Lose Your Mummy Tummy–Diastasis Recti & Why Crunches are BAD for You

If you have a “mummy tummy” or “mummy pooch” or basically you feel like you look pregnant (or others think you are) when you're not, this post is for you.

You're likely tempted to do lots of crunches, but actually, they might not be a help. And they might hurt you.

What you likely have is diastasis recti. Here's more about it and what you can do to help your body get back to normal.

Have you ever heard of Diastasis Recti?

Having a “mummy tummy” isn't fun, but it's about more than just how you look.

I mean, being attractive is good for your mental and emotional health, but there is more going on here.

My Personal Diastasis Recti Story

Having worked in the fitness industry for 18 years, one common complaint I've heard from many postpartum moms is that their bellies seem to get BIGGER– not smaller–the more they work their core.

Before I had kids myself, I was a personal trainer, and I just told these unsatisfied customers to accept that some new curves would always be a part of the blessing of motherhood. Then I got pregnant three times myself, and let me just tell you what happened:

• My first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at 11 weeks, and I wondered why my abs didn't go back to flat when I had barely even been showing.
• Six months later, we conceived my daughter. After I gave birth to her, I wondered why my tummy got flat right after having her, but then pooched out when I started exercising again.
• Three years after having my daughter, I had my son, and my belly didn't even attempt get flatter no matter how many crunches and planks and cardio sessions I did. In fact, he was over 2 years old when I realized my stomach was still making an inverted V-shape whenever I sat up.Yet I was doing core work almost every day. It was the kind of core work I was doing (crunches, situps, planks) that was making my belly rip more!

Women all over the world are reading those three pieces of my personal history and nodding their heads, because our physiology is the same and most of us have experienced this… and accepted it?

A Mummy Tummy Isn't Normal

Yes, we've been told by personal trainers who've never had kids (like I was) that it's normal to have a mummy tummy.

Once I finally realized that my certification as a group fitness instructor and my degree in Exercise and Sport Science from Oregon State University had left out some important information about how a woman's core works during and after pregnancy,

I went in search of exercises that truly help minimize and treat diastasis recti (Diastasis Recti Abdominus–a split in your abs that’s wider than normal).

In the July 1988 issue of Physical Therapy, an abstract was published that showed EVERY pregnant woman's abs splitting into a diastasis in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy. “

Its incidence peaked in the third trimester group; remained high in the women in the immediate postpartum group; and declined, but did not disappear, in the later postpartum group. These findings demonstrate the importance of testing for diastasis recti abdominis above, below, and at the umbilicus throughout and after the childbearing year.”

But have you ever been checked for diastasis recti? Has anyone ever told you which exercises help it and which ones make it worse?

Diastasis Recti Leads to Other Problems

Has anyone ever explained how the wider your gap is, the more your lower back, digestion, pelvic floor health, and many more problems will increase?

In fact, diastasis recti is a direct cause of back pain–this post on diastasis recti and back pain goes into more detail.

Because if your abdominal wall isn't holding your innards in the right spots, then your innards won't work as well… ding! Lightbulbs going off in heads all over the world!

I now believe that if every woman could learn the following four do's and don'ts for reclaiming their cores, then we'd have far fewer pregnant-looking grandmothers out there.

Because that is what is happening with traditional core work: the stress of crunches and planks and situps upon injured abdominals just stresses the connective tissue more!

If you follow these 4 exercise tips, you can start healing your core for good, no matter how many months or years postpartum you are…

4 Exercises for Diastasis Recti to Ditch Mummy Tummy

Train Your Transverse Abdominus

Your TA is your own natural girdle, assisting the uterus with expulsion during birth and taking pressure off your healing six-pack (rectus abdominus) after birth.But the obliques and six-pack get so much attention in the fitness industry that many women don't even know about their bigger, deeper, more important TA muscle.

You can start activating your TA three days after vaginal birth and 10 days after surgical birth. Learn how by clicking HERE to watch my 10-minute “Totally Transverse” workout!

Walk! Walk! Walk!

Nothing is more effective at working your whole body in a safe, effective, gentle manner than walking. Walking naturally stretches and flexes your pelvic floor and activates your whole core without stressing your abdominal connective tissue.

If you use a baby carrier, please make sure that it's one that prevents hip dysplasia in the baby while supporting your core without yanking on your back – wraps and ergo-like carriers are best. If you are pushing your child in a stroller, your form matters!

Read this incredible article about how to push a stroller with good posture by Lorraine Scapens of Pregnancy Exercise in New Zealand.

Practice Perfect Posture

Visualize the inside of your torso like two bowls; your pelvis forms one bowl, and your ribs form another upside down bowl. While sitting and standing, your rib bowl and pelvic bowl need to center with each other.

If your ribs are thrust forward, that stretches the diastasis, so pull your ribs down while keeping your spine tall. If your pelvic bowl is tilted so your hips are tucked under a lot, or so that your lower back is severely arched, that will also yank on your connective tissue.

Can the Crunches

Yes, I know this flies in the face of all those cute pictures of moms crunching up to play “peek-a-boo” with their baby floating on their shins.But crunches bulge the belly, not flatten it.If doing 300 crunches a day worked, you'd have a flat belly by now.

Sit ups are even worse, in fact, any crunch-like motion – this includes anything where the shoulders come off the floor – contributes to diastasis by very nature of biomechanics. (Yikes! I've been adding these to my exercise regimen recently. :(.)Planks are also inadvisable until while your diastasis recti is still open because of the gravitational pressure pushing down and out on your damaged core.

In Short, You Have Only One Body

If your hurt it, you cannot trade it in for a new one, and replacement parts are very expensive. If your workout makes you hurt more or “shreds” your belly apart to the point that your abs can't even hold your own guts in (that's not a beer belly, it's a diastasis, dude!) then your workout isn't improving your health; it's ruining your health.

Fitness should be a fun time of healing and re-energizing your body so that you can be a better mom, partner and volunteer. Don't settle for a broken body.

Click here for wholesome workouts for the whole family that are:

• diastasis / mummy tummy aware
• safe and
• effective!

You can go to Fit2B to get access to great workouts to help with your mummy tummy.

Fit2B is an amazing online gym that is:

• Tummy Conscious (every exercise routine encourages healthy abs)
• Modest (that's sooo important to me)
• Understandable – no “what are they talking about” exercise mumbo-jumbo
• Geared Towards Busy Moms (but anyone can do it–busy or not. Mom or not.). No videos for clutter. No driving to the gym. Doable exercise.
• Encouraging (they have a network of supporters on Facebook and Twitter to help you along)

In short, we help you get rid of your mummy tummy in an effective, whole woman friendly way.

From our About Us Page:  “Our goal for members of Fit To Be Us is that you will feel fit to do anything! Fit to run and jump on the trampoline with your kids. Fit to go hiking and biking. Fit to fit into your favorite jeans that have been on the floor of your closet for way too long!”

Here's to all of us getting our abdominals in good shape so they can support all the important stuff that's inside of us–so we can be healthier and be better moms, wives, and citizens–Yippee.

So–do you have a diastasis recti / mummy tummy?
Did you know crunches are BAD for you?

Bethany is a work at home mama to two wild rugrats in the Pacific Northwest. She and her husband just moved to a 7-acre farm where she's learning to milk 1 stubborn goat and get eggs from 10 hens. She runs Fit2B Studio from her laptop between homeschooling, picking berries, wiping noses, hodge-podging meals together, race-walking with two separate teams, and teaching at her local fitness center. Her hobbies include fitness {duh!} and crocheting rag rugs out of recycled t-shirts she cuts into yarn. Come see her passion for Diastasis Awareness in action over at fit2b.com today!