When I was about 2 weeks postpartum with my twins, I remember lying on the floor and pressing my fingers so far into my belly (feeling nothing but squish) that I thought my fingers would actually touch my back. I had the worst ab separation (diastasis recti) ever.
Yep, my core was shot. There were no ab muscles and no connective tissue in sight.
No matter what exercises I tried, my Diastasis Recti held steady at 4 fingers wide and my belly would not change. My belly was mushy and I looked 5 months pregnant. Everything hurt.
And, forget about running.
It’s an awful, defeating feeling. Especially when you’re accustomed to having control of your body and your fitness.
Not only was there not a clear-cut answer to how to heal, but I was also sleep deprived, hormonal, and taking care of 3 other people besides myself. So let’s just say I didn’t have the luxury of driving to the gym and fixing this thing. (Only later did I find out that the gym is not the answer for diastasis anyway!)
After much trial and error, experimentation, thousands of dollars in education, and learning from the best Pelvic Floor PT mentors in the world, I finally found the holistic approach to strengthening my core (and my whole body really).
And now, as a postpartum fitness expert and working with thousands of moms during their postpartum fitness journeys, I know that so many others feel the exact same way I did.
We’ve come a long way in the postpartum fitness world since 2014 when my twins were born. I’m so grateful for that!
But now, instead of not enough information, moms today are bombarded with information overload from every fitness influencer on instagram showing how they “got their pre-baby body back with a few easy exercises.”
I’m sorry. That’s not how it works.
(And PSA, there’s no such thing as a pre-baby body if you have babies. So let’s embrace our beautiful post-baby bodies and make them as strong as ever.)
Here’s what does work:
- patience
- consistency
- walking (so much walking!)
- the right exercises
- the right form when doing the right exercises
- proper clean nutrition
- progressive muscle overload
- correct pressure management
- correct breathing patterns
- healthier posture pattens
- learning what movements and muscles affect your core strength (from your head to your feet!)
- increasing workout intensity when you’re ready for it
And did I mention patience and consistency?
It is totally possible to heal your body, your diastasis recti, and the core you think has gone on vacation forever.
But I’m going to tell you straight up right now, trying to just Google free diastasis exercises, or trying to piece together all the exercises from fit moms on YouTube is not going to move the needle for you.
Because true healing means you also need to understand the whole body approach. Add to that… HOW you move your body during the exercises matters a whole heck of a lot.
As I began my deep dive into strengthening my core and fixing my diastasis, I learned about the true mechanics of the entire core system (my abs, back, diaphragm, and pelvic floor), I discovered that how I move my body all day affects my belly way more than a few core exercises I do on the floor for 5 minutes in the morning.
I learned about how the certain muscle imbalances make it hard for postpartum moms to recruit their abs, glutes, and pelvic floor for exercises, which means that we are doing those movements with the wrong muscles. No wonder my core doesn’t get stronger. It wasn’t even working!
True healing comes from creating a strong core system where the right muscles show up to do their job. And that comes from a whole body approach to healing. Breath, posture, walking, core work, glute work, back, neck, shoulders, feet. It’s all connected.
Don’t let those “do this one miracle ab exercise and get a flat belly” videos fool you. You deserve better than that.
So… where’s the best place to start? You need to start with the foundation. Deep core, breathing, and posture. Yep, the boring stuff. But the boring stuff is what’s going to build a super strong core that will lay the foundation for a flat belly, for a strong body, and for you returning to all the hard workouts you want to do. The Core Corrective program is the place to start to build your foundation.
I’ve also got a free guide that shows you exactly what exercises to start with. Get it here.
After that, keep working on strengthening your body. Piece by piece, part by part, one step at a time. Moms need core strength, glute strength, walking and running strength, and then progressive overload with workouts like HIIT training, weight training, etc. The AlphaMamas roadmap looks like this:
And that brings me to exactly why I’ve created the Postpartum Fitness Shop. Every program in the shop will provide the expert instruction and coaching you need to go along with the exercises.You’ll know you’re doing them right and you know you’ll see results
Here’s a peek of some results from our best-of-the best fitness programs made just for moms.
The programs in the Shop have come from over 7 years of my expert knowledge, precision, and experimenting on myself so that I know exactly what works and what doesn’t. And of course, the results of thousands of moms who’ve gone through the programs and love how they feel when they’re done.
If you’re ready to start your healing journey without the guesswork, knowing that what you’re doing is actually going to work, you can get started right here.