Nobody told you about this one, did they? You had the baby. You waited the six weeks. You got cleared to exercise. And then you looked down and your stomach still looked... pregnant. Months later. Maybe a year later. Maybe longer. And no amount of crunches or planks is making it better. In fact, it might be getting worse.
If that sounds like your situation, there's a good chance you're dealing with diastasis recti. And before you spiral into a Google rabbit hole of horror stories, take a breath. This is incredibly common (up to 60% of women get it after pregnancy), it's not permanent, and it CAN get better. But only if you do the right things. The wrong things, which are unfortunately the exercises most people try first, will make it worse.
So let's get into all of it. What it is, how to tell if you have it, what to do about it, and what to absolutely stop doing immediately.
OK So What Actually Is Diastasis Recti?
You have two long muscles that run vertically down the front of your stomach. Those are your rectus abdominis muscles, the "six pack" muscles, though calling them that feels ridiculous when you're postpartum and exhausted. Between those two muscles is a strip of connective tissue called the linea alba. Think of it like the seam down the middle of your abs.
During pregnancy, your growing baby pushes those muscles apart and stretches that connective tissue thin. That's supposed to happen. Your body is making room for a human. The problem is when those muscles don't come back together after delivery. The gap stays open, the connective tissue stays stretched, and your core essentially has a hole in the middle of it.
What that actually means for your body: A belly that still looks pregnant (this is the part that drives most women crazy), lower back pain that won't quit, a pelvic floor that feels like it's not working right, terrible posture, and a core that has zero stability. It's not just about how your stomach looks. When the center of your core doesn't work, everything connected to it suffers.
And here's what makes it really frustrating. Most women try to fix it by doing exactly the wrong exercises. They do crunches. They do sit-ups. They hold planks until they're shaking. All of those push the abdominal wall outward and make the gap wider. It's like trying to close a zipper by pulling it apart.
How to Check If You Have It (Takes 30 Seconds)
You can do this right now. Seriously, go do it and come back.
Step 1: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Step 2: Put your fingers horizontally across your belly button, pointing toward the opposite hip.
Step 3: Slowly lift just your head and shoulders off the floor. Like a tiny crunch, not a full sit-up.
Step 4: Feel for a gap or soft spot between the muscles. Check right at your belly button, then about two inches above it, then two inches below.
If you can fit two or more fingers into that gap, or if the tissue feels soft and mushy instead of firm and taut, you're probably dealing with some degree of diastasis recti. A pelvic floor physical therapist or your OB can give you a definitive answer, but this home check is a solid starting point.
Quick heads up: If you had a C-section, get clearance from your doctor before doing any core exercises. And if your gap feels wider than four fingers, please see a pelvic floor PT before starting any program on your own. Severe diastasis recti sometimes needs hands-on therapy as a first step. This article is for mild to moderate cases.
The Exercises That Actually Help (And Why)
The whole goal here is to retrain your deep core muscles. Not the surface-level "six pack" muscles. Those are actually part of the problem right now. We're going after the transverse abdominis, which is the deepest abdominal muscle. It wraps around your midsection like a corset and when it fires correctly, it pulls everything back together and generates tension across that gap.
Every one of these exercises should feel slow, controlled, and focused. If you're rushing through these you're wasting your time. Quality over quantity, always.
Diaphragmatic Breathing (Start Here, No Exceptions)
Lie on your back with knees bent. One hand on your chest, one on your belly. Breathe in through your nose and let your belly rise (chest stays still). Breathe out slowly through your mouth and gently draw your belly button down toward your spine. Feel your deep core muscles engage on that exhale. That engagement is the feeling you want. Do 10 breaths, two or three times a day.
This seems too simple to work. It's not. It retrains your diaphragm and transverse abdominis to coordinate together, which is the absolute foundation of everything else you'll do. Skip this step and none of the other exercises will work as well.
Heel Slides
Same position, on your back with knees bent. Engage your deep core (that same belly-button-toward-spine feeling, gentle not forceful). Slowly slide one heel along the floor until your leg is straight. Your lower back should stay pressed into the ground the whole time. If your back arches, you've gone too far. Slide it back. Switch legs. 10 each side.
This teaches your core to stay stable while your limbs move. Sounds basic but that's a skill your core completely lost during pregnancy and needs to relearn from scratch.
Modified Dead Bug
On your back, arms reaching toward the ceiling, knees bent at 90 degrees so your shins are parallel to the floor. Engage your core. Slowly lower your right arm overhead while you extend your left leg toward the ground. Don't let your back arch off the floor. Bring everything back to start. Switch sides. 8 per side.
This is one of the best diastasis recti exercises that exists. The opposite-arm-opposite-leg movement challenges your stability without putting any direct pressure on the gap. If this feels too hard at first, just do the arms or just do the legs until you build up to the full version.
Glute Bridges
On your back, knees bent, feet hip-width apart. Engage your core first, then squeeze your glutes and press through your heels to lift your hips. Hold at the top for two or three seconds. Lower slowly. 12 to 15 reps.
This one is sneaky good. It works your glutes and pelvic floor while your deep core has to stay engaged to keep your hips level. Your core, glutes, and pelvic floor are all part of the same system. Strengthening one without the others doesn't work.
Bird Dog
Hands and knees, hands under shoulders, knees under hips. Engage your core. Slowly reach your right arm forward and your left leg back at the same time. Hold for three seconds. Back to start. Switch. 8 per side. The key here: your hips should not shift or rotate AT ALL. If they're wobbling everywhere, shorten the range of motion until you can control it.
The anti-rotation demand from this exercise trains the deep stabilizer muscles that help close the diastasis gap. It's also great for your back, which is probably killing you from all the baby-carrying.
Side-Lying Leg Lifts
Lie on your side, legs stacked, body in a straight line. Engage your core. Lift your top leg toward the ceiling, keeping your hips stacked (don't roll backward, everyone rolls backward). Lower slowly. 12 per side.
Works your hip and lateral core without any forward flexion or pressure on the front of your abs. A nice change of position from all the lying-on-your-back exercises too.
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Stop Doing These Immediately
This section matters just as much as the exercises above. Maybe more. Because doing the wrong movement once or twice won't ruin you, but doing them consistently for weeks or months can make your diastasis significantly worse. And these are the exact exercises that every "get your abs back" program on Instagram tells you to do.
These are making it worse
Crunches and sit-ups. The number one worst thing you can do. The jackknifing motion pushes your abdominal wall outward through the gap. Every single rep is pushing the muscles further apart. Stop today.
Full planks. Until your deep core can generate enough tension across the gap, planks cause something called "doming" where the tissue bulges outward along your midline. Modified wall planks might be OK with guidance from a trainer, but full planks on the floor are out for now.
Leg lifts while lying flat. These put massive pressure on your lower abdominals and the connective tissue. Just don't.
Heavy overhead pressing. Creates too much intra-abdominal pressure before your core is ready to handle it. You can work back up to this eventually, but not yet.
The one rule that covers everything: If you ever see a ridge, dome, or tent-like shape appearing along the center of your stomach during any exercise, stop that exercise. That's the tissue pushing through the gap. It means your core can't stabilize against that movement yet. It doesn't mean you'll never do that exercise again. It means you're not ready for it today.
How Long Until This Gets Better?
Honestly? It depends. That's not a cop-out answer. It depends on how wide the gap is, whether this was your first pregnancy or your fourth, your genetics (thanks, biology), and most importantly how consistent you are with the right exercises.
For mild cases where the gap is one to two fingers wide, most women see real improvement in 6 to 12 weeks of doing the exercises above consistently. Key word: consistently. Five minutes every single day beats one intense 30-minute session once a week. Your body responds to daily signals, not occasional bursts.
For moderate to severe cases (three or more fingers), you're looking at closer to six months, sometimes longer. And honestly for those cases you should be working with someone. Either a pelvic floor physical therapist or a personal trainer who has real experience with postpartum recovery. YouTube videos won't cut it when the gap is that wide because form errors you can't see in a mirror can undo all your progress.
Why This Is Really Hard to Fix on Your Own
Here's the thing about diastasis recti exercises that nobody mentions in the blog posts and IG reels: form is EVERYTHING. A tiny positioning error can turn a helpful exercise into a harmful one. And the most important form cue, whether or not you're doming, is something you usually can't see on yourself. You need someone watching.
That's the reason we built the Lean Mommy program. It's a free 30-day postpartum fitness program where you put down a refundable deposit, complete 15 workouts and 3 education seminars, and get every penny back. The trainers leading those sessions understand postpartum bodies. They watch for doming. They modify exercises in real time based on how YOUR body is responding. Not how some generic program assumes your body should respond.
Our personal training for women sessions are the same deal. A certified trainer watches your form, corrects in real time, and progresses you at the right pace. Not too fast (which causes setbacks) and not too slow (which is discouraging).
Whether you train with us or someone else, the point is the same: having expert eyes on your form during diastasis recti recovery makes a massive difference. This isn't a condition where winging it is a great strategy.
Your Core Is a System, Not Just Your Abs
One more thing that gets lost in all the "diastasis recti exercise" content out there. Your core is not just your abs. It's four things working together: your transverse abdominis (the deep wrap-around muscle), your pelvic floor (the hammock of muscles at the bottom of your pelvis), your diaphragm (the breathing muscle at the top), and your multifidus (deep muscles along your spine).
All four of those took a hit during pregnancy and delivery. Fixing just the abs while ignoring the pelvic floor, breathing mechanics, and back stability is like fixing one leg of a four-legged table. It'll still wobble.
The best postpartum fitness programs address all four. Breathing work, pelvic floor engagement, progressive strength training, and functional movements that translate into real life. Because ultimately you need a core that can pick up a carseat, carry a toddler on your hip, push a stroller through a parking lot, and get through a day without your back screaming at you. Not just one that looks flat in a photo.
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