What They Didn’t Tell You: From Core to Floor
Your go to podcast for real talk about women’s bodies, pelvic floor health, hormones, pregnancy, sex, and healing all through a mix of science and intuition.
What They Didn’t Tell You: From Core to Floor
Why Your Core Work Isn’t Working and How to Fix It
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Ever feel like you’re doing all the core exercises… but nothing is actually changing?
In this episode, Dr. Millie and Zoe break down why so many women struggle to feel or see results from core work, especially postpartum. Spoiler alert: it’s usually not about doing more exercises, it’s about how you’re breathing, standing, and moving through your day.
They talk honestly about postpartum bellies, diastasis recti, bloating, alignment, rib position, and the small habits that quietly sabotage your core without you even realizing it. This is a down-to-earth, practical conversation meant to help you finally connect to your core in a way that makes sense and actually works.
You’ll walk away with three simple but powerful tips you can start using today to feel your core turn on, stop compensating, and build strength from the inside out without overthinking it.
If you’ve ever wondered why your core exercises “aren’t working,” this episode is for you.
Take one tip, try it this week, and let us know how it goes.
Links:
Reconnect With Your Core in Just 5 Days
Join the waitlist for Millie Schweky and Zoe Corin's Core Girl's Club!
Follow Millie: @milliedpt
Join the Core to Floor community: https://millie-schweky.mykajabi.com/intimacy
Connect with Zoe Corin: @strongerwithzo
Dr. Millie Schweky: [00:00:00] Hey sis, and welcome back to what they didn't tell you from core to floor. It's your girl, Dr. Millie Schweky, pelvic floor physical therapist here to teach you everything you need to know about your body. I'm back with Zoe here. Hello. A little bit of a more dance earth and practical. I'm trying not to get Michelle, kind of episode four you today.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Today we're gonna talk about why you might not be seeing results when you do core exercises. I think this is. One of the most common complaints I see from a woman, and there's so much to talk about. So we're just gonna dive right in. Here we go.
Zoe Corin: Can I just say one thing before we die? Yeah. I wanna die.
Zoe Corin: Yeah. But it's really funny because I feel like I constantly ask people and I'm like, did you feel that in your core? And they're like, no. And I'm like, but, but you're doing a core ex. Like, tell me like, let's, let's get your core activated. Let's get it on. Because people just do core exercises and they don't even feel it.
Zoe Corin: And they don't care. Or they don't care. They don't know to care. So I feel like this is a really important episode.
Dr. Millie Schweky: It's totally important out [00:01:00] there. It's gonna be important, and we're also gonna leave you with our top three tips of how to
Zoe Corin: love some good tips,
Dr. Millie Schweky: get more out of it. So here we go. So the number one thing that women ask me, especially in this postpartum era of life, is, what's up with my belly?
Dr. Millie Schweky: Can I ever get it flat again? What is happening? So let's talk about what's going on with the belly for a second. There's a lot going on. One is, I'll say, we have organs as women, we have a bladder, we have uterus, we have a rectum, we have intestines. We have all sorts of things. That are basically keeping us alive and there are times in our lives where our organs specifically are uterus.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Is bigger, which is in the postpartum period, and it does take some time to shrink. And according to some research, the uterus is always gonna be one centimeter bigger than it originally was before you've ever had kids. So that could be partially an explanation of why your lower abdomen looks different than it has in the past.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Yes. The next thing. Is digestive [00:02:00] issues and bloating. So that's just something to keep in mind, depending on the side. But like everyone has those. Yeah, we're not gonna get into it now, but as a pelvic floor pt, I'm actually trained in giving like non. Like not, not so deep, but pretty muscles, solid nutritional advice on how to avoid a digest, how to avoid bloating and constipation because I work with the rectal pelvic floor muscles as well.
Dr. Millie Schweky: And if you only treat abdominal constipation, gut issues from a physical perspective, you'll hit a plateau. So if you're able to incorporate just some habits to keep your motility and gut flora microbiome going. It's an episode for another time, but I will say that it's really interesting. Yeah, I will say that.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Um, bring us the episode, man. Yeah, because you were an episode on that one time. Maybe we should, maybe we should add it to the season. But anyway, I digress. Um, so yeah, digestion and bloating totally could be a reason why your abdomen looks different. So could inflammation in which I'm not even gonna touch right now.
Dr. Millie Schweky: And then there's body fat, right? Yeah. [00:03:00] Like when we're postpartum or at different stages of our life, we typically will gain weight in the midsection, which is also another topic for another time when we could talk about weight gain, weight loss, visceral fat, things like that nature. And then there's the part where I mostly chime in, which is core strength, which goes to say that our abdominals.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Or our core, which are not so synonymous. You know what? Let me go back for a second. There's our core muscles, right? So the way I break it down is that we have four layers of abdominals. The true most outer layers are called the obliques. They help us rotate and resist rotation. Then we have the six pack muscle, the di, the rectus abdominis, which helps us do full reflection.
Dr. Millie Schweky: So think about crunching, which is the muscle that's almost a hundred percent of the time, separated during pregnancy. And on the postpartum periods, it's called a diastasis recti or diastasis recti, or any combination of the two diastasis, however you wanna call it. And I treat a lot of that. [00:04:00] And um, that could be one of the reasons Whyman looks different.
Dr. Millie Schweky: And then there's a deep core, we could call it the TA for short, which is also a super important muscle to strengthen. And all four of these layers need to be working in the right ratios. So that's, they're working together as well in unison. And there's also a balance. Yeah, in balance. And there's also a degree of usefulness and being able to isolate some of them.
Dr. Millie Schweky: And you can't isolate all of them, but you could isolate some of them just to. Help with alignment. Now, where I comment is mostly with the muscular aspect of this, although they all have to work together, I, when I see someone in my office, I'm totally taking all these things into consideration when creating, you know, a treatment plan for someone, there's marked abdominal weakness.
Dr. Millie Schweky: The main thing that you're gonna think about doing right away is, oh, I should be doing like some ab exercises. So when you work with me, I'm doing a full body workup. I'm looking at your breathing, your posture, your alignment, your pelvic floor, your [00:05:00] core, your hip strength, your glute strength, looking at everything, and then putting together exercises for you.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Now that being said, the first, one of the things you need, the first thing you need to do to get really good results from your core workouts is make sure you're actually doing them right. The main tip for that is to make sure you're breathing right. And if you did our five day challenge, then you know, if you signed up for our full program, then you know how to breathe, how to breathe under a brace.
Dr. Millie Schweky: And if you haven't, go under it now. Yeah, yeah. Then go do it now. Um, but you, you have to know how to breathe, how to manager pressure in your abdomen, how to breathe under a brace, how to breathe to your pelvic floor with endurance, with your pelvic floor, and get it all going online at the same time. So all of these things, foundational, you need it now, if.
Dr. Millie Schweky: You have all of this, but with improper alignment, mint meaning your ribs are not stacked over your hips and your hips are not stacked over your ankles, or you don't even [00:06:00] know what that means or how to get into that position, that's gonna hold you back from getting results. 'cause you could do the right exercises from a really good program all day long.
Dr. Millie Schweky: But if you're constantly standing with one hip out to the side, or your whole entire pelvis is. Shoved forward, tucked under, or even back 'cause you're super arched. Ribs are thrusted for head is forward, shoulders around it. It's gonna be a lot harder to see results because your muscles are not physically in the right place because of the way your bones are.
Dr. Millie Schweky: I had a
Zoe Corin: postpartum group today and they all were, it was actually really interesting 'cause a few of them had like real, real big rib fla and. I, we did, like, I started off by explaining the breathing and we did some kind of like lifting of the chest and whatever. And once I kind of got their ribcage down the, they were like, oh my God, I now fill my lower belly.
Zoe Corin: I've never felt my lower belly like that. I always felt my back. And I think that is like the ribs plays a massive role in [00:07:00] feeling your stomach and connecting to your core. So I feel like rib mobility is something I really try and kind of like class bit. Last spin on, because I think it can be a massive game changer to freeing your core and turning it on and then seeing results.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Yeah. The ribs are so underrated. So underrated. And I've point out to people that their ribs shouldn't, and like
Zoe Corin: no one's ever told me about my knee angry
Dr. Millie Schweky: race. They're like, where are my ribs? Yeah,
Zoe Corin: it's so true. Then it's crazy now people don't even know that they go to the back of your back.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Yeah. I love watching the light bulb moment, and you're like, oh, I was already rat my hands around my rib cage and feel myself breathe.
Dr. Millie Schweky: That's really cool.
Zoe Corin: Yeah, it was pretty cool. So.
Dr. Millie Schweky: The first tip I'll give you is if you're doing your core exercises and you're feeling like it's just not adding up to anything, think about your alignment. Where is your rib cage in relation to your hips? It should be stacked on top of it. And where are your hips in relation to your ankles?
Dr. Millie Schweky: And if you wanna take it a step further, where is your head in relation to your shoulders? Where is your neck?
Zoe Corin: I think it's best to also do this in a mirror sometimes. So totally find [00:08:00] us. It's very hard to know where you are and be. I
Dr. Millie Schweky: think that I actually show my patients in a mirror, or I take a picture of them on their phone and draw a line down from top to bottom so they can, it's amazing how you don't actually realize where your body is in space.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Space. Yeah. So that's like a really big skill to learn. So like practice in the mirror, stacking yourself, and then try to replicate it without the mirror. That's where the real magic is. So that's gonna be tip number one. The second thing that I see a lot of the time is people holding their breath. So our bodies are really smart and they wanna compensate.
Dr. Millie Schweky: So when they're feeling a weakness somewhere, it's gonna wanna, you know, do something to make us feel more stable. So it's gonna give us something. So we're gonna hold our breath a lot of the times. So I always tell people, set reminders on your phones. Stop holding your damn breath when you're doing anything.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Driving, holding your kid, picking up groceries, whatever it is.
Zoe Corin: Also, you will feel the difference when you breathe. You'll jet. Like, you'll be like, oh, something's working.
Dr. Millie Schweky: A lot of the times you'll be, um, I'll point out to [00:09:00] someone like, you were holding your breath when you did that. Now do it again with an exhale.
Dr. Millie Schweky: And they're like, oh my goodness. Yeah. Like, that's what it's supposed to feel like. I
Zoe Corin: love it when people get breathing.
Dr. Millie Schweky: That's what I feel like. And then the last thing I see a lot of is clenching. So sucking in the abs, sucking in the glutes, in the ribs. Your body's looking for stability somewhere. It doesn't know the right place to get it or the right, the place that is the right place to get it is weak because of your alignment or some other reason, and you're compensating somewhere.
Dr. Millie Schweky: So once you learn how to let go, the next step is actually gonna be to strengthen what needs to be strengthened and whatever job is taking over for. And so my third tip is gonna be pick something throughout the day where you mentally. Unclench your glutes, unclench your jaw, unclench your stomach some or your shoulders, isn't it your forehead?
Zoe Corin: Yeah. Like I feel like a lot also, again, ribs. A lot of rib gripping. Yeah. But like I feel like bum gripping is like the biggest light bulb moment for people. They're like, oh, I do stand like that. I do kind of feel like I'm clenching my bum. I always, and then they're [00:10:00] like, oh, I like. This I like when all them see me the next week later and they'll be like, I really was mindful about not gripping my bum and it made such a difference.
Zoe Corin: My lower back doesn't hurt as much, or I really fall, my belly suddenly working like at random times and it's such, and it's such a simple thing to change. It's hard because you do have to be quite mindful, but it's so simple and it can be like the biggest change for like your progress of strength training.
Zoe Corin: So
Dr. Millie Schweky: pick something like brushing your teeth, doing the dishes, carrying a kid, un clench your butt. I'm always having people release the bum in the clinic and I'm like, stop clenching your butt. And they're like, I'm not clenching my butt. I'm like, UNC unclench it. And they're. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I didn't realize I was doing that.
Dr. Millie Schweky: So you're probably doing it.
Zoe Corin: Check out your nicker line in the mirror. If it's really, really, really, really creased, you're probably clenching your butt
Dr. Millie Schweky: for the Americans listening. Sorry. Snickers are underwear, right? Yes. So the name of the game is Alignment, stacking your ribs over your hips, not holding your breath when you do something.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Doing it on an [00:11:00] exhale end.
Zoe Corin: Releasing Unclench, your release abs and your, the abs, the butt, the ribs, the jaw, the, the jaw. Yeah. The jaw and the neck. Yeah. All of it.
Dr. Millie Schweky: I know how it goes and. Sign. And if you haven't signed up for our six week challenge,
Zoe Corin: it really does ta like teach you how to release. So I, I think that's also a big thing.
Zoe Corin: And obviously it teaches you breathing 'cause we don't stop talking about it.
Dr. Millie Schweky: Those are three tips. Set them on a reminder somewhere. Pick one. Pick one and stick to it and let us know how it goes. You can totally leave a comment on this episode. We love hearing from you guys. Thank you so much for listening.
Zoe Corin: We love you guys and honestly, we are really, really hoping that you gain from these episodes. So just take one thing that we're saying and just work on it, and you are gonna be already in a progress mindset.
Dr. Millie Schweky: See you next time. See you next time.