Three post baby ab exercises, which are easy to do at home, in 5 minutes. Follow the video in real-time to restore, strengthen and tone your postpartum core muscles.

Now your baby has made their grand entrance, post baby ab exercises help strengthen your body after birth.

The three post-baby ab exercises in the video below are designed to strengthen the deep muscles of your core and abdomen, improving your core muscles’ ability to do daily activities with less risk of back pain and help restore the tone of your abdominals after pregnancy.

How pregnancy affects your abs

Before doing post-baby ab exercises that target your stomach muscles and core; it’s a good idea to understand the parts of your body affected by pregnancy and birth. Running vertically down from your breastbone (sternum) to your pubic bone is your linea alba, Latin for ‘white line’ and comprises collagen and elastin fibrous connective tissue. During pregnancy, this is referred to as ‘the linea nigra’; you’ll notice a brown line appear at your midline due to higher hormone levels and is also called the ‘pregnancy line’.

The linea alba

The linea alba separates the two sides of the rectus abdominis (the left and right sides) together; the rectus abdominis is a paired muscle and is often referred to as the ‘six pack.’ Your obliques, internal and external, and the transverse abdominis, the deeper muscles, also connect to the linea alba, so consider it an anchor of the centre of your body.  The role of the linea alba is to help hold and control the abdominal wall and help absorb force and pressure to the abdomen. As the linea alba is made up of connective tissue, it’s like an elastic band and can expand, however it must also tighten to support the abdominals and stabilise your body through movements.  

During pregnancy, it softens due to higher hormone levels and stretches more to accommodate your uterus, which expands as your pregnancy progresses to make room for your growing baby. This causes weakening and over-stretching and less ability for the linea alba to hold the rectus abdominis towards each other, causing the right and left sides of the muscle to distance. 

Post baby ab exercises must avoid straining the stretched, weakened linea alba or putting pressure on this area. Using good posture and doing the 360-degree breath, allowing the ribs to expand, will help strengthen the linea alba. Doing exercises incorrectly, such as crunches where you lift your head right up, may bulge the stomach upwards and stretch and weaken the linea alba further. 

The best exercises to help fix diastasis recti and strengthen the linea alba

The best exercises to help fix diastasis recti by strengthening the stretch of the connective tissue and bringing the pairs of muscles closer together, are those exercises that will target the muscles where the linea alba attaches; the transverse abdominis and the muscles of the waist; the external and internal obliques.

These diastasis recti, post baby ab exercises involve deep breathing and slow, controlled movements at first to bring back muscle memory. Unfortunately, many of the most common ab exercises (like crunches) can make a diastasis recti worse as they are often performed with poor technique and when the muscles are weaker, the rectus abdominis muscles can push upwards making your stomach bulge.

In this video, Post Baby Ab Exercises, Three 5-Minute Postpartum Core Exercises, are taken from the first phase of our Core Revival, post-pregnancy core rehab, strengthen and tone program.

The first exercise on the video is the ‘Lower Tummy Wake Up’ and targets the transversus abdominis. The second, the heel drops, targets the transverse abdominis and the third, the head and shoulder lift, helps bring the right and left sides of the rectus abdominis closer together.

Postpartum Stomach Exercise: The Lower Tummy Wake Up: Knee Push and Pull

Targets: The deep transversus abdominis muscle.

Start:
Lie on your back on the floor, your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Be careful you are not over-arching your back.
Lift one foot off the ground, then the other so your knees are directly aligned above your hips. Place your hands on your knees.

Action:
1. Take a deep breath in through your nose and slowly exhale out of your mouth with your lips pursed as if you are gently blowing out a candle at the same time, draw in your belly button and lower part of your abs. and push your knees away with your hands whilst at the same time resist the push, bring your knees towards your chest slightly. This will be a small movement. 

Avoid holding your breath.

Postpartum Stomach Exercise: Heel Drops

Targets: The deep transversus abdominis muscle.

Start:
1. Lie on your back, arms by your sides, lift your right foot off the floor and draw your belly button towards your spine.
2. Lift your left foot off the floor so your shins parallel the ceiling.

Action:
1. Relax your shoulders and tighten your lower tummy muscles, exhale and lower your heel to the floor. 

2. Inhale and bring the heel back up.
3. Exhale, lower the left heel and then bring it back up. 

Technique Tips:
Make sure the movement comes from the hip.
Exhale and draw your belly button right down as you take your heel to the floor.
Make sure that your lower back stays flat, avoid arching your lower back. 

Do 8-12 heel drops with both left and right, alternating heels.

Postpartum Stomach Exercise: Head and Shoulder Lift

Targets: Healing diastasis recti

Start:
Lie on your back with your legs straight out.
Place your hands behind your head with your elbows out to the side.

Action:
1. Inhale and feel your stomach rise.
2. Exhale, bring your belly button down towards your back, and gently lift your shoulders and head up off the floor. Keep that tension in your lower stomach muscles.
3. Then inhale, lower your shoulders, and head back to the floor.

Seamless Progression: Integrating Post Baby Ab Exercises into Post-Pregnancy Workouts. 

The three post baby ab. exercises in the video are not the only ones you should be doing. Core exercises are one part of a post-pregnancy exercise program to achieve full body strength and muscle tone. Aim to integrate these post baby ab exercises with cardio-vascular exercises that improve your stamina for energy and strength training exercises for your legs and arms for that whole body tone. You’ll need to progress to more advanced post-pregnancy ab workouts as you get stronger to avoid a plateau. Your progression should always be to ensure a smooth and effective progression towards a stronger and more resilient core.

Improve your body confidence after pregnancy with the best exercise videos to follow so you have peace of mind and don’t have to think about what exercise to do and when. 

Have reassurance that the exercises you do will be suitable and comfortable for your body after pregnancy and birth whilst still challenging. 

Plus, there are nutrition guides, meal ideas, and tips for energy, stamina, and full body tone, with special guides for vegetarians, breastfeeding moms, and mums.