Health & Exercise
ilanat
member
Options
Postpartum ab exercises?
ilanat
member
I gave birth almost a year ago and my abs are still stretched, despite the fact that I worked out with a personal trainer prior to and during pregnancy, and have exclusively breastfed. My doctor said that some people are just genetically predisposed to the muscles not bouncing right back. He said I will need surgery to tighten everything up, but in the meantime to start excersing to help things along. I read that crunches are NOT good for this sort of thing, that they can make the situation worse, but rather to do more pilates type of toning exercises. Does anyone have any insights or comments for what kinds of exercises are best?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Postpartum ab exercises?
Did you check to see if you have diastasis (separation of abs)? I had it with my first and went to rehab to correct it. I've also done a decent amount of research as I'm trying to prevent it with my third. From what I've read it seems that doctors tend to lean more towards recommending surgery while most pts will recommend correcting it with exercise. It all depends on the severity as well.
I'd recommend finding a pt in your area who can check to see what's going on and show you the way to correctly do the exercises. It's sort of a catch 22 situation because you need to strengthen your abs without straining them to the point that you make the separation worse. But I've been told not to do anything that will cause your belly to pooch out. So usually no planks (only on knees) and not doing full situps, but rather crunches only to the point you aren't straining the separation. There are a ton of good resources online about diastasis and how to correct it with post partum ab work.
Here's the website: https://www.befitmom.com/about.html
Sorry the link isn't working. Darn computer won't give me that option