Split muscles... aka Diastasis Recti

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acchickpea
acchickpea Posts: 43 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone have or had your abdominal muscles split after childbirth!?!?!?
I have about 2 finger width when I do the crunch test and this causes my stomach to buldge.. I'm having problems trying to lose the mommy tummy because of this.. I've read that doing sit ups and crunches would cause this muscles to split and make it worse.. It would help to know someone going through the same situation.... You guys think doing the Insanity cardio workout is a good idea?

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  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    Losing belly fat has nothing to do with the shape or your abdomen. How you look at low body fat can change based on your anatomy but it's not inhibiting your fat loss. Doing a lot of sit ups and crunches doesn't do much of anything if you are in a caloric deficit. You aren't going to build tons of mass in your abdominal region even if you were in a surplus, let alone a deficit. If you aren't losing fat, calories are to blame. Know that the abdomen, especially the lower abdominal region is among the last place for fat to come off from. Most women have to get pretty damn lean to have a flat stomach or visible abs. Just keep losing fat and eventually the fat will come off of that area.

    If you have actual diagnosable, diastasis recti your options are limited. Often times it gets better with time. Sometimes it doesn't. There are exercises and stretches that some people recommend but I'd speak to a physician about this. Surgery is also an option in the most extreme cases. Basically I'd give it time, get as lean as possible, then see how you look.
  • acchickpea
    acchickpea Posts: 43 Member
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    Makes total sense... I'll try to get as lean as possible without trying to make the split abdominal muscles worse to see where that gets me... I guess the fear is that I do something that makes it worse.
    Pure cardio seems to be the ticket as of now...
    I can say one thing.. Surgery is def not an option.....
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    Makes total sense... I'll try to get as lean as possible without trying to make the split abdominal muscles worse to see where that gets me... I guess the fear is that I do something that makes it worse.
    Pure cardio seems to be the ticket as of now...
    I can say one thing.. Surgery is def not an option.....
    I wouldn't do pure cardio. That approach will work if it gets you into a caloric deficit but you will burn more muscle then if you at least did some strength training. You can avoid direct abdominal training if it worries you but that's no reason to skip training the rest of the body (chest, back, legs, arms, etc.)
  • naomigee161
    naomigee161 Posts: 41 Member
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    This looks like it might be helpful/beneficial to you :)http://fitbottomedmamas.com/2013/10/review-the-dia-method-postnatal-fitness-system/
  • csec6pak
    csec6pak Posts: 54 Member
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    Do some research on what exercises are in and out. There are a lot of strength-type exercises that aren't necessarily traditional "ab" exercises, that can make this a lot worse (leg extensions, for example).

    You need to do the recommended exercises to heal the diastasis before you can do traditional ab exercises. Although I agree with the previous poster that losing fat will help you make the most progress overall towards a flat belly, the fact is that with diastasis recti, even if you had 0 body fat, you'd still have the "mummy tummy" because the muscles are no longer able to hold themselves in the proper position. Fixing the diastasis can be done in parallel with losing fat.

    Two finger-widths is not a terrible diastasis, so you should be able to heal this yourself without surgery.

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