3 questions that come up a lot when I get emails from, or speak to, someone who has just given birth or is just about to go back to exercising.
1; I’ve had my last baby a few years ago and still look like I’m 3 months pregnant. Is this normal and can this be fixed?
I met a new client the other day who asked this and there are many more moms out there who just didn’t find the time after their new baby was born, or just did the wrong exercises, made the diastasis recti worse or just didn’t get their core going again.
The good news is that it can almost always be fixed by doing the right exercises. In some extreme cases surgery might be required but I regularly get clients come in 3-4 years after giving birth and we’ve managed to bring everything back to normal. Obviously the longer you leave it the harder it’s going to be to fix it but it is usually possible to heal it without requiring surgery.
2; What kind of exercises should I do to fix my Diastasis Recti or will it fix itsself?
So you know what it looks like.
Diastasis Recti will hardly ever fix itself. If you are properly alligned after giving birth the separation will become less but the core function won’t improve until you force it to. You’ll obviously still need to make sure you’re properly alligned though, which will require some work. Think of it as having had a broken leg and then pulling that leg straight and keeping it up in the air, without a cast, for 6 weeks. Sure, the bone will heal itsself but it won’t grow back correctly and that will mean that your leg won’t function properly afterwards. The great news is that your linea alba isn’t made of bone 
First let’s look at things to avoid; Crunches and front loaded exercises, such as standard planks, should be really only be done when you’re ready to do them. Crunches do NOT give you a flat stomach anyway so there is very little benefit to doing them early on if you’re looking to heal your diastasis.
Even when you are 100% fit you don’t need to do 100 crunches a day. Frontloaded exercises such as planks should also only be done when your core is properly engaging, which translates to “not for a while yet, do the following first to build everything up”;
Just a little bodyweight circuit you can do every day;
Glute bridges x 10 Kirsty shows you some here; this really is an excellent starting point to work on getting those glutes going again
Heel slides x 10 each side. This is a Youtube video explaining how to do them. It goes into a lot of detail but post-partum you really want to be getting your form right.
Squat x 10. You might already know what it looks like but have a look to make sure you get your breathing right. Make sure you stick your bum out, knees don’t go too far past your toes, and exhale on the way up engaging the core.
Half Side plank with dips Here’s your clip.
Of course the HPNB program is free for 3 months and you will find a much more comprehensive program in there 🙂
3; I want to lose my baby-weight, when can I go running again?
This is a very common question. Society has taught women that “baby weight” needs to be dumped ASAP as “it’s a horrible thing”. Personally I feel quite strongly that post-partum is not the time to be focussing on weightloss but, as the man says, you do you
As some of you will know; I don’t like running for weight-loss, I don’t like the high-impact element of it and I, personally, find it insanely dull. However this is not even the beginning of the issues with running post-partum. too many times have I had people email or phone me saying they felt a sensation like “Stuff was about to fall out” when running within a few weeks after giving birth. This is obviously not a normal sensation.
I STRONGLY suggest that you do a pelvic floor and core routine for a period of 6-12 weeks before going out for a run again. And there’s no need to start this core and floor routine for 6 weeks after giving birth, though if your birth has been a doddle you can start as soon as after 3 weeks with your pelvic floor exercises.
Be a little bit patient, there really is no rush in losing that bit of extra fat and there are many other ways to do that than pounding the pavement. There is nothing wrong with taking it easy on the running front for a few weeks after giving birth, you just did an amazing thing; You grew a new human! Cut yourself some slack and enjoy not being pregnant for a few weeks.
That’s all I have time for today, have a great week and just send me an email if you have any questions yourself.
Take care,
Peter
PS, obvisouy check out the Healthy Post Natal Body podcast if you like long answers to questions and expert interviews!
