Nine of the best exercises to tone and strengthen your core after pregnancy. Flatten your stomach and tone your abs after having a baby with this great workout you can do at home. The best part – it’s diastasis recti friendly and can actually help to heal your abdominal separation.
20-MINUTE AB WORKOUT AFTER BABY
Abdominal vacuum
Pelvic tilt with march
Side plank – static
Bridge with vacuum
Dying bug
Side plank pulses
Tabletop toe taps
Bird dog with vacuum
Thread the needle side plank
Keep reading below for detailed instruction in how each of these exercises is performed.
One of the most common questions that I get asked here on Tone and Tighten is “how can I get my stomach back to normal following pregnancy.”
Many women come to me looking to get rid of the “mommy tummy” (their phrase, not mine) after giving birth. In fact – did you know that’s the whole reason I started Tone-and-Tighten.com? (Check out the “ABOUT JARED” tab for the whole story).
Now – there are a TON of ways you can tone and strengthen your abs. After having a baby, I know this can be a huge issue. Your stomach has been in an all-out war for the last nine months and the after-effects can leave your stomach… well… “different” than what you may be used to.
I deal daily with women looking to recover their abs after pregnancy, either in my gym or as clients. I dare say the majority of them are going about it the wrong way.
They spend all this time doing millions of sit ups and crunches and then come to me wondering why they’re not seeing results and why their back is hurting.
Here’s the secret – in order to see abdominal workout results postpartum you HAVE to be doing the RIGHT exercises the RIGHT way. You actually need to STOP doing sit ups and crunches and start spending your time with better exercises that will yield the results you’re after.
Today I wanted to share with you my go-to post-pregnancy ab workout. This is a 20-minute ab routine you can do at home that was designed specifically to tone and strengthen your abdominal muscles after pregnancy. These exercises are even diastasis-recti friendly (a condition we’ve rehabbed with my wife 4 times now)!
So let’s get to work!
HOW DO I GET RID OF MY MOMMY BELLY?
Oftentimes women think “If I can just get the right combination of ab and core work then I can lose this mommy tummy for sure.”
True – abdominal exercises and core strength is a crucial piece of the puzzle, but it’s important that you remember it’s only one piece. “Spot training” or losing fat/weight in one area is impossible. By doing a little more ab work you’re not going to start losing fat just around your abs.
In order to maximize your gains your approach needs to be three-fold:
(The proper abdominal exercises) + (Increasing your activity) + (Healthy Diet) = The results you’re after!
To get the right abdominal exercises, activity recommendations, and diet advice, download our FREE “7 SECRETS TO FLATTEN YOUR MOMMY TUMMY” now!
WHAT ARE THE WORST EXERCISES FOR MOMMY TUMMY?
There are four main muscles that make up what we would call our “abs”. All-too-often women spend their time working only one very specific muscle in one very specific way.
The “rectus abdominis” is the “six pack” muscle that runs down the front of your abdomen from the bottom of your rib cage to the top of your pelvis. This muscle is the primary mover in motions like sit ups and crunches (bringing the shoulders and pelvis closer together).
This is also one of the muscles that gets stretched to its extremes in pregnancy and the one that starts to separate vertically in instances of diastasis recti.
When we do sit ups and crunches, this muscle is the primary “mover” through these motions. Unfortunately, aggressively contracting this muscle is NOT the best thing post-pregnancy and can actually really worsen the issue of diastasis recti.
Postnatally (at least initially) you should avoid sit ups, crunches, and planks. There are actually much better things you can do.
Check out THREE OF THE WORST EXERCISES FOR DIASTASIS RECTI – AND WHAT YOU SHOULD DO INSTEAD.
WHAT EXERCISES ARE THE BEST FOR MOMMY TUMMY?
Your deepest abdominal muscle is called your “transverse abdominis”. This is the muscle that helps you “suck everything in tight” and draw your belly button in towards your spine. When this muscle is active it basically functions like a corset or “waist trainer” – drawing everything in and holding it there nice and tight.
Strong muscles are tight muscles (the reason why toned individuals look toned). In order to maximally tighten your stomach and really eliminate that mom pooch you HAVE to regularly work this transverse abdominis muscle.
The stronger this muscle the tighter your stomach becomes and we see the mommy pooch start to go bye-bye. In instances of diastasis recti this is the most-important muscle as far as bringing the two separated halves of the rectus abdominis closer together.
So that being said – how do we do it? What’s the most important progression of exercises to activate the transverse abdominis muscle, decrease diastasis separation, and eliminate mommy tummy forever?
The following nine exercises are the best exercise progression to improve your postpartum core strength and flatten your stomach. Hit PLAY on the video below to follow along while we perform this workout!
THE DETAILS
- Nine exercises
- 60 seconds each
- Repeated in succession one after another
- 60-second rest
- Repeat twice
1. Abdominal Vacuum
- Lay down on your back with your knees bent.
- Take a deep breath in, then fully exhale all your breath.
- Contract your TA and draw your navel in toward your spine as much as possible.
- Hold 5 seconds, relax, and repeat
- Perform for 60 seconds
2. Pelvic Tilt With March
- Lay on your back with your knees bent.
- Flatten your hips and back flat into the ground and draw your navel in.
- Hold this position and slowly lift your right foot off the floor in a “march”.
- Return your right foot to the ground and repeat with the left.
- Perform for 60 seconds
3. Side Plank – Static
- Lay on your right side with your right elbow under your right shoulder.
- Lift your torso so you’re supporting yourself on your right elbow and the outside of your right foot.
- Activate your TA by drawing your belly button in to your spine
- Hold 30 seconds right, 30 seconds left
4. Bridge With Vacuum
- Lay on your back with your knees bent.
- Activate your TA by drawing your belly button in to your spine
- Contract your glutes and lift your buttocks up off the floor.
- Hold for 3 seconds and slowly return to the starting position.
- Perform for 60 seconds
5. Dying Bug
- Lay on your back in “tabletop” position (hips and knees bent to 90 degrees; feet off the ground) and both hands raised to the ceiling.
- Flatten your hips and back flat into the ground and draw your navel in.
- Slowly lower your bent right leg down towards the floor (left leg stays in the tabletop position) while raising your left arm above your head towards the floor.
- Return to the starting position.
- Repeat with your left leg/right arm.
- Perform for 60 seconds
6. Side Plank Pulses
- Lay on your right side with your right elbow under your right shoulder.
- Lift your torso so you’re supporting yourself on your right elbow and the outside of your right foot.
- Activate your TA by drawing your belly button in to your spine
- Drop your right hip towards the ground and then lift your left hip as high to the ceiling as you can.
- Perform for 30 seconds right, 30 seconds left.
7. Tabletop Toe Taps
- Lay on your back in “tabletop” position (hips and knees bent to 90 degrees; feet off the ground).
- Flatten your hips and back flat into the ground and draw your navel in.
- Maintain this posterior tilt position as you slowly lower your bent right leg to just touch the ground (left leg stays in the air).
- Return to the starting position and repeat with the opposite side.
- Perform for 60 seconds
8. Bird Dog With Vacuum
- Get down on all fours on your hands and knees.
- Activate your TA by drawing your belly button in towards your spine.
- Extend your straight right arm out over your head while raising your straight left leg back behind you.
- Return to the starting position and then repeat with your left arm/right leg.
- Perform for 60 seconds
9. Thread-The-Needle Side Plank
- Lay on your right side with your right elbow under your right shoulder.
- Lift your torso so you’re supporting yourself on your right elbow and the outside of your right foot. Raise your straight left arm up towards the ceiling.
- Activate your TA by drawing your belly button in to your spine.
- Bring your left arm towards the ground and reach the the “hole” created by your right arm and torso.
- Return to the starting position.
- Perform for 30 seconds right, 30 seconds left.
10. Rest
- Take a 60-second break, grab some water, catch your breath, and get ready to go again!
Repeat everything one more time.
Wonderful job, ladies! You totally crushed this! You can perform this workout 3-5 times a week; initially I would recommend giving yourself a day of rest in between and work into consecutive days as you can.
Performing the right exercises in the right way is crucial to eliminating “mom pooch” and tightening your abs. The exercises in this workout will help you tone and strengthen your abs the right way to yield maximum results for you.
Here are some more postpartum tips and advice every woman should know!
HOW TO CHECK FOR DIASTASIS RECTI:
WORST EXERCISES FOR DIASTASIS RECTI – AND WHAT TO DO INSTEAD!
BEST EXERCISES TO HEAL DIASTASIS RECTI
The right ab exercises are only one very small part of the post-pregnancy abs equation.
In order to see the progress you’re after and the healing you seek you need to be doing more than just ab exercises.
Check out “7 SECRETS TO FLATTEN YOUR MOMMY TUMMY” for FREE!
Click on the image below and I’ll email you a copy…
Make it happen,
Jared
