How to Build Core Strength Safely after Pregnancy
Core strength is top of mind for many women when it comes to postpartum recovery.This makes sense-It is the area where you feel and see the most impact from pregnancy. A pretty consistent anecdote I hear from clients who are postpartum is something along the lines of “I have no core” or “my core is nonexistent” It is so understandable that postpartum women feel this way, but the first thing I tell them is that is simply not true and telling yourself that will not serve you in any way, so we put the negatives aside and get to work.
The first step to building core strength postpartum is, yes you guessed it, breathwork. If you’ve read any of the previous articles above you likely knew this was going to be the first thing to address when it comes to postpartum core strength. Re-connection to your breath is its own type of core work postpartum. In the early postpartum days or the first weeks and days where you start to re-introduce movement, your core truly may feel “non existent” but it is there, it is just harder to access. Your abs separated during pregnancy (diastasis recti) to make room for your growing baby- this is only natural. In postpartum, we are looking to rebuild that strength and bring the abs back together and that is what we accomplish through diaphragmatic breathing in various positions. The goal of core work postpartum is not to get 6 pack abs, but to reconnect through breath, to learn how to manage abdominal pressure, and reduce/limit the impact of any issues that may have surfaced during pregnancy or birth (diastasis recti, rib flare, prolapse, etc.).
Once you've mastered the diaphragmatic breathing on its own, you add that breathing into various core exercises like deadbugs, bird dogs, modified side planks, 90/90’s etc and gradually increase in difficulty as you get stronger and stronger.
A big focus will be placed on breath as we mentioned, but also pressure management. When addressing the core postpartum, it's important to understand how to manage pressure. Learning to find and use our deep core muscles, most significantly the transverse abdominals is an essential step in this process. Learning to engage the transverse abdominals helps with managing pressure. The best way to describe pressure management is thinking about doing a plank or a sit up, because of that separation, you have space in between and it can be easy to send all of the pressure into that space when doing a plank or sit up- we don’t want that. We don’t want to push our abs through that separation, we want to recruit our lower abdominals (the TAs) to turn on so that pressure is distributed evenly. If you have heard the term “doming” when talking about postpartum core or diastasis recti, this is what I mean when I say pushing through that separation. The doming is what occurs when that pressure is not managed properly. How to find your transverse abdominals:
One last “pressure” thought to leave you with; when thinking about pressure management, we want to think about a lift from the bottom up, not pushing from the top down especially when exerting effort like we do when strength training- hence the cue in diaphragmatic breathing to “lift up through your pelvic floor” on the exhale.
Postpartum core work sets the foundations for all of the heavy lifting you will be doing not only in the gym but in your day to day life as a mom. While it may be hard to slow down and start with the basics when all you want to do is lift, run, jump again, it is essential for being able to sustain your strength and wellbeing into motherhood and beyond.
Want to learn more about postpartum core? Book a call with me here OR feeling comfortable with this but need a guide on what to do? Check out my early postpartum guide here.
