After my first baby was born I read in several articles that doing planks was a really good exercise method to get your pre baby belly back. The same articles warned about sit-ups and crunches and said that those exercises could make postpartum abdominal muscles separation ( Diastasis recti) worse. So I trusted that information and did planks, side planks and regular planks. I planked for several minutes each day about five weeks postpartum and continued for about two months. I felt stronger and stronger and after another few months I had also lost all my pregnancy weight, so I should have a flat and strong stomach I thought. I kept starring at myself in the mirror each night wondering why my belly looked so funny. It wasn't flat as it used to be. In fact it looked like a baby pooch and I started to wonder if I could be pregnant. Let me tell you something: I wasn't. In fact I had made my postpartum stomach worse doing all those planks. My inner abdominals and my core strength wasn't ready for it and my Diastasis recti had not healed properly.
So why are planks bad, not to say dangerous, to the postpartum stomach?
The answer is this: Planks are very challenging exercises. It puts way too much pressure on your gut and your postpartum stomach and body is just not strong enough. You can begin to do them when you are fully recovered.
No planks after pregnancy if you haven't recovered your inner strength and healed your Diastasis recti. Lesson learned!
//Nicole Hellgren
