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These are the diastasis recti exercises to help repair your stomach

If your stomach needs a little postpartum help, start with these diastasis recti exercises

Dannielle Beardsley
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Some babies are just not all that nice to the mother during pregnancy. Not only do they make you go to the bathroom every 5 minutes, but sometimes they stretch your stomach out to the point of breaking. A lot of women experience diastasis recti during the postpartum period, so if you’re one of them, you aren’t alone. We have diastasis recti exercises to help put your stomach back together if you develop the condition during pregnancy, due to age, injury, or other health reasons.

A mother doing stretches while holding her baby

Exercises

You should do these slowly, with purpose, and at least once a week. Building up to three times a week would be great, but go at your own pace and listen to your body.

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Deep abdominal movements

  • Abdominal bracing
  • Transverse abdominal breathing

It’s all about breathing when it comes to diastasis recti exercises. Specific breathing techniques can help minor cases, but if yours is a bit more severe, start with these and add other exercises in when you’ve mastered the breathing.

Single-leg stretches

  • Alternate leg extensions
  • Single-leg drop extensions

Single-leg raises engage your core in the right way. The key is total control of your core, and taking your time when you move the single leg in motion. By focusing on one leg at a time and paying attention to your breathing, single-leg exercises can help heal your core.

Heel slides

  • Heel taps
  • Heel slides

Heel exercises are great because they work your entire core.

Dead bug

  • Regular dead bug
  • Bent leg dead bug

This one is always fun to do, but can also help with your diastasis recti.

Which exercises to stay away from

Yes, we are telling you to not exercise. At least, we are telling you there are exercises after pregnancy to stay away from for a bit. These will either not affect your diastasis recti at all or could potentially make it worse. If your doctor has cleared you for these exercises, slowly add them to your routine. But until you’ve been given the green light, don’t do these!

Skip these exercises

  • Regular situps
  • Crunches
  • Russian twists
  • Ab scissors
  • Heavy lifting that would cause the stomach to protrude
  • Planks
A woman working out in her living room while her child plays next to her

How long it takes to notice an improvement

This is one of those answers that vary from person to person, but on average, diastasis recti should heal within 6 to 12 months. For some, the stomach heals faster, but for others, it takes a little longer, and all of those time frames are normal. How often you do the exercises will also affect how long recovery takes.

If you had your baby over 12 months ago and want to try to heal your diastasis recti; don’t freak out! You can start to heal those abdominals whenever you are ready to. It could be years later, and you would still be able to do the exercises to start the healing process.

So, get yourself a yoga mat that speaks to you, put on your favorite podcast, movie, show, or music playlist, and start healing your abdominals with these exercises for diastasis recti.

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Dannielle Beardsley
Dannielle Beardsley
Contributor
Dannielle has written for various websites, online magazines, and blogs. She loves everything celebrity and her favorite…
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