19 February 2024 , 10:09
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If you think you've got an impressive party trick, think again - this woman can make her baby bump vanish.
Many of us have that one unique talent we only bring out when we really need to impress our peers. Maybe you can touch your nose with your tongue, or perhaps you've got the gift of being able to burp the alphabet. But one pregnant woman has taken the crown for the most mesmerising of all party tricks as she shared a viral video showing off her ability to make her baby bump completely disappear in the blink of an eye.
Kat Shultis posted a video to her @kat_shultis account on TikTok which showed her acting as though her baby bump was a balloon that she was slowly letting the air out of, as her bump shrunk until it was barely visible. She added text to the clip that explained she was 28 weeks pregnant, and captioned the post: "Keeping that pelvic floor engaged = not looking pregnant when I do abs."
The mum-to-be's video has received over 4,000 likes since it was shared in December, and people have been left floored by her impressive talent. One person commented: "Wow!", while another admitted: "I can't even do that and I'm not pregnant! My youngest is almost eight years old!"
Some commenters were concerned that Kat's actions might "hurt" herself or her baby, but the mum-to-be - who is now just three weeks away from welcoming her little one into the world - insisted the trick is "actually super good" for your body.
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When one person asked: "Doesn't it hurt?", Kat responded: "No, this is actually super good to prepare your body for labour and postpartum! This is how you engage your core during pregnancy!"
Although it looks as though Kat is sucking her stomach in like we all might do when we're trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans, she's actually using doing an exercise known as the Bloom Method, which was first pioneered by Colorado-based pre and post-natal fitness expert Brooke Cates.
When practising this method, pregnant women expand and contract their abdominal muscles using diaphragmatic breathing. The babies inside their wombs are pushed deeper into their abdomen as they inhale, and pressed forward as they exhale.
Speaking with Today back in 2017, Cates said: "The reason the belly gets smaller is not because the woman is sucking in, but because she's using her inner core unit. She's inhaling with the diaphragm as the belly gets bigger and then on the exhale, she's lifting through the pelvic floor and starting to wrap the transverse abdominal muscles - it's like she's using her muscles to hug her baby".