When pregnancy and stomach muscles collide

 

One thing I always prided myself on, coming from a sporting background was strong abdominal muscles.  It was kind of like an occupational hazard, part and parcel of my Ironwoman career, and I guess one of the perks.

 

Then I feel pregnant and although nausea was present for most of the 9 months, I tried to maintain a certain fitness level and strength to help with the delivery and recovery. 

 

Abdominal exercises were scaled back by the second trimester because I just didn't like the feeling of laying on my back, plus the chance my rectus abdominus separating.....but after a 8 pound and then a 10 pound baby....they did anyway. 

 

While we are pregnant our abs go through an unprecedented amount of stretching.  With relaxin pumping through our body the connective tissues are programmed to act like elastic bands. 

 

Have you or did you notice the dark line midline along your lower abdomen while pregnant?  That is the linea alba and it's the connective tissue that separates the left and right abdominus.  As our uterus grows and expands our waistline may increase by 20cm and the rectus abdominus may lengthen by a whopping 20 cm as they stretch away from the midline to allow for more space. 

 

 

Depending on the size of your baby, you may be lucky and get away with no splitting at all but for the rest of us, it is the beginning of a long road back to a flat stomach.  If you have diastasis (which is the separation of the connective tissue) then it's nearly impossible to gain back a flat stomach until the tissue has reformed.

 

One way to test if you have diastasis is by laying on your back (you can do this after or during pregnancy) and checking the state of your connective tissue.  Start by laying on your back with knees bent.  Place your fingers in your belly button and relax your stomach.  Lift your head slightly and feel how deep your fingers can go towards your spine and how wide and how long it runs..  After my last pregnancy I could feel a two finger gap running just above my caesar scar all the way up to my sternum. My husband referred to it being like an alien in my stomach as it looked like something raising it's head inside me when I layed on my back...nice! 

 

After I got the all clear from my obstetrician, at about 8 weeks after giving birth I started back on a program to strength my abs.  It was a slow process and just subtle movements like laying on my back with bent knees extending one leg proving enough for my pelvic floor.  Gradually over time I progressed onto standard abdominal exercises mixing it up with standup paddle boarding and for the record, two years down the track my gap has closed so that all I have now is an outy belly button (one of the side effects) with a slight gap surrounding it. 

 

It is never too late to start healing the connective tissue.  We are all born like it (think those cute little toddler pot bellies) but it is a matter of working the muscles to give them a chance to rebuild and reform and provide our bodies with a better foundation to ward off back pain and gastrointestinal problems from a lack of intestinal support.

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So tell me, I'm interested to know....did you suffer from diastasis after having baby? Have you been able to correct it?

Next week I will post some abdominal exercises to help start you off.

Please be sure to check with your own doctor before embarking on any abdominal exercises during or after pregnancy as everyone is different.