query about sit ups 3 months post op?

Hello!

I'm now 3 and a half months post surgery...( a c-section, 2 exploratory surgeries & the hysterectomy ) and I was wondering about abdominal work. How did other women find doing this exercise? What type of sit ups or crunches are best and how often can they be done?

Any advice would be great as I'm desparate to get my waist back!
Cheers!

I started doing the full blown situp at 8 weeks. I did them in bed, so as to protect my back. FIrst night I did one, than the next night two, than the next night three and so forth till I got up to a 100 per night. I'm doing crunchs now on the floor again to protect my back I do them daily up to 50,probably could do more but i'm being lazy. I can feel the difference as my abbs are getting hard under the fat, but it is working...

While our doctor will usually clear us to return to our normal activities around the 6th to 8th week post-op, it is still important to be very careful about resuming exercises. That's especially true if you were not active pre-op. And you have to especially careful where abdominal exercises are concerned: even 3 months after surgery, your abdominals are still healing and may not be ready to resume sit-ups. Doing too much too soon may result in the dreaded swelly belly.

While it's true of any exercise program, it's especially important to clear resuming exercises with your doctor after a hyst. When you do start, be sure to start progressively and to listen to your body: if it hurts or causes discomfort, stop doing it for a while.

Here's an article that was written specifically about resuming exercises after an hysterectomy. It was written by a fitness professional who had a hyst: Post-Op Exercises

Sending lots of ((((hugs)))) your way and wishing you to the best of luck as you return to a more active lifestyle.

HIya MissG. As you can see by mysignature I am totally with ya on a lot of abdominal surgeries within a short period of time.

Once you have the OK and your body has built the stamina to do sit-ups or crunches, you may want to try doing them on a balance/stability ball. Much easier on the back! I have found I do a much stronger crunch on the ball, and working to keep it stable (the ball) also helps with core strength. Doing right & left obliques will help to draw in your side and give the appearance of a trimmer waist. Another type of crunch a trainer at my gym introduced me to because I wanted to work on my abdominal strength after having so many surgeries was what she calls a "frogger". You lay on the floor with your legs bent to a frong leg position (butterfly), and do a normal crunch. This really works to strengthen the lower abs but definitely go slowly on this one.

My exercise program incorporates doing crunches every other day, though my trainer isn't opposed to me doing them every day. I do 25-35 reps of each type in succession (crunch, right, left frogger). You might also want to cehck out Pilates & Yoga

BSQ