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All moms experience body changes during pregnancy and postpartum, and one of the most common is a condition called diastasis recti, affecting up to 45% of women at six months postpartum.
Diastasis recti abdominis refers to the separation of the abdominal muscles. It often occurs during pregnancy as your body makes room for a growing baby, but it can also lead to core weakness and other issues after birth.
Diastasis simply means the separation of parts of the body that are normally connected. One of the most common types is diastasis recti — the separation of the rectus abdominis muscles, which are a key part of your core.
These muscles, often called your “six-pack,” run in two parallel bands from your sternum to your pubic bone. They’re connected down the center by a strip of connective tissue called the linea alba. Some separation of the rectus muscles is natural because of the linea alba — it’s present in everyone. However, the degree of separation determines whether you should adjust your exercise routine and daily activities for proper healing.
Diastasis recti can happen to anyone — men, women, babies, and children — but it’s most common during and after pregnancy. The good news? You can absolutely improve diastasis recti by strengthening your deep core muscles, particularly the transverse abdominis (TA). We’ll show you how!
Try our 8–Week Core Restore Program for FREE!
As your uterus grows during pregnancy, organs in your body move to make room for it. As your uterus expands outward, and your organs shift to make room for baby, it adds pressure to the abdominal wall and stretches your abdominal muscles. If these muscles stretch to the point that they separate more than 2.5 centimeters along the linea alba, this is called diastasis recti.
You may have a higher risk of developing diastasis recti if you:
With that many risk factors, it’s easy to see why 33% of women report diastasis recti in their second trimester. In one study, 60% of participants had diastasis recti at six weeks postpartum, 45% of participants had a diastasis at six months postpartum, and 32% at one year postpartum. (source)
Another study of 336 women on the effects of exercise on diastasis recti in the prenatal and postnatal periods showed that exercise reduces the presence of an abdominal separation by 35%.
And in this study on the prevalence and risk factors of diastasis recti from late-pregnancy to six months postpartum, 100% of participants had a diastasis at gestational week 35 and 39% of participants still had a separation at six months postpartum.
Many women do not detect or get a diastais recti diagnosis until after baby is born. The self-test below is a starting point, but keep in mind it is not as accurate as the baby gets bigger due to fluid, the baby, the uterus moving up, etc. You might notice a possible diastasis if your belly “cones” or “domes” or you see a ridge awhile performing a traditional crunch. However, this coning could also be due to an under-cued transverse abdominis.
This is one of the most common questions we hear: “How can I avoid diastasis recti?”
The truth is, anyone can develop diastasis recti — it’s not just a pregnancy or postpartum condition.
Instead of focusing on what not to do — like avoiding certain exercises or trying to limit weight gain — our approach emphasizes what you can do to support your body through natural changes.
Our Pregnancy Programs are carefully designed to:
While you can’t always completely prevent diastasis recti, you can absolutely minimize its severity and speed up your healing after birth.
A cornerstone of our pregnancy programs is teaching you how to activate your transverse abdominis — the deepest core muscles that stabilize your pelvis and spine like an internal corset. Once you learn how to properly engage these muscles, you’re halfway to maintaining a strong, functional core during pregnancy and beyond.
All of our prenatal workouts are safe for diastasis recti and designed to help you recover faster.
Download our Prenatal & Postnatal Exercise Guide for research-backed core strategies.
You can do a self-check exercise at home after you’ve given birth as the first step to determine if you have diastasis recti.
The symptoms of this condition can vary from woman to woman. The most obvious symptom is the “bread loaf” or doming of your abdominal muscles as you roll to sit up. A postpartum pooch around your ab muscles is common, but it that doesn’t always mean you have diastasis recti. It could indicate a weak transverse abdominis or weak core. The feeling of “flabby abs” is also common.
Other symptoms of diastasis recti include:
This video features Lisa, a mom of three, with a 4-finger width diastasis reduced to a 2-finger width diastasis. Case study courtesy of the Prenatal & Postnatal Fitness Specialist Course.
Your rectus abdominis muscles — the “six-pack” muscles — run along your abdomen in two parallel bands, connected by the linea alba. Beneath them are your obliques on the sides and the transverse abdominis running horizontally across your core like a corset.
Because the transverse abdominis fibers run horizontally, exercises that strengthen the TA help re-approximate the separated rectus muscles and reduce the gap.
Healing diastasis recti follows a similar approach whether you’re pregnant, newly postpartum, or years past delivery. Our 8–Week Diastasis Recti Program is designed to strengthen your deep core and rebuild functional stability.
Most women begin focusing on healing their core during the postpartum period, but it’s never too late. Even if your children are grown — or if you’ve never been pregnant — our Core Restore program can help you flatten your stomach, improve function, and feel stronger from the inside out.
With our Core Restore Program, you’ll:
Inside the Core Restore Program:
Functional core strength starts here — train your core from the inside out with research-backed strategies and workouts designed for real life.
Overall, the research demonstrates that women who exercise tend to improve their abdominal separations over non-exercising women. Some cases are severe enough that they require surgery; however, in most cases, you can do specific exercises designed to help heal your muscle separation.
The Moms Into Fitness Core Restore Program features 25 progressive core exercises 2-phases. All workouts have all been modified to be safe for those with diastasis recti, including flexibility, cardio, and strength training. Healthy (from toning) and supple (from stretching) muscles will treat you well! It includes:
Traditional core moves like planks and crunches must wait. Instead, you need to strengthen the deep abdominal muscles, with diastasis-safe core exercises. These include:
In your exercise, it’s important to avoid increasing pressure on your belly tissues, at least until you’ve created core stability. Until then avoid the following motions:
Diaphragmatic breathing helps you take complete advantage of your lungs’ capacity. Lie on your back on a flat surface with your knees bent and fingertips placed inside your hip bones. Breathe in slowly through your nose, into the diaphragm without flaring the rib cage/arching your back. As you exhale through the mouth with a “shhhh” sound, tighten your stomach muscles. You will feel this tightening of the transverse abdominis with your fingertips.
It’s not just about your abs. You must learn to activate and relax your pelvic floor muscles, which are a key piece of creating a functional core.
Do these pelvic floor exercises daily. >>
Many lower body exercises add extra pressure to the belly tissues, or add twisting/torquing/hip hinging too soon. Yes, you can twist! Yes, you can hinge at your hips! You can create strong, toned legs! BUT ONLY after you’ve established good core stability. In our Core Restore program, we combine lower body exercises with core stability.
Diastasis recti is a core muscle issue, but your entire system is connected. Weakness or tightness in one area can effect others. Our Core Restore program includes arm exercises that will help you strengthen while avoiding added pressure on your abdominal muscles.
We spend 12 hours a day upright, this is key time to keep your abdominal wall from being overstretched. With your feet parallel, stack your hip bone over your ankle bones. Stack your rib cage over your pelvis, careful not to flare the ribs. Breathe normally.
Your core/trunk is a transfer station for everything that goes on in the body. Running dramatically increases the amount of force through the core, pelvic floor, and legs. If you have diastasis recti, your structural integrity is compromised.
When running with diastasis recti, you are likely compensating, which can lead to other structural issues including knee pain, IT band pain, plantar fasciitis, low back pain, and hip flexor issues, just to name a few — not to mention increased strain through your pelvic floor. You need to address your compensations to ensure you can run with proper alignment. It’s best to seek the help of a physical therapist.
Please also avoid sprinting. When you sprint, you increase the force and rotation through your trunk muscles, which can really strain the linea alba and surrounding muscles and fascia. If you are not seeing a significant improvement after consistently doing the Core Restore Program exercises, please get in touch with a women’s health physical therapist.
