QuestionQUESTION: Hello, after having my baby last March, I started with your DVD and book. I
was feeling strong, and then my baby became extremely fussy and fitness fell
by the wayside.
A couple months ago, I started taking one-on-one pilates classes with
someone who specializes in post natal fitness. I have been practicing at home
and have closed my diastasis from over 3 fingers to 2 fingers. (Yay.)
I'm terrifed, though, of opening it back up again. Shortly after having my
baby, I went to a "mummy tummy" class. The instructor said we can never
again do any kind of crunches or pilates or yoga moves in which we're flexing
the belly or the diastasis can open back up.
How true is this? I took a group pilates class tonight with the same instructor,
and I was quite paranoid about doing certain exercises. (She told me not to
do anything where I couldn't feel in control of keeping my transverse pulled
in, but I'm looking for a little more guidance.) I could almost see my abs
pulling themselves apart again.
Also, I would eventually like to start taking yoga again but I'm nervous about
doing things like, for ex, the wheel. I know that was not advised during preg
or while rehabbing the diastasis.
Thanks so much. I am 10 mos pp, by the way. I feel much more control in my
core and fewer backaches, but my belly is still soft and definitely not 100%.
Thank you,
Meghan
ANSWER: The goal of diastasis rehab is to close the gap to 2 fingers widths or less, so congrats, you've done it!
Your fitness instructor is only partially correct. When your connective tissues are still soft from the effects of the pregnancy hormone elastin, then yes, it's possible for certain movements to either further open the mid line, or impede closure. But as your body readjusts to it's non-pregnant state, connective tissues slowly regain their former density and elasticity. This is true throughout the body, both at the mid line and in your ligaments. Since you are 10 months pp, your connective tissues are most likely back to normal, or at the least, very close to it.
Connective tissues respond to exercise and become stronger and denser as the muscles to which they are attached are strengthened. So as you continue to work on core strength (functional control of the transverse abdominis, or TvA) your mid line will get even stronger. It's possible that you might be able to close the gap further, since you say "I could almost see my abs pulling themselves apart again." This is exactly how you abs should function. So you've been doing my exercises correctly. Well done.
Your instructor was correct in her guidance "told me not to
do anything where I couldn't feel in control of keeping my transverse pulled in." This is good advice for all forms of training, with or without diastasis. It's easy for the external abs to overpower the TvA
and this causes a host of problems.
When performing a challenging Pilates or yoga asana, where you're worried about having enough control, do the movement with less range of motion to test where you do in fact have enough core strength to successfully do the exercise. Then from this point you can slowly increase your range of motion as your strength increases.
When doing yoga, always incorporate a strong TvA, by performing abdominal bracing before you go into a pose, then maintain that core control throughout. I'm also a big believer in elongating the spine before all asanas, and working as much as possible off a neutral spine. For instance, in a seated twist pose, rather than twisting and pulling with the arms to start, and then trying to elongate the spine upward afterward, do the opposite. Start by elongating the spine up and into the neutral position, strongly contract your TvA, then twist the torso, and place the arms into position.
If you work within your body's control zone, I see no reason why you shouldn't enjoy both Pilates and yoga.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you very much. That's encouraging.
One question: In some of your responses to other people, I've seen you say
that at so many months post-partum the diastasis will not close further. Do
you just mean that it won't close further on its own? I'm guessing that's the
case since you mention here that I might be able to close mine further.
Thanks again. I very much appreciate your advice.
AnswerIt has been generally believed that once a woman's connective tissues have regained its former elasticity (by about 6 - 9 months pp) that the mid line will not close any further. However, I have heard from women who have used my system to close their abs after that point with success. So I'm beginning to change my view.
But since I'm not training these individuals one-on-one, and don't have direct knowledge about how the diastasis test was initially performed, or how their transverse abdominis was functioning, or how well/how often they perform the exercises, I can not say with certainty how much the mid line will or will not close for any given individual.
Certainly, when I work privately with new mom clients, I can always get the gap to shrink to less than 2 finger widths.
