about this article is that it illustrates to you how MANY people are doing just that, MANAGING them and not MEDICATING them.

If you are interested in joining the Wise Women Circle, we are PRIVATE community focused on fighting fear and finding confidence in health and health maintenance using ancestral and Biblical wisdom.
You can join us here.

Trusting your body again after prolapse!

Pelvic organ prolapse is a nasty shock and will cause you to question everything you THOUGHT you knew about health and fitness while also encouraging hatred of your body.

If you don’t know me, I'm Sarah Smith, mom of three, physical and spiritual strength coach, pelvic floor specialist and PROLAPSE CONQUEROR!

I'm here to tell you with this short video series that TRUSTING your body again IS the way to conquer prolapse, BUT there's a method to earning that trust and I'm sharing my tried and true, three step process for TRUSTING your body again after prolapse!

This is Part 1 in a three part video series on how to trust your body again after being diagnosed with prolapse.

Start with Video 1 below!

To enroll in Better Than Kegels, and learn how to jumpstart your prolapse recovery training, click here!

Is your prolapse a depletion problem?

We all know that prolapse is associated with “weak” pelvic floors.
Most of you here have tried all the kegels.
Many of you have tried *breathing.
Some of you may have even worked on your **biomechanics/movement patterns in daily life and exercise.

If you HAVEN’T tried the ** strategies above those are HUGE rocks for overcoming prolapse, so file that away, we will come back to that!

But NOT many people know that prolapse is in fact a depletion issues.

When our bodies are lacking in energy, nourishment, emotional support and healing, they sink.

Yep they 100% do.

In fact, the Chinese, who have been treating prolapse since the Jin dynasty (266 AD to 420 AD) so I think they know a thing or two about it, focus PRIMARILY on treating spleen chi depletion in the body when prolapse symptoms arise.

They believe that a lifting of the energy lifts the organs and treats the underlying cause of the sinking of which we feel the musckoskeletal consequences.



And while that may sound a little “woowoo” to you, think about it.
Do your prolapse symptoms increase when you feel down, depressed, anxious, heavy from the world, slouch and sad?

I know mine does!

And so let’s talk a little bit more about the indicators that YOUR prolapse is an energy issue and NOT just a muscular one, i.e. you are struggling with depletion!


#1. You don’t sleep well.
If you’re sleeping less than 8 hours a night OR you sleep 8-9 hours a night but its disrupted, then that sleep deprivation could be contributing to your sinking feelings in your pelvic organs.
When we are well rested we are better able to detox appropriately, digest foods, repair tissues, recover from workouts etc., but we also carry our bodies differently.
We have a lifted spirit and a lifted body!

#2. You feel like you’re going to crash late afternoon OR after a workout.

Feeling SUPER low energy in the afternoon especially after a workout is an indicator that your adrenals are struggling.
Your adrenal glands are located at your kidneys and when they are not happy it can be an indicator of poor kidney health, maybe not the kind that sends you to the doctor with urinary issues, but the kind that causes an increase in prolapse problems, including incontinence.
MANY of us type A ladies grow accustomed to using adrenaline to get things done in our lives.
You know that urge to start a new project, solve someone else’s problems, do a hard workout, add more stress to our lives because when we are busy we are more productive?
Yeah, that’s bad for your prolapse-and can also cause over-tightening of the pelvic floor which is not uncommon in women with prolapse!

Spleen chi deficiency and kidney chi deficiency are two forms of energy depletion arising in the body that will absolutely manifest in prolapse issues.

We push, push, push on our bodies and even though many of us have heard about “adrenal fatigue” we don’t really

#3 You have skin and food intolerance issues.

Yes, this is linked to gut health, but if you’ve read my articles here then you know that gut health and pelvic health are 100% linked, like if you struggle with one, you most likely struggle with the other.

But in this case I would say that your liver is the kingpin for issues.
A congested liver makes it difficult for the body to remove toxins and expired hormones.
The result?

Bad skin. Bad gut. Bad hormones. Bad feelings.

Spleen chi is directly impacted by the liver as well so if your liver in working overtime either because your 1. disrupted sleep interrupts your detox cycles, 2. your stress prevents adequate digestions which creates toxicity in the body OR 3. because your life style leads to intestinal permeability (over-exercising, consuming toxins, under-resting), your prolapse is a depletion issue.

#4 You have a short fuse.

Maybe not all of the time, but if often you find yourself snapping at your kids or hubs, losing it when a glass get’s broken or just feeling so much stress and tension in your body when something goes wrong, that can be a sign you’re emotionally and energetically deplete!

You may feel that perhaps your frustrations with your body are causing you to be ill at ease and that if you could just get your body back, you would be calmer and feel more like yourself, but the truth is that a spleen that is struggling, a liver that is congested and a body that is deplete may actually be the source of your issues!

#5 Your hormones are erratic

I don’t care if it’s strong mood swings, sadness, the need to sleep, painful periods, irregular periods, STRONG emotional responses to things at certain times in your cycle, or just other common indicators of hormone imbalances, your hormones acting wacky is a sign of depletion!

When our livers are congested, they become stagnant and negatively impact the health of the spleen, gut and gall bladder.
The energy imbalance that ensues can cause tight jaws, muscle aches, headaches, sciatica and so many other issues, but the important thing to know is that hormonal imbalances almost ALWAYS indicate a liver health issue and a liver health issues means energy in the body is blocked.

Without that energy flow we sink and our organs sink with us.

What to do about it?

One of my FAVORITE aspects about God’s design for the human body is that there are MANY ways to heal, many roads in to the root cause of pain, discomfort and sub-optimal functioning.

If you’ve made it this far in the article and you’ve said, “Yes, this is me,” to any or all of these indicators, then you need SMART programming.
You need more than just kegels and core-training exercises, you need to learn how to STOP sinking!

I have an entire program designed do help women address this issue called, Hold Up!
Hold Up! is a digital course that will help you change the 5 habits behind your prolapse, address the depletion we talked about in this article and teach you how to USE EXERCISE to heal your body and CONQUER PROLAPSE.

***But before you’re ready for that program, I want you to try two things for me!

1. I want you to start practicing breathing with your diaphragm three times per day for 5-10 breaths minimum!

If you don’t know how to do that, please take my FREE digital course.
I will teach you how to breathe in the most effective way possible to start supporting and lifting your body.


What students are saying about my course:
”I feel like I’ve gotten more oxygen in these past 36 hours than I have in my whole life!” -Archi

”Makes so much sense. I have suffered from burning in the bladder for so many years. Tried so many diets, nothing has worked. Using the breath and focusing on relaxing my pelvic floor is the first time anything has worked to relieve the pain and make me regular in the mornings. Thank you Sarah, I’m so glad I have found you.” -Julie

”Single most powerful things I have done in my life!
Thanks to you and 2020 for calming my nervous system.” -Sam

It works and it will get you some early wins to help LIFT your body and support your liver, gut, hormones and nervous system to help you feel less like you’re drowning.

2. I also want you to take Epsom salt baths 3x a week to help detox the body and calm your nervous system.
BONUS points if you practice your breath IN the bath tub!

STAY tuned for Hold Up! coming soon!

In the meantime, tune into Dirty Strength Radio™ for more support, love and free coaching!

My personal benefits experienced from using an Infrared sauna and also, scientism

There are loads of articles on the benefits of infrared (IR) sauna use, but this ain’t one of them.

If you want evidence-based research on these things, then I recommend checking out the articles I link below.


THIS ARTICLE is simply about the changes I saw in my own body.

Our modern culture and obsession with “scientism” (research considered science that may or not be repeatable, scientific method-proof or without bias, aka-funded by the people that stand to make money off of the “results”.
Yes I made up that definition.

In the quest for regular folks to ONLY post “scientifically- sound” information on social media or even share it in conversation with friends, we have done something very silly and unscientific and that is we have lost an appreciation for anecdotal evidence.

A friend’s or trusted person’s testimony about their own person experience can in many cases be MORE relevant and helpful to regular folks like you and me, than a peer-reviewed journal articles conducted by strangers, on strangers.

YES we have to be discerning and responsible about what we believe, what we are willing to try with our own bodies and pocketbooks, but the idea that something ISN’T valid if it doesn’t have citations and footnotes from articles that let’s face it, most of the general public can’t even read and comprehend, is silly.

I’m not saying we should ignore science and or jump on every fad that comes down the pike, BUT I do believe that people’s personal stories can actually lead us to scientific discovery.
After all, all science is is people making observations about responses to changes in variable.

We are PEOPLE and we can make observations too!

In fact we regular people and our observations can drive scientific exploration and funding because science is a business.
It costs money to do science so then science needs to make money and if the public show that they are willing to pay for things, then the science will follow.

But I digress…

Ok, so SAUNA!

I have an IR sauna.
I purchased it in 2018 from High Tech Health because of their VERY low EMFs and VOCs.

I love it.

I typically sauna 3-4 times a week for 30-40 minutes.
The temperature reaches 145.

I TRY to mostly just read in the sauna, since it seems silly to buy a low EMF sauna and then BRING emfs in the sauna with you (i.e. my iPad) but I’m a human and sometimes I just want to. zone out and watch a show OR I need to do some work while I sauna and I just “kiss it up to God”-is that a thing for EMF’s? I don’t know, but I do it.

I do not plan my meals around the sauna-I MOST often sauna after dinner once the kids are in bed because that’s what I can do consistently.

And I typically drink an entire mason jar glass of water while I’m in there.


Ok, now lets get to the good part!

Why did I get an IR Sauna?

Most of you know me here as someone that values strength training, has worked hard to rehab my own pelvic floor ( I have pelvic organ prolapse ) as well as others and I LOVE supporting the gut.

I’ve learned over the years that BOTH pelvic health and gut health are tied strongly to LIVER decongestion.

A congested liver is bad for the gut and proper tissue growth.
It drains the entire system which creates a sinking of energy, organs and mood.

AND so after trying various other strategies to improve my overall health, I decided that an IR sauna was in order.
I had talked with multiple people that had explained to me how the routine gentle detox caused by an infrared sauna was just the ticket to getting their bodies to slowly release toxins in return to homeostasis.

”It has been known for decades that sweating is a wonderful way to get rid of stored chemicals, including heavy metals. In fact, a sauna is one of the detoxification procedures used in the Environmental Units in Dallas (Dr. William Rea) and North Charleston (Dr. Allan Lieberman) where the sickest of folks go to heal.” Dr. Sherry Rogers, Total Wellness, May 2000.”

What changes have I noticed from using the sauna?

1. The most noticeable change is my sensitivity to food and digestive distress
   When I purchased the sauna, despite having worked with TWO different functional medicine doctors that supposedly helped me clear out Candida and multiple parasite infections, I was still having random stomach aches, digestive issues and sensitive to various foods with no clear pattern.
   
   Just BAM for no reason I was struggling.
   
   After about 4 months of using the sauna routinely, I noticed that stopped.
   Stomach aches and digestive challenges no longer just appeared for no reason.
   I would get them, but for very specific reasons-more on that another time.
   
   I also noticed that I just wasn’t nearly as food sensitive.
   I could be less militant about avoiding certain grains and dairy because my body was cool with it.
   I didn’t go off the rails or anything, but feeling LESS fearful or stressed about food triggers relaxed me which also contributed to my reduced digestive issues.
   
   
   
   
   

2. My skin
   Before the sauna I had noticed that my back was more susceptible to breakouts. I wasn’t getting them on my face so much, but my back, so annoying!
   My acupuncturist explained to me that it’s excess heat or dampness in the body, which is ALSO associated with Candida.
   Using the sauna seemed to resolve this in about 2 months.
   
   While I do believe that sweating so much helped me to clean out my pores and clear my skin, I was pretty sure my back breaking out was a toxin/hormone/liver issue brought on my stress and Candida.
   I was lifting heavier at the time, which means more testosterone and other hormones, which means the liver has to work harder to clear out old expired hormones.
   I also wasn’t resting as much as I needed too, too much life in the sympathetic and not enough parasympathetic.
   AND I knew I had tested with some high levels of Candia multiple times.
   
   Since we know that sauna helps to gently detoxify the body especially of heavy metals and toxins associated with liver congestion and Candida, I’m not surprised that using it for a couple of months cleared my skin.
   Learning to value the process of resting and detoxifying the body because I saw the value of it via the sauna, ALSO contributed to my shifting my training program and expectations for my body that no doubt helped with toxin load as well!
   
   
   
   
   

3. Soreness
   
   I pretty much sauna every day that I train and I’m now rarely very sore from a workout.
   Keep in mind that being sore from EVERY workout is not normal.
   It can be a sign of over-training, so if you’re reading this and you do experience lots of soreness form every workout, I would recommend getting with a professional that can take a second look at your training program and make sure you are getting adequate rest and recovery-a MUST for good gains and results.
   
   But yeah, there are workouts that I do that challenge my body in a new way and I expect to be sore from it and it’s just not the case if I sauna and I usually do.
   
   
   
   
   
   

4. Sleep
   
   When I first started with the sauna it would knock me out.
   
   I would sauna, shower and get in bed and pass out and sleep the entire night.
   And that was mostly the case for months.
   
   I don’t notice that as much any more.
   My body has adapted to the sauna and I think I have also caught up on a lot of MUCH needed sleep.
   I don't pass out and I may wake up from time to time, but in the beginning when I was probably severely sleep-deprived after a sauna sesh, I was ZONKED!
   
   I typically sleep 10 hours a night now, but if you are someone that struggles to fall asleep and stay asleep, I tell ya, try the IR sauna-just don’t bring your blue light screen in there with you which will wake you up!
   
   
   
   
   

5. Sickness
   
   If any of us (my husband or one of my three boys) feel under the weather, run down or like we are fighting something but are neither dehydrated or nauseous, we do the sauna.
   
   My boys (10, 8 and 5) do abbreviated sessions at lower temperatures and MAN it’s remarkable.
   They rarely get sick as it is, but when they feel a little run down, we put them in there for about 15-20 minutes and not only do they sleep harder, but they don’t get sick!

   
   Same goes for my husband and I.
   Any indication that we are not feeling well or are fighting something off, we get in the sauna and we don’t get sick, Praise the Lord!
   
   **I will say, having this baby over the past year (2020) has been a HUGE blessing.
   I totally trust in our immune systems and the decisions we’ve made/work we do in this household to invest in, exercise and protect them and to me having an IR sauna is part of our prevention program at the Smith household!
   
   
   
   
   
   Ok well, in the words of the great Levar Burton, “Don’t take my word for it, find out for yourself!”
   Get in a sauna!
   
   Many cities have IR sauna and cryotherapy spas that you can join and use.
   I think the lowed model for the HighTech health sauna is about $4k or so.
   Not cheap, I get it, but when I tallied up all the money I was spending on tests and solutions for my gut health issues, I have to say that sauna has paid for itself OVER and OVER again!
   
   We know that parasite infections, Candida (and I had both detected by various tests) are connected to heavy metals in the body.
   In fact, some research shows that Candida is PROTECTIVE against heavy metal poisoning because Candida complexes with the metals in the body to render them less harmful.
   
   Using the sauna to GENTLY detox my body seemed to help me with the symptoms associated with high levels of Candida in the body AND improve the overall health of my microbiome and intestinal lining.

   
   Now for some science!
   Most of these sources are enjoyable to read and cite peer-reviewed science too!
   
   
   
   Resources on IR saunas:
   
   Mercola on sauna use for protection against disease
   Detoxify or Die
   Ten Scientifically Proven Reasons I’m Addicted To A Daily Sauna
   Candida and sauna

   Science behind heavy metal detox and sauna
   Maximize the benefits of sauna detox
   
   
   
   Sauna’s are AWESOME, but if you want to maximize the benefit of your sauna time, then take my nervous-system relaxing breath course, Better Than Kegels and literally change your body!
   
   
   “Having pelvic floor problems for about 16 years, I have tried many, many different methods for treatment and relief. Not until Sarah’s program of diaphragmatic breathing have I begun begun feel better and not had a need for daily medication to relax my pelvic floor. My new breathing practice has helped me to fall back asleep if I awaken in the night — a many years’ struggle for me.  I am a convert and true believer in her programs and so thankful to have found her!!!”

   ~Amanda ❤️ 
   
   ”It’s a miracle! I already have less pain and I haven’t been dizzy after just three days of breathing like this!”

   -R. Boer
   
   

Tap into the power of your breath

to soother your pain, digestive distress and pelvic floor problems!

Unfollow accounts and people that make you feel like you're not doing enough!

Encouragement from me to you, 

Go ahead and unfollow the things and accounts in your life that make you feel like you’re not DOING enough.

I’m not talking about the ones that INSPIRE you to do your own personal work.

I mean the ones that feel like pressure, that make you feel like as a mom, wife or woman you don’t measure up.

That’s a distraction.

Cut that crap out.

The enemy is in an all out war against women.

He has created a culture that shouts “You’re enough” while bombarding you with tons of distractions and temptations of how you actually need to be more:

organized

stylish

outgoing

fit

influencer material

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God tells us on His word:

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

NO ONE is enough.

We all need Jesus for salvation and for life-

He says, “My strength perfect in weakness.

And tells us in Philippians, we can do ALL Things THROUGH Christ who strengthens us.

But the Lord does NOT want us worrying about being like everyone else. 

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' Or 'What shall we drink?' Or 'What shall we wear? The Pagans run after three things but your Father in Heaven knows just you need them.”

Matthew 6

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. 

1 Corinthians 3:19

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's [influencer’s] house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his (Instagram-worthy) ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Exodus 20

God will convict us about things we need to change in our lives.

He will discipline us to become stronger in character and spirit, but he doesn’t do it by making us feel jealous and insufficient by worldly standards,

HE does it with the Law and with the example we have in Christ.

So do yourself a favor today-throw out the magazines, TV shows and accounts here that make you feel dissatisfied, that make you feel like you need to do MORE to feel good about yourself.

And keep the ones that give you the tools and encouragement to honor your responsibilities and do YOUR work andYOUR growth.

Episode 10 of Dirty Strength Radio has more on this idea.

I was afraid and paranoid because I was ignorant

When I look back now to my prolapse diagnosis and weird pelvic floor sensations I had after baby #3, I can see now that IGNORANCE was my biggest problem. 

I was afraid of my body and what it would do, because I was ignorant, ill-informed...in the dark...clueless. 


Everything was, 
"Is this gonna make it worse?"
or
"Am I just going to feel this way forever?"
"Do I have to just avoid putting any pressure on my pelvic floor permanently now?"
"Is it too risky to hold my baby?"
"Am I doomed to gain lots of weight and lose my fitness forever?"
"What happens next??!!" 



I thought like this because I didn't know better. 
I didn't have the information I needed to understand WHAT had happened to my body, WHY it had happened and HOW I could move past it. 


The courage I needed to live life again came from EDUCATION that empowered me and got me MOVING AGAIN.

Education helped demystify what the heck was going on with my body and why it wasn't wholly a bad thing, but a SIGN that I needed to change my habits.

Empowerment came from that education and understanding of how my female physiology functioned and how to accept/nurture it to live my life agin!

Movement helped me see that my body still was capable and competent, that I wasn't broken, that pressure in the vagina and organs falling out of my body didn't have to be my new normal....I had options and strategies. 


But I can at any moment quickly transport myself BACK to that place of fear when I forget all that I've learned about the pelvic floor, all that I know now about what it does, how to support and strengthen it, how to honor my body. 



When I was ignorant, I feared worsening prolapse, I feared surgery, I feared people finding out I had prolapse (I have to laugh at that one since now thousands of people know about it now.)

When I was ignorant, I didn't even understand really where my pelvic organs were, or how posture to poop, lift or vacuum was impacting my symptoms.....or how my Type A personality and rubbish breathing habits had been causing me trouble LONG before babies even came into the picture. 

When I was ignorant, I was afraid of all the unknowns because there were OH SO MANY!


Education is the key to moving forward.
It casts out the fear, because it removes ignorance. 

Once you're engaged in your body and get what it's doing, you can work WITH it.
You can trust yourself to move and even EXERCISE again. 
You can make INFORMED decisions about future pregnancies, physique goals, lifestyle and habits, interventions when necessary.


Kick ignorance to the curb and come and learn ALL ABOUT your pelvic floor, core and female physiology!!!

Your postpartum body and all the new sensations do NOT have to be scary.
In fact, they won't be, once you understand them and have the tools to deal with them. 


Conquering your fear and your actual pelvic floor issues starts with getting WOKE about your health.
Ignorance is the enemy.
Wisdom through education is the way forward!

Enroll in Hold Up! and use the code BODYLOVE for a discount today!

Exercise and education

Conquer your prolapse!

Learn more

Detoxing your liver to support your pelvic floor

It’s NOT uncommon for the women I work with to in addition to having pelvic organ prolapse or pelvic floor dysfunction, to ALSO struggle with poor gut health.

It’s SUPER important to address gut health if you want to experience pelvic healing, BUT you can’t TRULY heal the gut and restore health to your vital organs if you don’t ALSO address your liver.

Your liver’s job is to produce bile. Bile helps your enzymes break down fats so you can extra energy from them and prevent them from clogging the digestion process.
Livers also filter your blood and removes toxins (ahem, booze) and old expired hormones.
It also stores pieces of protein (amino acids) can synthesize fats, break down cholesterol and store sugar for energy to be used when necessary.

It’s a WONDER of an organ.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine , “stagnation of the flow of liver qi frequently disrupts emotional flow, producing feelings of frustration or anger. Conversely, these same emotions can lead to a dysfunction in the liver, resulting in an endless loop of cause and effect.” (link)

And did you know that the LIVER is a PRIMARY organ involved in your menstrual cycle?

When your liver isn’t functioning properly, emotional problems, rib pain or fullness, dizziness, headache, cramping, tendon problems, menstrual problems, jaundice, weak or blurry vision, and digestive disorders can ensue.

**Attn: pelvic floor peeps,

The liver stores blood when you’re resting and releases its to your tendons when you’re active.
When liver blood becomes limited due to congestion and stagnation in the liver, one can experience “tightness” in the tendons of the pelvic floor and throughout the body, neck, shoulders, etc.
So you can see why it’s worth devoting some attention, right?!!

Your liver is directly connected to your gut via the portal vein.

If we are suffering from gut dysbiosis, inflammation and toxin overload or toxic microorganism build up in the gut, that vein can directly transport these issues to the liver via that vein.

For example, lipid polysaccharides (toxin released in large numbers by bacteria in the gut) are one of the major culprits and that causes liver damage and inflammation in the body.

Poor liver health results in:

• hormonal imbalance

• gut health and digestion struggles

• nutrient deficiency

• muscle tightness and restricted blood flow

• low energy

• and more!

If you want to learn more about why gut health, nutrient deficiency and hormones impact the pelvic floor, then head here and here.

So what to do?

There are TONS of supplements and “cleanse diets” on the market to help “flush out” your liver and help you lose weight and I would caution you to be super discerning when they come across your path.

Many people rightfully find some of these approaches ridiculous.
After all, the liver detoxes, you don’t need to “detox” the liver.
Right??
Well, yes and no.

As I mentioned above, livers in bodies that have been struggling for a while DO in fact benefit from some support.

Individuals with adrenal fatigue, hormone imbalances, chronic gut health struggles or all three, DO in fact benefit from some liver support, when applied gently.


So today I’m sharing my THREE favorite ways for you to support your liver!


But first, who should consider trying these strategies?

1. Individuals with prolapse and pelvic floor dysfunction

2. Peeps with a history of under-eating

3. Folks with current or a history of gut health issues

4. Anyone struggling with exhaustion, depletion and lack of vitality

5. Those that take or have taken a lot of prescription medications or routinely drink alcohol

Dandelion Root Tea

I’ve talked here before about the benefits of bitters for your liver and digestion ( read here!)

Sipping on dandelion root tea throughout your day is a gentle way to detoxify your liver because it gently stimulates your liver to produce bile to help remove toxins from the body and get digestion moving again.

I’ll warn you, it kind of tastes like dirt, but then again, so does coffee.

You can purchase bags of dandelion root tea, loose tea versions OR you can simply find dandelion in your yard and make your own which is the MOST effective form of any herbal tea, IF you’re up for the challenge!

Additionally, Dandelion root is used for the treatment of muscle aches, loss of appetite, upset stomach, intestinal gas, gallstones, joint pain, eczema and bruises. It also increases urine production and serves as a laxative to increase bowel movements.

Some people use dandelion to treat infections, especially viral infections and even cancer. It’s also used as a skin toner, blood tonic and digestive tonic. (Dr. Axe)

Milk Thistle

Milk thistle is a member of the daisy family and probably my FAVORITE liver supplement. I take milk thistle nightly in the form of a pill.

It’s incredibly mild so unless you decide to start taking 3 pills a day or more, you’re not going to experience much of anything, but may start to notice some changes in liver-function related symptoms of the body.

Sleep for example improved for me when I started taking milk thistle.
Wakefulness at night, particularly waking around 3 or 4 am is often related to your liver detoxing.

Milk thistle is SO pretty and such a cool looking plant, that I’ve decided to cultivate it in my garden in order to make my own extract. But a simple over the counter supplement made by a trustworthy supplier is certainly adequate for getting started on your liver support journey!
**discuss all supplements with your healthcare provider, I am not prescribing it or diagnosing conditions. This is purely educational information.

Liver

Interestingly enough, one of the BEST things you can do for your liver is to consume LIVER.
Yeah, I’m not really a fan of the smell, taste or consistency of it, but organ meats have LONG been contributing to the health of humans on this planet and I do think it’s a shame that many of us have lost our palate for them.

Fortunately there are FREEZE-dried pill options that don’t taste or smell at all!!
And that’s more my jam.

But IF you like liver, then I would say start there.

Fried chicken livers are quite popular as is beef.
Just be sure to choose organic and or pasture fed versions.
There’s no sense in you eating the liver from an animal that is chock full of antibiotics, pesticides and herbicide from their GMO feed.

Movement and breathing

Can movement help your liver?

100%!

Your lymphatic system is part of your circulatory system but unlike the the circulatory system if doesn't have a pump like the heart, it’s pump is YOU, you’re movement and your breath!!!

It’s job is to remove toxins from the blood and help them exit the body.

The lymphatic system of the liver is not super well understood, EXCEPT that we know lack of movement and stagnation is BAD for liver function.

When you take my Breath Like A Bad Ass, It’s Bettter Than Kegels, course OR Connect Your Core and Pelvic Floor ™ you will learn how your BREATH and movement practice creates a PUMP effect that moves and massages your vital organs in your abdominal cavity, liver included!

When we stop moving and breathing fully with the diaphragm, then the lymphatic system is stalled and can become stuck, contributing to congestion of the liver.
So if you want to keep your liver healthy and functional to improve sleep, pelvic health, digestion and detoxification, you BEST move your butt AND your diaphragm!

Learn to breathe, strength train AND care for your liver all in one digital course!

Check out HOLD UP!

Conquer prolapse by getting to the root cause of your problems in one simple, self-paced digital course!

Learn more

Sarah Smith is a Functional Pelvic and Gut Health Educator Level, Strength Coach, Original Strength Pro, Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Instructor and postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and with a Masters in Soil Science and Agriculture.

She helps women feel confident, capable, content and STRONG in their bodies. As someone with pelvic organ prolapse, Sarah understands the mental and physical challenges of over-coming this condition speaks frankly about the most progressive strategies for moving forward and finding your strength IN SPITE of prolapse and pelvic floor problems!

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University.

She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, and conquer their pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis recti and gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

Sarah is a mom to three wild boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move-in a non-creepy way.

Women need different programming than men

women have different training needs than men do!

On a basic level we have different sized Type 1 and 2 muscle fibers than men do, making us better adapted at using fat for fuel than men.

We recover faster within a workout from all-out effort training than men do.

We can do lots of low rep, high weight strength training and while we will add on some bulk in the form of muscle, we MOSTLY increase the power and efficiency of our muscles.


We lose weight more slowly than men and hold on to more fat (it's how we fuel physical exercise) than they do.

Women need longer recovery periods between training than men do, because we use stored glycogen more slowly than men do.

We perform differently over the course of a month when we menstruate.

Post-menopause we lose our ability too metabolize fructose.


But I think the MOST important truth about fitness training for women is that biologically, exercise and physical ability ISN'T the body's priority.
Keeping us fertile and ready to make babies is.

And it doesn't matter if you aren't planning on becoming pregnant.
It doesn't even matter if you are past menopause.

There are biological implications to the fact that we are equipped to grow, birth and feed babies and THAT my friends means LOTS of different things for our fitness practices, but the one common theme that I have learned from studying hormones, pelvic floors, gut health and the nervous system is that all female bodies need to feel something in order to perform well and that something is

SAFETY.


If you want to ask your body to do things for you, you FIRST have to communicate to it that a it is safe.

When it doesn't feel safe, then it tells your body-"HEY, shut down the reproductive hormonal pathways and brace for stress."

The problem is that women of child-bearing age NEED all of these pathways like ovulation and menstruation to be in working order in order to respond well to exercise and training.
They are a non-negotiable, regardless of our reproductive plans and priorities.

Safety=performance
We need the body to feel safe, challenged, sure, but SAFE!

How do we do that?

Well I'll tell you how we DON'T do it.

We don't starve it.
We don't beat on it.
We don't let it sit around sedentary creating mechanical stress.
We don't fill it with alcohol and other toxins that it struggles to process.
We don't let it grow accustomed to sitting and then march it to the gym and tell it to perform like a movement-accustomed athlete.
We don't hate it.


There are LOTS of programs out there that unfortunately encourage women to do a number of these things, but mine are NOT amongst them.

In fact I see that the KEYS to helping the body feel safe in fitness and exercise are the following:

1. Calm the nervous system with effective diaphragmatic breathing BEFORE and after exercise and as often as possible.

2. Learn how the body functions well enough so that you can recognize red flags an respond to them appropriately and respectfully.

3. Value QUALITY of movement over quantity all of the time.

4. Rest and recover adequately

5. Build balanced strength and muscle


These are attributes can actions that I'd like to see you value and prioritize as well as you embark on fitness journeys today, next week, next year!

These and many other female-specific themes so happen to also shape my programming and my coaching style.



Today all the sales on my programs are ending.
So grab them NOW to get to work in a manner that repeats your unique and powerFULL female physiology!

Want to strength train?

Kettlebells For Cool Kids™ is my kettlebell instruction course that teaches you everything you need to know about training with kettlebells in a manner that honors PROPER technique, your core and pelvic floor needs (hello! women are different and we need to talk about this.Vaginas, births and hormones are game changers) and respects your BUSY schedule.

You don't need to know ANYTHING about kettlebells to do this course, but you do have to have a CAN-DO attitude and a willingness to work on skill-based training that makes you feel bad-ass.

You get 3 workouts per week ALL of which are designed to teach you the skill of training with KB's.

Oh and DON'T forget all the 90's themed PLAYLISTS!!!!

**Kettlebells For Cool Kids is for women that have been CLEARED by their pelvic floor PT for exercise and understand how to manage pressure, have neutral alignment and can lift weight without symptoms.
If that is NOT you yet, then grab Connect™ FIRST and learn how to strength train with that program.

This program is ALSO majorly on sale right now through Monday (12/2) at midnight.
Learn more here

Want to strength train, but FIRST attend to your core and pelvic floor needs?



Connect Your Core & Pelvic Floor™ is for the woman that has core and pelvic floor problems. Weakness or over-recruitment, we are addressing them BOTH.
Prolapse or leaking.
Movement is NOT off the table for you.
You just need to spend some time learning and understanding what it happening with your body now so you can work WITH it and confidently train it to be strong and powerful again OR for the first time.

You get instruction and education on re-building core and pelvic floor strength AS WELL was a movement and strength training program to get you started with your return to movement.

Learn more about Connect™ here. Enrollment AND major sale pricing go away Monday (12/2) at midnight.
Use the code HOLIDAYHEALTH
Connect Your Core and Pelvic Floor™


Not ready to grab my course but you’re hungry for MORE?

Get on my email newsletter list for lots of free goodies, info, support female fitness hacks!~

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 About Sarah…

Sarah Smith is a Functional Pelvic and Gut Health Educator Level, Strength Coach, Original Strength Pro, Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Instructor and postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and with a Masters in Soil Science and Agriculture.

She helps women feel confident, capable, content and STRONG in their bodies!

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University.

She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, and conquer their pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis recti and gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

Sarah is a mom to three wild boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move-in a non-creepy way.

Did you know these were solvable symptoms of an over-recruited pelvic floor?

Have you ever wondered why intercourse often feels burny or painful?

Or why you struggle to keep a tampon in or why it’s painful to insert?

What about spasms in your pelvis?
Painful feelings in and around the vagina?

Tailbone pain?

Constipation?

ALL of these symptoms can present together or alone and can be indicators of an “over-recruited” pelvic floor.

What does that mean?

Your pelvic floor muscles in organic pink. The magenta signify from top to bottom, your rectum, uterus and urethra attached to your bladder) Image used with permission from Pelvic Guru.

Well, basically it means that the muscles of your pelvic floor are working too hard, too often or in an imbalanced manner.
This can be due to breathing habits, nervous system stress, inflammation in the body, movement mechanics, and other stressors.

In a sense, your pelvic floor is lifted, tight, tense and it needs to relax.

In fact, your pelvic floor needs to relax and recruit, move UP and DOWN like a trampoline, all day long everyday.

That’s called “moving through its full range of motion”.

When it can’t relax, insertion of anything (tampon, etc.) will be painful.

There is also a persistent tugging on the tailbone/sacrum that can start as pain during sitting and then radiate all the way down the lef.

Elimination is also difficult. The pelvic floor needs to relax in order for stool to exit the rectum.
Without that routine relaxation that makes regularity happen, stool hangs around, becomes dry and more difficult to excrete.

I know. I know. You’ve been told that a “tight” vagina is a good thing, “strong” pelvic floors are better for sex and for not peeing your pants.

But the truth is that supple, responsive, pelvic floors that move their their full ranges of motion (recruit AND relax) are what you want for good sex, strong bodies and insurance against incontinence.

Why it’s time to take action!

Let’s be real here.
If you are dealing with ANY of the above listed symptoms, your quality of life isn’t what it could be.


I’ve worked with MANY women that shy away from becoming intimate with their spouses because they just can’t seem to enjoy sex.
They often blame themselves or on occasion, their partner’s inability to make sex enjoyable.
But either way they are avoiding sex because let’s face it, it stinks.
Which puts that aspect of the relationship in an awkward place.
I mean enjoyable sex and sustainable intimate relationships HAVE to be based on a “give and take” system.
White knuckling it and tolerating sex just to get through it even though it’s really uncomfortable and not enjoyable is just one giant problematic elephant in the room.


I also have clients that find sex can be incredibly painful and uncomfortable due to constipation.
Gas, bloating, and discomfort that is associated with constipation or sluggish elimination causes us to lose confidence in our bodies and not wish to be touched in any way.

But EVEN if you can push all that suffering aside, the truth of the matter is that your ENTIRE body relies on a healthy pelvic floor.
The pelvic floor is the BASE of your torso.
It stabilizes that body all day long every day and impacts the health of everything from your neck to your ankles.
Think of your house or apartment.
If you found out that the foundation was over-stressed and incapable of it’s job of supporting everything above, would you feel confident and safe?
Would you continue to invest in the house by say remodeling your kitchen, when you knew at any time you could have MAJOR support and balance problems?

The longer pelvic floor problems persist the more likely it is that you will begin to experience problems up and downstream from them.
Shoulder injuries, foot pain, ankle and knee issues can ALL stem from a torso that’s struggling to move and stabilize well, which stems from a pelvic floor that ain’t going its job.

What to do if this is you?

Step 1. See a pelvic floor physical therapist.
This is a type of PT that specializes in muscles of the pelvic floor.
She will evaluate your hip and glute strength, check your posture to help you understand some possible reasons why your pelvic floor is working overtime.
She can also manually release those tight muscles to give you instant relief.
You can search for one local to you here.

No access to a PT?
Check out this program!

Step 2. Watch this video to learn more about why you may be over-recruiting your pelvic floor!

Step 3. Take action and begin to change your breathing and movement mechanics.
The BEST way to start down-training and relaxing your pelvic floor is with your BREATH!

Breathing deeply with the diaphragm will:

• calm your nervous system

• begin to relax your pelvic floor while moving it through its full range of motion

• increase your core strength so your pelvic floor isn’t doing all the work..
  
  I know that breathing seems soooo simple and you may thing that it’s not enough action to make big change and impact your pain/
  But you’ve GOT to TRY IT!:

  
  Set an alert on your phone and spend 3-5 minutes practicing your diaphragmatic breathing 3 times a day and take note of your symptoms.
  For you focusing on the INHALE/ RELAX part of the breathing cycle will be ESPECIALLY important.
  
  
  Don’t know how to breath with the diaphragm?
  Click here! To Grab my Breathing For Pelvic Health Jump Start Guide to start TODAY!!!

 About Sarah…

Sarah Smith is a Functional Pelvic and Gut Health Educator Level, Strength Coach, Original Strength Pro, Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Instructor and postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and with a Masters in Soil Science and Agriculture.

She helps women feel confident, capable, content and STRONG in their bodies!

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University.

She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, and conquer their pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis recti and gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

Sarah is a mom to three wild boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move-in a non-creepy way.

Stop program hopping and do this instead!

We’ve been trained by fitness culture that we need to find the perfect program that works for our metabolisms, physiques, unique genetic makeup, personality type, you name it.

And while I TOTALLY believe that yes, we need to shop around for the training program and coaches or trainers that best meet us where we are now and are consistent with our values and goals, I have also learned that it’s MORE important that we understand ourselves and how we operate than it is that we program hop until we find the perfect Cinderella shoe-fitting exercise experience.

Like, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?” is in my experience, a rare sentiment when it comes to most programs. It happens, but not often.


When we take the time to know ourselves, how we operate, our habits, behaviors, work ethics…our truly personally meaningful goals, then we can make almost ANY training program work for us.
Because we modify.
We modify exercises, schedules, expectations, and workouts to BEST suit us.
 

• If you’re an “all or nothing” personality, then you know you need structured movement plan for every day, because without the impetus to keep showing up, you quit.
  
  

• If you’re a rebel, then you may find being told EXACTLY what to do, makes you feel limited, in which case, you need to learn to adjust your workouts in a manner that empowers you.
  
  

• If you currently struggle with movement limitations or injuries, then there’s probably NO program that will work exactly for you without you having to make some decisions and modifications while you get to the bottom of your challenges.

The reality is that there is no such thing as a perfect fit and unless you are working 1:1 with a trainer (and even then) it’s difficult to find a program that is custom fit to you.

And what happens when it doesn't fit perfectly?
We quit. 

"I guess this wasn't the right program for me...."

Sure sometimes this is absolutely the case, but for my serial program quitters out there, I want to tell you THERE IS ANOTHER WAY!


Today I am giving you permission to STOP waiting for the exercise program that is the perfect compliment to you and START paying attention to how you work and making programs work for you.

You will have WAY more options in movement and exercise, feel empowered AND will become more consistent than you ever have before.


I trained for my RKC by following the recommended RKC training program, but my pelvic floor troubles and CRAZY schedule of a mom with 3 young kids prohibited me from following it exactly. 
So I used the framework but MODIFIED, MODIFIED, MODIFIED. 

Yes modifying a program also means that we have to modify our exceptions. 
I knew how long it took me to become prepared or even the manner in which I would be prepared would be different than someone that did the program EXACTLY as I did, BUT I also know that it was modify or do nothing. 
So I chose to modify. 


Afraid that you don't have the skills to do this because you're not a trainer?

I get that.
Here are some easy ways to modify a program or exercise even when you have no background in fitness. 
These are ALL strategies that I teach my clients to empower them to feel confident in movement EVEN when I'm not there to guide them!

• Take more rest

• Reduce the weight

• Move more slowly

• Use lighter weight and move faster

• Substitute exercises-overhead work not agreeing with you? Find another way to work your arms

• Reduce the effects of gravity-increse the incline of a plank or pushup, squat to a chair, rock on the floor instead of squatting, etc.

• Use your pressure management breathing strategies to support your core and pelvic floor

• Shorten your workouts so you can be sure to check in daily

• Add natural movement practices to an "exercise" program like walking, crawling, rolling, getting up off the floor without using your hands

• Carry heavy stuff

The options are ENDLESS once you feel EMPOWERED to make decisions and start funneling your energy into MODIFYING programs and exercises to meet you where you are.

Oh and by the way, great coaches are GREAT at offering you modifications.
So you get what you pay for when you buy an exercise program or course.
Keep that in mind!


Ok, so what can you do today to modify that DVD, PDF or past email with a free workout circuit from me to make it possible for you to get it done?

Need a modifiable kettlebell workout?
Download onehere!!!

Not into kettlebells? I got you. Click here for a 3 Day Exercise Formula that you can MODIFY!

xoxo,
Sarah

Sarah Smith is a Functional Gut and Pelvic Health Educator and she’s on a mission to help women conquer their pelvic health struggles and build STRENGTH and SKILLS! 

She is a strength coach, RKC2 Kettlebell Instructor, Original Strength Pro Instructor, certified personal trainer, postnatal fitness specialist and pelvic floor and gut health advocate, and published author with a Masters in Science. Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

She loves her boys, her Savior, soil (good thing because her life is full of it), her bulldog, Bella, best friend and husband Jeremiah, coffee and not folding laundry.

If you want MORE information about YOUR pelvic floor and why you shouldn’t settle for incontinence, tailbone pain, discomfort and pain in intercourse, constipation, pelvic pressure and the feeling of organs in your vaginal canal DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE! 

"Free in Three", a three day formula to change your body and your mindset around exercise

There are seasons in our lives when it seems IMPOSSIBLE to make exercise happen!
Funny enough, those BURSTING at the seams periods of our lives are often when we need the stress release and health benefits of movement MOST!

What if taking care of our bodies with movement doesn’t have to be all or nothing?
What if we don't need to hit the gym 2-5 days a week to get results and feel good?
What IF we could have a simple three day formula for movement that we could adapt to our weeks as needed.

Here’s how it works:

All we have to do is find THREE days a week that match up with the formula, a day for walking, a day for resets (gentle movement) and a day for strength training.
And on GOOD weeks, maybe we repeat the formula to get 6 days of movement.
Other weeks, maybe we don’t even get in the full three day formula, but the important thing is that we have OPTIONS to help us check that movement box, remain consistent and become persistent without the crush stress of “conventional” exercise programming OR the guilt, for that matter.

Have I piqued your interest yet?
Check out the formula below!

DAY 1 Leisure Walk

For many people, Day 1 is Monday.
If you always struggle to “get back on track” on Mondays, switch things up.
Make Sunday your Day 1.
On Day 1 we walk for a minimum of 30 minutes, but you main goal is to walk as long as possible! Grab a friend, pet or family member and MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Even if climate is a factor, get creative about making this happen.

This is NOT about steps.
This is NOT about burning calorie. It’s about:

• calming your nervous system with contralateral movement (walking)

• balancing hormones - leisure walks positively influence blood sugar, cravings and digestive (gut) health

Day 2 Build Strength

So now you have some movement momentum (or movementum, as I like to call it!)
Today we are challenging our bodies with some SUPER simple, yet challenging strength training.

Complete 4 rounds (should take about 20-30 minutes, rest as needed!) of the following:

• 15-20 bodyweight squats-you can also do them weighted

• 10 get-ups, this means you lay down on the floor and try to get up to standing with minimal assistance from your hands - notice if you favor one side and try working BOTH sides

• 6-8 pushups OR plank for as long as you can **see my video on pushups!

• 60 seconds of blanket shakes (rest as needed) ** see video

• 60 seconds marching in place or skipping (REALLY SWING THOSE ARMS!)

Day 3 Press Reset

One of my FAVORITE movement habits that I have cultivated is #pressingreset with Original Strength!

Movement that changes your body is SO MUCH more than exercise! In fact most of us regular people that are not professional athletes or competitors do not have the time or resources to support exercising hard every single day.

Pressing reset is a simple concept and doesn’t have to take a lot of time (set aside 10 minutes, but work longer if you feel good!)
There are three major rules to it:

• Breath with the diaphragm

• The eyes move the head, the head moves the body

• Work across the midline (the imaginary line that runs down the body splitting it into right and left)
  
  
  

There are LITERALLY countless ways to press reset, but I’m sharing some of my favorite below.
There is no require number of reps, just do the movement for as long as feels good, then move to the next! Try to make it through 3 rounds of this suggested circuit, but feel free to play with the movement and make adjustments!

• Head nods (video)

• Rocks (video)

• Bird dogs (video)

• Crosscrawls (video)

Sound too simple?
It totally is simple, but that doesn’t mean that it will be easy and it doesn’t mean that it won’t get you results!

Complete this three day movement protocol TWICE a week for a total of 6 days of movement and watch what happens to your mindset and your body!

This is the same approach that I use with my clients to get them MORE consistent, STRONGER, BALANCED and more CONFIDENT in their bodies than EVER!

These movements are NOT complicated, but that doesn’t meant that these circuits aren’t challenging.
And the RESULTS?
They come from CONSISTENCY.
So you GOTTA , you just GOTTA made this a PRACTICE.

The good news is that these approaches to movement will help you to find enjoyment and peace in cultivating a routine movement practice and that is everything.
That is where all the results are!

**If you want a DOWNLOADABLE PDF version of Free in Three as well as an additional more advanced Strength Circuit, tips on how to REV up this protocol for more results and HOW to measure your success, click here!



Sarah Smith is a Functional Gut and Pelvic Health Educator and she’s on a mission to help women conquer their pelvic health struggles and build STRENGTH and SKILLS! 

Sarah is a strength coach, RKC2 Kettlebell Instructor, Original Strength Pro Instructor, certified personal trainer, postnatal fitness specialist and pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil and Agricultural Science. Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

She loves her boys, soil (good thing because her life is full of it), her bulldog, Bella, coffee and not folding laundry.

If you want MORE information about YOUR pelvic floor and why you shouldn’t settle for incontinence, tailbone pain, discomfort and pain in intercourse, constipation, pelvic pressure and the feeling of organs in your vaginal canal DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE! 

Did you know that your tongue habits effect your pelvic floor?

The hypoglossal neurons that innverate the tongue are coordinated with the phrenic neurons that control the diaphragm. 

The hypoglossal neurons that innverate the tongue are coordinated with the phrenic neurons that control the diaphragm. 

What the heck does that mean?

It means your tongue, it’s position and activity throughout the day has the power to automatically or deliberately activate the diaphragm, signaling it to lower so you can breath better!

Struggling with to breath with the diaphragm, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your teeth!
Then it can better tell the diaphragm, “Hey dude, contract so you can suck air into the lungs.”

Using our diaphragm to breath all day long ALSO tells the pelvic floor to move up and down through IT’S full range of motion.

What happens when we don’t breathing with the diaphragm?
Shallow breathing up into the neck and shoulders tells the nervous system to RAMP UP, making muscles twitchy leading to more pain and tense, stiff muscles, increased symptoms too!

This ALSO causes neck and shoulder pain and tightness.

SO if you have pelvic floor problems, and if you don’t, one of the BEST things you can start doing is practicing keeping your tongue the roof of your mouth throughout your day to become a more effective nasal/diaphragmatic breather.

By facilitating better breathing through the nose and with the diaphragm you help your pelvic floor move through it’s full range of motion so that it remains supple and responsive to better support your organs (ahem, prolapse peeps) and reduce tension and pressure in the pelvis (ahem, over-recruiters/Type A peeps).

It also calms the nervous system, which positively impacts digestion, mood, strength and symptoms, more on that later!

#themoreyouknow

Learn more! Click here.

Sarah Smith is a Functional Gut and Pelvic Health Educator and she’s on a mission to help women conquer their pelvic health struggles and build STRENGTH and SKILLS!
Sarah is a strength coach, RKC2 Kettlebell Instructor, Original Strength Pro Instructor, certified personal trainer, postnatal fitness specialist and pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil and Agricultural Science. Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina.
She loves her boys, soil (good thing because her life is full of it), her bulldog, Bella, coffee and not folding laundry.

If you want MORE information about YOUR pelvic floor and why you shouldn’t settle for incontinence, tailbone pain, discomfort and pain in intercourse, constipation, pelvic pressure and the feeling of organs in your vaginal canal DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE!

Gratitude For Opportunities To Serve as Women and Mamas

If you’re tuning in here from social media scroll down to pick up where you left off at the**

My mom grew up living in the projects of Boston and at times had no home at all.
I remember as a little girl, when she cleaned the house (which was often, because she’s kind a clean freak) her telling me that cleaning her home was an act of gratitude for all that she had and her worship to God for providing her with a home and a family to care for.

Today as I cleaned my own floors I thought to myself, “ What a privilege it is to have MY husband and MY kids to clean up after, to have a home with floors to wash, to have a family that loves me, trusts me, depends on me and considers me a reliable constant in their life!”
I actually thought this.
No one is more surprised by this than I am.

Then I KEPT thinking…
Lots of memes, Instagram account accounts and YouTube channels these days poke fun of the endless, thankless work of motherhood and I think we need that comic relief.

In a world where many of us women are not connected in close community, we look to the internet for our sanity, comedy, validation and I think that’s ok.
We need to laugh at the crazy, the endless laundry, the selfish nature of our kiddos, our husbands’ inabilities to put their dirty socks in the laundry, the constant noise and chaos…


But I always WANT TO be careful to guard MY heart and my mind amidst all the jokes and “real talk” about #momlife to remember to be grateful for what I have and not fill my day or my head with complaining.

What I say over and over again can become true in my mind and my heart.

** Continue reading here:
Practicing gratitude for what I have today, work included, is a muscle that I need to exercise otherwise it weakens, becomes brittle and forgets how to function.

I’ll be the first to admit that our job as mamas is often hard, frustrating, tear-inducing and thankless, but that’s also real life.
I mean, if we were expecting it to be otherwise, that’s pretty of silly stuff.


Personally, I remember not appreciating the MYRIAD things my mom did for me as a kid, without a thought about it at the time.
I just accepted it as “part of her job”.

BUT from watching her, I also learned how to do hard work without grumbling and complaining, how to take care of a family and how to keep a home-albeit less clean than hers.


And isn’t that what I want for MY kids?

To find joy in their work and do it without complaining?
To know how to take care of their belongings?
To not always be searching for rewards and pleasure, but to buckle down and do character-building work like cleaning up theirs and other people’s messes?

How I behave shapes the culture of our home.
How we as a community of mothers act in our homes has the power to shape an ENTIRE CULTURE of people.



None of this means that I’m above paying someone to clean my floor, telling my kids to clean it or that I think being the maid should be the synonymous with motherhood or wife life, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that having relationships with people that rely upon us to be there doesn’t require a TON of work and self sacrifice.

Motherhood is a dirty job that requires grit and for us to get up in there and do some work. 

Motherhood is the greatest sacrifice that many of us will ever make in our lives and we make it daily.
But that’s the thing is, the nature or our relationship to our kids is not one of 50/50.
They can’t give back to us what we deserve for the work that we do.

And SOMETIMES I get the sense that the jokes we make about our jobs as mother over time create a sense of injustice.
We know that our kids aren’t in the position to even the score, so we look to our spouse to do so and we can resent them and forget that they too have a thankless job. This goes for all families, regardless of your division of labor agreements about breadwinners, etc.

In a world that often emphasizes that we should put ourselves first, I’m kind of feeling like humbly doing work for others and finding joy in it all might actually be the key to true lasting happiness.

Oh look! it’s actually God’ design for us to serve one another and to do humbling work without resentment.

John 13:12-17

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
“Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.
13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Basically….
Now that I your Lord and Teacher have washed your dirty disgusting sandal clad feet, you should do the same for each other.

There’s a TON of messaging around us right now about self love and self care and about how thankless our jobs as moms are.
There’s also a LOT of pressure to be perfect, have perfect homes, dress cute and never yell at our kids or lose our tempers.
Here’s the thing , perfection is a lie. Relationships that don’t involve sacrifice and selfless actions are fantasies.

Waiting to be happy and content until everything is perfect means we will never have joy.

I can’t tell you how to be a perfect mom and balance caring for yourself with caring for your loved ones, how to cultivate appropriate boundaries in your life, what to say YES to and when to say NO, but I CAN tell you that:

A happy heart makes a happy face. Proverbs 15:13

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. John 15:14

Love the Lord Your God with all your soul, all of your mind and with all of your strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Mark 12:30-31.

"Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all." Mark 9:35

BET you thought I was going to put Proverbs 31 verses in here.

Please know that I share all this with you, but I say it to myself FIRST!!!!

PS-I will be writing a WHOLE OTHER POST on how everyday chores can be an AWESOME way to inject some pelvic floor-friendly movement into your day.
But I’ll leave it at this for now: In a culture that glorifies 30-60 minutes of exercise a day, we can actually get even MORE health and fitness benefits from injecting movement into LOTS of different parts of our days (like washing the floors on our hands and knees!) to feel better and have less of that whole, "I need. to psych myself up to go to the gym" type mental battle....which will. leave us with some more mental energy to be grateful too!

xoxo,
sArah

Sarah Smith is a Functional Gut and Pelvic Health Educator and she’s on a mission to help women conquer their pelvic health struggles and build STRENGTH and SKILLS!
Sarah is a strength coach, RKC2 Kettlebell Instructor, Original Strength Pro Instructor, certified personal trainer, postnatal fitness specialist and pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil and Agricultural Science. Sarah works online and in Raleigh, North Carolina.
She loves her boys, soil (good thing because her life is full of it), her bulldog, Bella, coffee and not folding laundry.

If you want MORE information about YOUR pelvic floor and why you shouldn’t settle for incontinence, tailbone pain, discomfort and pain in intercourse, constipation, pelvic pressure and the feeling of organs in your vaginal canal DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE!

No access to pelvic floor PT? Here's what you can do!

What can you do if you don’t have access to a pelvic floor physical therapist (PFPT)?

I talk with women all over the world that suspect that they have pelvic floor and core problems, but have no access to a pelvic floor physical therapist.

I’m a HUGE proponent of everyone seeing a PFPT even if it means taking a road trip.
WHY?
Over-recruited and under-recruited pelvic floors can cause similar symptoms, but are different problems that to a certain extent require different rehabilitation programming, so it’s REALLY helpful to work with a PT because they can examine you, check your muscle recruitment and help you understand exactly where your pelvic floor and core are today.

BUT, sometimes that just isn’t in the cards.

So if we don’t have access to PT OR we only have limited access, does that mean we can’t do anything?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Whether you are in pelvic floor physical therapy or NOT here are some things that we ALL need to be working on

Breathing.

Get that tongue on your roof of your mouth and breath with your dang diaphragm.

Loosen your waistband and whip off that sports bra if need be to get a FULL BREATH!
Your core and pelvic floor will NEVER be as strong and powerful as they could be if you don’t learn how to RELAX those muscles and MOVE your diaphragm through it’s full range of motion.

Relaxed muscles can recruit better.

Body mechanics.

HOW you hold and move your body impacts the neurological signaling and muscle recruitment that happens AUTOMATICALLY in the body.
Basically, you are training your body how you want it to move and respond to movement all day long every day.
Just sitting holding your phone in your dominant arm with your back rounded and your head hanging throughout the day is like doing 100, maybe 1000 reps of that movement.

Whether you know it or not you are telling your body, MOVE LIKE THIS.

There are body mechanics and alignment habits that are MORE conducive to optimal recruitment of your deep core and pelvic floor muscles.
There are positions that help your incredibly important stabilizing muscle, the DIAPHRAGM move and communicate BEST with your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles.

And the best part?
We can work on these things ALL DAY LONG EVERYDAY!

How to get started?
Grab my “Connected and Fit” core and pelvic floor freebie here.

Sarah Smith is a Functional Pelvic and Gut Health Educator Level, Strength Coach, Original Strength Pro, Level 2 Russian Kettlebell Instructor and postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and with a Masters in Soil Science and Agriculture.

She helps women feel confident, capable, content and STRONG in their bodies!

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University.

She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, and conquer their pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, diastasis recti and gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

Sarah is a mom to three wild boys and one English Bulldog.
She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move-in a non-creepy way.

Three Damaging Pelvic Floor Rehab Myths

With increased awareness around pelvic floor problems, we are seeing more and more information on social media and even in the mainstream media about solutions to pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence and other dysfunctions of the pelvis.

For the most part this is a GREAT thing!
The more commonly discussed the topic, the more likely it is that women will feel less shame and embarrassment around the topic, but also that they will find SOLUTIONS!

But, as is often the case, drifting amongst lots of helpful and positive information is some misleading concepts and myths that will work AGAINST YOU as you try to rehab your pelvic floor.

Let’s check out some of the most popular ones in circulation!

Myth #1 Focus On The Floor!

I LOVE me some pelvic floor talk, but I have concerns. In insisting that the pelvic floor be considered, we have to be mindful of the message we are communicating.

We can’t ignore or forget it’s part of the whole, because...

IT’S PART OF THE WHOLE.

And we have to treat it as such.

•

In my personal experience and my experience working with clients I have observed that truly “strong” pelvic floors are the ones that work well and know their place.

They do their job, and ONLY their job.

They are surrounded and supported by strength.

They know how to relax.

They know when to work and how hard.

•

An anxious body, a dysbiotic microbiome, a pressure management system that is out of sync, or an imbalanced nervous system will all wreak havoc on a pelvic floor no matter how many kegels we do.

Let’s remember to #zoomout and acknowledge that pelvic floors have their own unique jobs that we want them to do well. They are supported and operated by our endocrine, neurological and microbiological (gut) systems, they have to work well with others and they can’t work alone.

Gosh, so much we can learn from these pelvic floors, eh??!!

Myth #2 Pilates and Yoga Are the ONLY Safe Forms of Exercise

For whatever reason, Pilates and gentle yoga have earned the reputation as the safe and ideal forms of exercise for postpartum moms and anyone struggling with prolapse or incontinence.

Like “Do your kegels, and then go do your Pilates and all your problems will resolve!”🤔🙄

If Pilates and yoga are your jam and you can find ways to do them that support your unique rehab process, i.e. they help you re-establish reflexive core stability, breath with the diaphragm, coordinate your PF with your diaphragm and recruit your pelvic floor optimally, then YAY!

But don’t kid yourself in thinking that these modalities are guaranteed to solve all of your pelvic health problems, because they ain’t.

And if you’re like me and you don’t want to be limited to those forms of movement and exercise, that is absolutely ok too!

•

You see, I’m all about that iron, particularly the kettlebell! To me it represents functional whole body strength and they are fun as heck to train with.

Besides that, there are countless exercises you can do with the kettlebell to build your body and support your core and pelvic floor.

Kettlebells come in many different weights, so you control volume and intensity of your movement. And with a handle that lends itself to all sorts of cool carries to help you train not just for sport, but for utility, because, hello, we have to carry stuff! Carrying kids, groceries, even just my body used to  increase my POP symptoms, until I started TRAINING how to be strong and manage pressure WITH kettlebells!

•

I’m not saying kettlebells are the End All Be All of fixing your pelvic health problems. They are no more of a panacea than #kegels are.

But they are an incredible tool that when applied well, can re-build strength in movement for clients of ALL ages and fitness capabilities.

And this can be said for MANY other forms of training besides yoga and Pilates.

Let’s stop limiting people to what has been deemed “safe” and let’s find things that inspire and address weaknesses!

Myth #3 Tight and Tense= Strong

We put emphasis on the need for pelvic floors (and vaginas) to be “strong” but many women hear “tight” and “forceful” and so they practice squeezing and contracting.

•••

But the reality is that the optimal heath of the pelvic floor is SO MUCH MORE complex and wonderful than that.

Exclusively focusing on what we perceive to be “strength” can be insufficient for optimizing pelvic health and often times causes harm.

The pelvic floor has jobs to do and a range of motion to move through.

•••

If you define “strength” as the ability to do your assigned job well, then sure, let’s make our pelvic floors STRONG.

BUT if you think a “strong” pelvic floor is one that is tight, lifted, contracted, tense and/or rigid, then read this graphic a few times.

Now grab my Pelvic Floor Freebie with this link.

Sarah Smith is a former athletic coach, personal trainer, level two Russian Kettlebell Instructor, postnatal fitness specialist and functional pelvic floor and gut health advocate with a Masters in Soil Science and Agricultural. 

She works online and in her garage gym in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Sarah is a published author and has a decade experience conducting research at The National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and North Carolina State University. She uses evidence-based strategies to help her clients grow strong, confident and capable in their bodies-even when struggling with pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, gut health complications and other injuries or health conditions. 

She is a mom to three boys and one English Bulldog. She loves kettlebells, leisure walks, chickens, soil, coffee, not folding laundry and watching people move, in a non-creepy way.

Three ways the gut impacts the health of your pelvic floor.

✅Tissue regeneration-your cells are dying and regrowing all of the time.
Without adequate nutrient uptake, they don’t have the necessary building blocks to build the best new tissue possible, the muscle tissue that makes up your pelvic floor, core AND your biceps!

Nutrition matters, we know that, but a diversely populated gut microbiome that is adept at processing your food and helping you extract the nutrition from it while keeping food particles from getting into the the blood stream via leaky holes in your intestines is also key!

✅Inflammation-can occur for LOTS of reasons.

It can be a response to those food particles and other toxins leaking out of the gut into your blood stream where they are attached by the immune system leading to a chronic state of inflammation..

It can also become a consistent state that occurs because one of the chief jobs of your gut bugs is to help clear oxidative stress-a normal outcome of chemical reactions taking place in the body...

But if they ain’t there or they aren’t healthy and numerous, they can’t clear the stress and BOOM we got inflammation 🔥🔥🔥

And this inflammation doesn’t just stay in the gut my friends, it can be in the brain, the joints, the pelvic tissues...

✅Elimination

You know, like how and how often you poop?

THIS is mediated by the bugs in your gut as well!

They have NUMEROUS jobs that help to make your stool the right consistency for it to EXIT consistently.
You need fiber to poop well not just because it adds bulk to your stool, but because the microbes that are process and package your poop up to exit the body LIVE on fiber.
But when you have a compromised gut microbiome, eating foods high in fiber leads to bloating, cramping and LOTS of discomfort.


Without the bugs and their food source we can find ourselves in vicious cycles of diarrhea AND constipation or just constipation/dry, hard, difficult to eliminate stools

Constipation is a HUGE problem for both folks with #pelvicfloordysfunction and #pelvicorganprolapse.
In fact in my experience, my clients with an over recruited #pelvicfloor, aka #pfd, both constipation and inflammation are an issue.

Any of my clients with #prolapse, particularly, rectoceol, are WAY more symptomatic when they are constipated due to that extra pressure and straining or the presence of old expired estrogen and toxins that are being resorbed instead of exiting in their stool.

The gut is SOOOO important for our health and the health of our pelvic floors, don’t leave it behind when working to improve your pelvic health!

Listen to my podcast on how your GUT work and what you can do to care for it by clicking here AND use the search function to read the other articles here on gut health and pelvic health!