Women V-Ups etc.. with lower back on the floor?

[GymSurvivor]

I've begun to notice, I've never been able to put my lower back on the floor doing v-ups and shotguns and really hollow body holds at all! Basically I'm not in a hollow, I have an arch in my back.
Like I physically cannot do it.
Any suggestions, conditioning etc.. to build the muscle to be able to do it? It obviously isn't helping doing them wrong!

I've always wondered, I have a 10 in. scar down my entire torso from when I had cancer when I was 8. So they had to cut through all that muscle. Do you think this effects using my stomach muscle (Which has always been a huge struggle for me, I think I compensate with my lower back more than I think, which is probably not good!!)
Not trying to make excuses here, purely curious.

 

[JBS]

Start in a tuck position and slowly open. If you feel your back come off the ground...then you went too far. Just open as far as you can with your back on the floor and hold. Eventually you will be able to keep your back on the ground.

Keep working hard...you'll get it!

 

[GymSurvivor]

Great idea?
One more question, in the gym for conditioning we have to hold hollow bodies, would you suggest just trying my best or asking if I could bend my legs a bit until I can do it correctly.

 

[BlairBob]

Quite honestly, try your best. Your coach may not be up for this. Seeing as you are not already doing so, they are probably of the hold it correctly or else mindset.

If you practice them on your own, use an easier progression like tucking or piking the hips and do them correctly.

I'm not sure how many years it's been since that surgery but it should have been healed by now. That being said, such a surgery can be very hard on the abdominal muscles. Ask any woman who has had one C-section or multiple ones.

 

[Kiwi]

I've had 2 c-sections and I can remember trying to swing on the monkey bars in the playground when the kids were small - I couldn't do it at all, abs were not at home! The muscles do recover eventually - I can now do swings on the high bar and do one foot pullovers and am working on glide swings.

I would recommend working on your spinal mobility by doing gentle mobilising exercises such as cat stretch:
How To Do the Cat Cow Pose - YouTube

You can also lie on your back and slowly roll up to pilates bridge and back down, trying to do it smoothly one vertebra at a time. Beginner Pilates Exercises : Pilates Exercises: Bridge - YouTube

You can also lie on your back with bent knees (as in the bridge exercise) and just practise moving your pelvis forward and backward (i.e. increasing and decreasing the arch).

It is also possible that the lumbar arch might be from a forward pelvic rotation, possibly from tight quads and hip flexors, so lots of quad stretching and hip flexor stretching might help. It is normal to have some lumbar arch but I see a lot of gymnasts with pelvis tipped forward, butt out.

(Please note I am not a qualified physiotherapist or anything, these exercises are from physiotherapists and have helped me and my daughter. They are good general exercises and if you are not injured and you do them gently you are unlikely to hurt anything).

 

[Deleted member D3987]

the coach should be able to help you manipulate your body to do this. ask them for help. you can't continue doing it such as you are or you could hurt your back.