Abdominal exercises after pregnancy

sklauck

Hi everyone. I am new to myfitnesspal, and I thought I'd bring up an issue that's been bothering me. I have had two pregnancies, one in 2003 and one in 2008, and for both I was enormous. My abdominal muscles not only stretched but separated. A number of years ago, I heard somewhere that doing crunches, sit-ups, and other abdominal exercises would make this worse. However, I've been unable to confirm that since, and subsequently I never work my abs. If I try to google this, I usually get advice on how to exercise right after you've had a baby. I'm unable to find advice for the damage caused by pregnancy. Does anyone out there have any experience, knowledge, advice, or resources to help me resolve this issue? Thank you!

~Sara

Malani2010

That would be interesting to know!!!! I don't think I can help and I've never heard of sit ups, crunches, and all that being BAD for a post pregnancy belly. I have had 2 back to back pregnancies (2010,2011) so I would like to know the best thing to do for that as well. We just joined a gym so I want to strengthen my abs.

alyssa92982

I've had 3 pregnancies and what helped me was cardio with strength training and ab exercises

Dexy_

Cardio, Ab exercises and PILATES! Did amazing work for me (I've had 2 full term pregnancies, put on over 50kgs with each!!)

Yanicka1

I have 6 pregnancies under my belt (har har) and I was able to undo most of the damage by doing plank and similar exercises. Those suck they they are very efficient at working your core from inside out. You can see my belly picture in my blog, the link is in my signature.

Good luck

BodyRockerVT

I had one in 2006 and one in 2008. When I was preg with my 2008 my muscles separated too and I ended up in PT for that and a separated pubic bone (YOUCH!) and was told I could do crunches after birth but to wrap a towel around my belly and hold it tight to keep the muscles "together" while I worked them.

I haven't had any trouble exercising now though. I never did the towel thing because I didn't start exercising until January this year but I do all sorts of crazy ab exercises now without any trouble...my pics are in my profile too.

JacksMom12

I think that happens if you do ab exercises too soon. Once your doctor clears you for exercise, I believe you're good to go. Of course, always listen to your body though. 6 weeks after my C section, I began working my abs slowly and built up as I felt stronger.

bloodbank

If you have diastasis recti, I'd first get checked out to find out to what degree they're separated because if it's really bad, there is a hernia risk and you wouldn't want to cause additional issues with incorrect (for the situation) exercises - crunches/sit-ups can cause a bit of a 'cone' shape in your abs with the condition. There are specific exercises that can be done to help bring the muscles back together... Googling it by the proper name should yield some decent results.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

My understanding is that if you do ab exercises too soon after a pregnancy it can cause the separation damage or make it worse, however I've never hear that if you have the damage well after the pregnancy you shouldn't do ab exercises. Also, I've heard that you may be able to get PT for the damage but there's very little that can be done outside of a good plastic surgeon.

sklauck

Wow, thank you for the quick replies. Now that I've read your thoughts, I do seem to remember something about how you need to focus on the inner layer of abs (core) and not the outer layer.