{"id":62517,"date":"2019-06-07T16:40:35","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T20:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pelvicguru.com\/?p=62517"},"modified":"2024-07-05T01:13:36","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T05:13:36","slug":"the-female-athlete-an-interview-with-antony-lo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebetashow.com\/pelvicglobal_new\/the-female-athlete-an-interview-with-antony-lo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Female Athlete: An Interview with Antony Lo"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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If you haven\u2019t yet been to Pelvic Global Academy\u2019s Female Athlete course<\/a>, don\u2019t say that too loudly in a group of pelvic PTs. It’s entirely possible that those who have been to one will likely swarm you with praise for this awesome course. Hearing words like, \u201cAmazing!\u201d, \u201clife-changing!\u201d, and \u201cmade me question everything!\u201d I decided to catch up with Antony. I was able to ask him some questions about his course and how he became interested in teaching this topic.<\/p>\n

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Want to join the club of Female Athlete enthusiasts? We’ve got Level 1 available as a self-paced course<\/a> that you can fit into your own schedule! <\/p>\n

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The interview: <\/strong><\/h4>\n

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PG:<\/strong> What is the biggest misconception that pelvic floor PTs seems to have about CrossFit and high-intensity training?<\/em><\/p>\n

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Antony: <\/strong> That CrossFit is bad for the pelvic floor. We know that the so-called \u201cPF-safe\u201d exercises don’t actually protect the pelvic floor from pressure (Tian et al 2018). In nulliparous women, no difference was seen in POP-Q examination, PFMS and perineal descent between those who walked 20min vs those who did a 20min CrossFit workout which included heavy deadlifts, burpees, push ups, heavy overhead pressing and situps (Middlekauf et al 2016). Reducing activity in the hopes of saving a vagina is not holistic women\u2019s health!<\/p>\n

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PG:<\/strong> And if nothing else, we\u2019re certainly in the business of saving vaginas! <\/em><\/p>\n

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What seems to keep postpartum women away from high-intensity workout?<\/em><\/p>\n

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Antony:<\/strong> There are many reasons. They can be things like symptoms and pain but a lot of what I see is actually fear<\/em>. Fear of \u201cmaking things worse\u201d because their pelvic PT told them it can. This can be a problem because the client might WANT to do HIIT but feel it is irresponsible to do so because their pelvic PT said not to. Now they have to decide if they are going to go against the advice of their pelvic PT or not. What I would love to see is pelvic PTs equipped with the knowledge on how to better help these women achieve their goals at returning to HIIT.<\/p>\n

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Everything in the world of strength and conditioning can be made suitable for the person in front of you. It is up to us to develop the skills to help women return to the sports and training they want to do. We can do this by providing appropriate advice, options, and modifications to help them achieve their goals.<\/p>\n

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PG:<\/strong> Is it safe to get back to high-intensity exercise if you have a rectus diastasis? <\/em><\/p>\n

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Antony: <\/strong>Nearly 100% of the time, I am going to say \u201cyes\u201d. The tide is turning! There are advantages to developing your abdominal muscles and loading the linea alba. We are moving beyond the focus of the \u201cgap\u201d and isolated TrAb contractions into function and using strength and coordination to help women return to high-intensity exercise.<\/p>\n

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PG:<\/strong> What are the biggest changes that participants have made in the way they practice PT after they take your course (that they have told you about)? <\/em><\/p>\n

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Antony: <\/strong>I like to think of my course in 3 different ways.<\/p>\n

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  1. Creating awareness of the role of Pelvic PT and PFD and how to manage those conditions.<\/li>\n
  2. Making people aware of the role of moderate to high-intensity exercise and how to manage PFD within that context<\/li>\n
  3. Bringing attention to the role of language, beliefs, the meaning we put on things and the stories we tell ourselves and others.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    The changes I hear about are things like:<\/p>\n

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