Crucial Diastasis Recti Postpartum Exercises

Use these diastasis recti exercises to help build a strong foundation postpartum. These postpartum core and pelvic floor exercises help heal diastasis recti and set you up for long-term fitness goals.

These core exercises are gentle enough to begin in the days following birth but they can be used anytime.

As a new mom, you may be eager to jump back into activity once you've finally met your little one- especially if you were a fit mom prior to pregnancy.

Or you may be overwhelmed about starting any kind of fitness routine and unsure what the safest route of action is.

As a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, I can help.

The first few weeks post-partum are filled with wonder, adrenaline, and time spent staring at the baby. But eventually, getting back to exercise crosses your mind and you begin wondering about your abdominal muscles and what to do.

Almost immediately you're overwhelmed, confused, and have no idea how to "get back at it". Do you join a gym? A bootcamp? Will you feel out of place? Can you keep up?

So many thoughts spiral through your mind that the thought of activity becomes petrifying.

But the best place to start is with my 7-week heal your core program in which I use many of these exact exercises.

Benefits Of Diastasis Recti Exercises For New Moms

If you're feeling overwhelmed, don't be! These postpartum core exercises are not a fitness routine.

In fact they:

• can be done on your living room floor
• take no more than five minutes and can be broken up or done all together
• are low impact
• help begin to heal diastasis recti
• are the foundation to help you resume a fitness routine when you're ready

The point of these exercises for new moms isn't to make you work up a sweat or challenge your muscles in the typical sense. The idea behind it is to help in healing diastasis recti (learn how to test for diastasis recti at home), reconnect your breath and prepare you for further activity.

Another thing to consider is that as a new mom, a lot of postural shifts happen. Don't forget to look into some stretches to help alleviate tension (like these stretches to ease back and neck pain from breastfeeding!)

Note: these exercises aren't just for new moms. Learn more about how to fix diastasis recti years later and check out these four corrective exercises for diastasis recti.

What To Consider Before Starting ANY Kind Of Fitness Program

When it comes to exercises for new moms, there's a lot to consider.

The first is that your body just went through an extreme change. Pregnancy and birth change your body drastically. Don't forget that it needs time and a lot of love. Your body just did something insanely awesome- don't undervalue it.

The Second is not to compare yourself to others regarding fitness and abilities. The same can be said about any time of your life but especially post-pregnancy. What someone else may be able to do may not be what you're capable of (which is ok!),

The Third is to get checked out by a pelvic floor physiotherapist. A PFP will be able to assess you internally as well as externally and give you some guidance on what the strengthen. Remember: peeing your pants is completely fixable but often required a multi-level approach. This is why getting a postpartum check-up with a Pelvic Floor Physio is crucial. 

Note: my recommendation is to also visit a local pelvic floor physiotherapist. With this visit you can check on any degree of abdominal separation or pelvis floor weakness/prolapse. These are things that will need to be corrected first before a fitness routine takes place.

What Are Diastasis Recti & Pelvic Floor Exercises?

These diastasis recti exercises for new moms are not intense. Likewise, they're not meant to get your body "back". However, they will get you started towards understanding your new postpartum body and help you work towards starting an actual fitness routine.

After going through the experience of birth, your body needs exercises like this in order to train it to be functional again as well as help it recover from pregnancy and labor.

Before you ever jump into a full workout program your body needs to focus on two primary areas and how they work together.

Click here for the Five-Minute Postpartum Workout that uses the exercises below. You can do this postpartum workout anytime after birth. Low-impact exercises complete with video.

Relearning To Breathe

Most new moms breathe through their upper body. Thus, they flare the ribcage and move the chest and shoulders (this is the worst habit of mine!).

This hinders posture (which is already a challenge while carrying around a newborn). It also challenges your core musculature as it's not being utilized properly.

ENGAGEMENT Of The Ab Muscles

Stretched, pulled, under activated. Pregnancy and birth do so much to your core that it's hard to know where to start. But start you have to.

Since your core doesn't consist of just your abdominals, exercises like crunches and planks will only impede your process at this time. You'll need to learn how to use rectus abdominis muscles to help recover and move forward from birth.

Targetting postpartum abdominal muscles means looking into the deeper abdominals as well as the glute muscles to help reduce back pain, reset alignment and yes, aid your pelvic floor.

However, the biggest thing to focus on when it comes to postpartum core and pelvic floor exercises is how your breathing and muscles work TOGETHER.

Diastasis Recti Exercise #1: Diaphragmatic Breathing

Retraining your body to breathe properly will help take some of the pressure off your upper back and aid your core muscles to recover.

How To Do It

• Lay on the floor with your head supported on a pillow
• Place one hand on your belly.
• When you inhale, you want to feel your belly rise under your hand
• Your upper chest muscles should remain relaxed and unmoving (though you might feel the lower ribcage expand slightly)
• When you exhale, your belly returns to normal.

Practice your breathing daily for 10-15 breathes.

One way to progress is by then incorporating a minor pelvic floor lift with the breathing.

Then, you can do more from laying down to sitting and then standing as well as exercises like piston breathing. Make sure that it comes more and more naturally over time.

Terryll Bladock, a pelvic floor specialist has some really amazing videos on her YouTube Channel about breathing and how to progress it throughout the postpartum period.

Diastasis Recti Exercise #2: TVA & Pelvic Floor Activation

Learning to reactivate some of your deeper abdominal muscles will be crucial once you want to jump back into workouts. Once you master it on the ground, this is a core exercise for new moms you can then use standing and in workouts.

How To Do It 

• Lay on the floor on your back with your knees bent and feet flat
• Think of lifting up the lower half of your bum so you feel as if you're drawing your belly button into the floor
• Think of tucking your pelvis under or bringing your hip bones towards your ribcage.
• Your upper body shouldn't move, you are simply tilting your pelvic to stabilize.
• Hold 5-10s
• release fully

Perform 8-10 repetitions. 

This pelvic tilt is a crucial step and as you progress you can easily build on it by lifting the legs, moving the arms, and performing exercises like deadbugs/hollow bodies etc.

 

Diastasis Recti Exercise #3: Glute Bridge

Ensuring your glutes are firing is an important step in healing diastasis recti as your glutes will aid in correcting your posture and relieve some of the tension from your low back. Check out my favorite at-home glute exercises for moms.

The most important part of all glute exercises is to ensure activation and engagement. Just going through the motions will cause you to lift with your low back and not your bum muscles so move slow.

How To Do It

• Lay on your back with your knees bent, feet flat, and arms at your sides.
• Perform a pelvic tilt, push through the heels and lift your bum from the floor
• Squeezing your bum placing the hips into extension. Pause briefly.
• Release the squeeze and lower the hips to the floor.

Really make sure you are using your pelvic floor muscles and glutes as opposed to arching your low back to get higher. You can do 10-15 repetitions.

Diastasis Recti Exercise #4: Clamshells

 Again, learning to activate and strengthen your glutes will inevitably help your posture and any low back pain.

In the case of your hips though.. they've been through a lot. Regardless of your delivery, your hips have stretched and widened to carry a baby. The muscles surrounding them are normally feeling pretty weak (and sometimes tight).

Diastasis Recti Exercise #5: Heel Slides

This postpartum core exercise is a great way to combine the exercises you're already learned and put them into action with some movement. It's still low impact, can be done anywhere and it really helps fine-tune the core and pelvic floor connection.

How To Do It

• Lay on your back and place a washcloth (or use socks) under one heel
• One knee should be bent and the other out straight, keep the hip bones squared to the ceiling
• Create tension in the deep abdominals by lifting your pelvic floor "up and in" and using a minor pelvic tilt when you exhale
• At the same time, use that tension to pull the straight leg back towards your hips
• Keep the hips stable as you release the leg back out

Perform 5-8 repetitions per leg

Learn how to do heel slides.

Frequently Asked Questions About Diastasis recti Postpartum Exercises

Other Fitness Tips To Help Your Postpartum Journey

Your next steps should be about continuing to strengthen your core muscles (after you've mastered engagement) while avoiding these exercises.

If you're brand new, check out this 10-minute, follow-along diastasis recti workout you can do anytime postpartum.

You'll also want to start strengthening your glutes so that you can carry kids easier.

Lastly, develop a workout program and learn the best ways to make time for fitness as a mom! And when in doubt, a mommy and me workout is a big help!

• Postpartum-safe workouts
• Exercises to AVOID as a new mom
• Benefits of strong glutes
• Strong glutes during pregnancy
• Glute workout finishers
• Glute exercises for pregnancy
• Follow along with home workouts
• Strength training for beginners
• Fitness tips for moms

Don't forget to pin these crucial core exercises for new moms!

Traditionally, you want to exhale on the hardest part of the exercise and inhale on the easiest (exhale on the lift in a bridge and inhale as you come down).

Most of these exercises can be performed as early as a few days postpartum so long as you had an uncomplicated delivery.

However, it is advised you check with your medical practitioner first. If you had a c-section, rest first before jumping into anything. Your incision will take longer to heal so check with your doctor.

Also, keep in mind that you don't need to be rigid or have a master plan. Do the exercises (starting with breathing!!) when you think of it or when you can. Don't make it a "thing).

Working out after having a baby can be daunting and most new moms are unsure of where to start. While jumping into an intense "fix my body" routine may seem like the best way to go. it's not.

Take the time to perform these crucial exercises for new moms and then work your way up to a fitness routine slowly. Remember that your body has been through a lot of change in the last year and it needs a little bit of extra lovin'.