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Should I do planks with diastasis recti?

I get asked this ALL the time. You might of heard that you should never do planks postpartum if you have any sort of ab separation, but that’s not always the case.

When done properly planks are a great full body movement that helps work the core, upper body and stabilizing muscles of the back.

When should you skip or modify?
If while you’re holding a plank you see your belly doming, feel like you just can’t hold the ab contraction, or feel it more in your lower back or neck… you may need to modify.

I assess each client’s plank and keep a careful eye on what’s going on with their core while they are in it (especially while they breathe).

Learning how to breathe properly, engage the TAs and activate the muscles of the glutes and pelvic floor will help keep your body in one straight line and get you to a point where you are actually building strength instead of struggling through it.

If you aren’t quite there start with incline planks, modified knee planks or quadruped planks. Hold as long as you can with proper form (even if it’s only 10 seconds) and work up from there.

There are no hard and fast rules on what to do and not do when recovering postpartum, it’s more about learning the signs and knowing how to modify so you are building strength in the right ways.

Longer holds are not always better !!

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