A lot of women struggle to lose weight after giving birth, but if you’ve dropped pounds and still have a post-baby tummy, you may have diastasis recti. This common condition can cause back pain, postural issues, and sabotage your efforts to get a flat stomach.
Many exercises can help you to get rid of the postpartum belly, but there are some that may make it worse.
- Planks
Plank is a strength exercise that involves maintaining a position similar to a push-up for the maximum possible time. Even though it has many benefits, like boosting your metabolism and improving your posture, it will cause more harm than good if you have a diastasis recti.
Planks will worsen the separation of the muscles, making the condition more visible.
- Crunches
One of the most popular abdominal exercises can create a diastasis or make it worse. When you’re doing crunches, you are working the muscles in the wrong direction, while putting force on the connective tissue that joins the abdominal muscles. Crunches will make these muscles longer. - Lifting weights
This popular strength training targets specific muscle groups and types of movement. It can have a pushing out effect on the stomach and worsen the diastasis.
The best way to check how weightlifting affects your belly is to watch your core area and see what it’s doing. If it’s coning (looks like a cone), consider picking a different exercise.
- Sit-ups
Doing sit-ups has many benefits, like improving your posture and increasing your flexibility. But if you have a postpartum belly, they can make the bulge in your stomach worse.
Doing sit-ups puts a strain on the middle of the abdominals where the muscles have separated, making the condition worse. If you’re doing this exercise incorrectly, it may even cause diastasis recti.
- Push-ups
Push-ups may cause further injury to diastasis for the same reason as plank exercises. Push-ups focus on working your upper body and core, and your core isn’t strong enough if your abdominal muscles are separated.
