Crunches, planks, yoga, Pilates, running, lifting. If you have diastasis recti, you’ve probably been given a list of things not to do, and very little sense of when you might do them again.
This is the other way round: what’s safe, what to build towards, and how to know when you’re ready.
Can I do ab exercises if I have Diastasis Recti?
Yes. Current research shows that ab exercises, including crunches and curl-ups, are safe with diastasis recti and do not make the gap worse. Trials show curl-ups build abdominal strength without widening the separation.
What matters is readiness. Rebuild your core foundations first, then reintroduce loaded movements gradually, watching how your body responds.
What the latest research says (updated August 2026)
The advice on this has changed, and MUTU has updated with it. For years, women with diastasis recti were told to avoid whole categories of exercise. Newer evidence does not support that.
A randomized controlled trial led by Sandra Gluppe at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences found that curl-up exercises improved abdominal muscle strength in postpartum women with diastasis recti, without worsening the gap.
In July 2026, a scoping review by Nina-Margrethe Theodorsen, Gráinne Donnelly and Professor Kari Bø, published in the Journal of Women’s & Pelvic Health Physical Therapy, went further. It found that abdominal widening in pregnancy is a normal adaptation rather than an injury, that abdominal and pelvic floor exercise is safe, and that improving strength, function and confidence matters more than the millimetres of the gap. It called for guidelines to move away from restriction and toward confident, progressive exercise.
It also named something MUTU has said for years: fear-based messaging is itself a harm. Being frightened of your own body keeps you still, and stillness is the thing that actually holds recovery back.
Why crunches and planks got their reputation
The concern was always about pressure. Performed before your deep core and pelvic floor are working well together, a crunch or full plank can increase pressure inside your abdomen faster than your body can manage it.
You can see it happening. Look straight down as you curl up and you may notice a cone shape, a bread-loaf shape, or a pregnant-looking belly. You may feel like you’re falling out at the front.
That isn’t damage. It’s a readiness signal — the load is ahead of where you are today. The answer is to back up a stage, not to give up on the movement.
Exercising with diastasis recti – building the foundations
Crunches, planks and heavy lifting are not bad or taboo exercises. No movement is. But the foundations come first.
Before you train your abs hard, the deeper muscles need to be recruiting properly — actually kicking in and working. Your transverse abdominis, your obliques, your rectus abdominis and your pelvic floor all work as one system, and after pregnancy that system often needs reminding.
This phase of mind-to-muscle reconnection, learning to engage the right muscles first in isolation and then together, is what MUTU System is designed to do.
A small gap may not be a problem at all. You can have a strong, functional core with a gap remaining — and that’s a far better goal than a number.
How to re-introduce ab exercises
Start with a tiny range of movement. Don’t lift your head and shoulders high off the ground; there’s no real benefit to curling right up. Keep the levers short, so knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Inhale fully with your head and shoulders relaxed on the floor. Exhale slowly, gently engaging your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles as you lift your head and shoulders just off the floor. Relax completely back down on the inhale. Watch for doming or straining, and stay aware of how your pelvic floor feels.
Then add demand one change at a time: straighten your legs slightly, take your arms overhead, or hold a small ball between your palms as you lift. Each of these has a big effect on your ability to maintain tension through the midline, so don’t stack them.
Save the harder progressions until you can manage the extra load without doming, straining or symptoms.
Progressing a plank: start on all fours and gradually shimmy your knees back, keeping your shoulders over your hands. That slowly increases the load on your abs. If you start to shake, or feel like you’re falling out at the front, that’s your limit for today. Bring your knees back in, stay there a while, and try again next time.
More on how to reintroduce crunches and curl-ups safely.
What to watch for
Don’t hold your breath. It’s a common habit during ab work, often without realising, and it builds pressure that pushes your belly out and bears down on your pelvic floor.
Watch too for your hip flexors and lower back taking the strain, which happens especially if you anchor your feet. When that happens the muscles you meant to target aren’t doing the work, so you get the strain without the benefit.
Signs to back up a stage
- Bulging or doming anywhere on your abdomen during any exercise
- Bulging in or from your vagina or rectum, or any feeling of heaviness or bearing down
- Pain in your back, pelvis, abdomen, hips or leg
- Leaking urine or feces when you sneeze, laugh or cough, or as you rush to the toilet
None of these mean you’ve done damage. They mean today’s version was too much. Back up a stage, and build from there.
If you’re unsure, a pelvic health physical therapist can check your technique. Good care should leave you more confident, not more afraid.
Functional movement, and why it comes first
In conversations about fitness, the idea that everyday movement is the best place to start gets lost in talk of reps, weight and speed.
Evolutionary biologist Daniel E. Lieberman makes the point that humans evolved to move, but that exercise — voluntary physical activity for the sake of health and fitness — is a recent invention. So if you feel lazy for not fitting in a workout after having a baby, know that your body isn’t wired to want one. It is wired to move.
That’s why functional movement, done well, is one of the most useful ways to rebuild core strength with diastasis recti. The seven human functional movements are squat, bend, lunge, core, push, pull and cyclical — and they show up as walking, squatting, glute bridges, hip circles and arm swings.
Lieberman also points out that movement has always been social. Join a walking group, take a postpartum class, dance around the kitchen. It all counts.
Is yoga okay with diastasis recti?
Yes, with the same principle: some poses ask more of a recovering core than others.
Deep backbends like wheel or full upward dog, and strong twisting or flexion under load, place high demand on your abdominal wall. Treat those as progressions rather than starting points. Build your foundations, then use the doming and heaviness signals above to judge when you’re ready.
Gentler backbends, bridges, and supported variations are a good place to begin. Tell your instructor you have diastasis recti (DR) or are more than 12 weeks pregnant, so they can offer adjustments.
Can I do Pilates with diastasis recti?
Yes. Like yoga, some Pilates exercises are more demanding on a recovering core than others, but with the right progressions Pilates can be genuinely helpful.
Pilates is very focused on the core, so an instructor who understands diastasis recti is worth seeking out. Useful early modifications include keeping one foot or hand grounded rather than lifting both, using props for support, and leaving out deep twists until you’re ready for them.
Is walking okay to do with diastasis recti?
Walking is one of the best things you can do. It’s a foundational movement, and most clinical guidance recommends a ten-minute walk several times a week as soon as you feel ready after birth.
While you walk, pay attention to your posture and your breathing. That alone helps you reconnect with your core and pelvic floor, and builds towards doing more.
Does diastasis recti heal on its own?
IOften, yes. Most of the recovery happens in the first six months after birth, with improvement continuing through the first year. That’s your body doing what it’s designed to do.
For some women a gap remains, and that’s common too — around a third still have some separation a year on. If that’s you, it doesn’t mean something has gone wrong.
And it’s never too late to rebuild a strong, functional core, whether your baby is eight weeks or eighteen years old. MUTU has had grandmothers use the program and get their strength and confidence back.
Whether you’re eight weeks or eight years postpartum, starting slowly and building methodically will get you further than going hard and fast.
The gap was never the whole story.
