What is Ab Gripping and How do You Know if You Do it?

If you’ve been following my content for a while you’ve heard me talk about the different ways that we hold tension in our body. These typical presentations can tip us off that we might have some pelvic floor and core dysfunction:

Jaw clenching: often associated with rounded forward posture, which can also restrict diaphragm expansion.

Butt clenching: tension in the back of the pelvic floor, causes pressure to the belly and front of the pelvic floor.

Ab gripping: chronic abdominal tension creates constant pelvic floor tension, because activation of the core activates the pelvic floor. And ab gripping also restricts diaphragm expansion, which means the diaphragm and pelvic floor relationship won’t be working together with each breath during the day.

How do you know if you’re an ab gripper?

1. You have a visible line underneath your ribs
2. If I asked you to relax your belly, you have difficulty identifying what that even feels like
3. Difficulty activating or identifying with activating your pelvic floor and lower core
4. You feel uncomfortable with your belly so you’re always holding yourself in

The fix:

• Create awareness that you do this, that’s always the first step
• Try to check in during the day, if you’re holding tension, can you release it and take some deep breaths
• Skin rolling
• Side bends and rotational movements with deep breathing to open restricted areas around the ribs
• Focusing on breathing into the back with diaphragm breathing

It won’t happen overnight, but nothing does, there is no easy button! Sometimes people have difficulty activating the pelvic floor and core from the bottom up until they improve their rib mobility and diaphragm expansion. This only highlights more the importance of how these structures work together in harmony.

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Cheering you on ♥️
- Caroline Packard, DPT