Trying to flatten your postpartum belly pooch with crunches, planks, or high-intensity workouts? You might be making things worse. If your belly still bulges months after delivery, the real culprit could be diastasis recti. And many popular exercises can actually deepen that separation. Knowing what to avoid—and what to replace it with—can make all the difference in your recovery.
Why Traditional Ab Exercises Backfire
After birth, it’s common to want your body back. But popular ab moves like crunches, sit-ups, and planks increase intra-abdominal pressure, pushing the abdominal muscles apart instead of helping them come back together. If you have a postpartum belly pooch due to diastasis recti, these moves can slow healing—or even make it worse.
Exercises That Worsen Diastasis Recti
- Crunches & Sit-ups: Forceful flexing of the spine strains the weakened connective tissue.
- Planks & Push-ups: Without proper core strength, these cause the belly to dome outward.
- Bicycle Crunches & Russian Twists: Rotational force destabilizes the linea alba.
- Heavy Lifting Without Core Engagement: This puts dangerous pressure on your midline.
How to Know If an Exercise Is Hurting Your Core
During any movement, check your belly. If you see doming, coning, or bulging down the center, stop. These are signs your body isn’t handling the pressure well. Pain, leakage, or back discomfort are also red flags.
Safe Alternatives That Support Healing
- Seated transverse contractions: Focuses on deep abdominal activation.
- Tupler Technique® seated and back-lying exercises: Specially designed to heal connective tissue.
- Wall sits with transverse engagement: Builds strength safely with posture alignment.
- Modified squats: Engage core with breath—not force.
Why Core Retraining Is Essential
Healing a postpartum belly pooch caused by diastasis recti is not about weight loss. It’s about retraining your core to function the right way. This means learning to engage the transverse abdominis muscle and protecting your weakened midline during all movements. That’s what the Tupler Technique® is built on.
Your Next Steps for Recovery
Step away from the crunches and step into a safer, proven system for healing. The free Introductory Workshop is the perfect place to learn how the Tupler Technique® works—and why it’s trusted worldwide by postpartum women, fitness pros, and medical experts alike.
More in this series:
- What Causes a Postpartum Belly Pooch?
- How to Tell If Your Postpartum Belly Pooch Is Actually Diastasis Recti
- Healing the Connective Tissue Behind the Postpartum Belly Pooch (Coming Soon)
