Kate Rita- Personal Trainer and Diastasis Expert

I love teaching. It is one of my passions and I am working towards incorporating more of it into my professional repertoire. As a personal trainer I teach 1-on-1 all day every day. When I present to groups, I reach more people at the same time. Since 2006 I have been giving talks at the Running Room to clinics of all distances. I love educating runners about core, effective cross training, incontinence, and the importance of training smart. Knowing they all want to be uninjured and still running in 10 years, they are a captive audience and I am always very well received. My runners give me great feedback, they love my talks, and the instructors keep inviting me back. I think my genuine enthusiasm comes through, and is a tremendous strength of mine when teaching. In 2014 I designed a Trainer Trainer Workshop to educate other fitness professionals on Diastasis Recti, pelvic floor wellness, and safely training the pre and postnatal demographic. It's a 4 hour presentation that I...

Part 2 of my latest contribution the the Maternal Goddess Community : Once cleared for running, you may absolutely love sharing the experience with your baby! It is fun for them – they love the speed! It is incredible for you to finally be back in your happy place. Having a co-pilot is fun. Packing snacks and making picnic adventures en route is a bonus. Cooling off at the splash pad in the summer becomes a great option. It can make your worlds collide as the new “Mom” finds common ground with the old “Pre-Mom Runner” you. I ran with both of my kids, up until about age three. Here are some practical tips from experience for running with babies and toddlers: 1. Posture! I cringe when moms push strollers up hill in a forward flexed position, bent forward at the waist. Ouch. Please do not run that way either. Test the handle height of jogging strollers you are considering – does it adjust? Does the handle sit just below your boobs? That’s where you want it. Hold the han...

My latest submission the the Maternal Goddess Community : From the moment we stop running when prenatal, we are counting down the months, weeks, days and hours until we can resume our favorite sport. After my second baby, I began running five weeks postpartum, adhering to what I considered to be a gentle conservative “return to running” program that I designed for myself. I ran a half marathon in 2:05:59 five months postpartum. Do I recommend this? No. Looking back I did my body no service, only my ego. The core has taken a beating during pregnancy and delivery. The abdominal wall has stretched, the recti (six pack) have likely been displaced (diastasis recti) and the pelvic floor has supported the weight of a baby, stretched to 10 times its size in vaginal delivery or surgically impacted with a C-Section surgery. Pregnancy and delivery requires rehabilitation, which takes much longer than six weeks. Once a diastasis is closed and/or functional, the core has stren...