{"id":2130,"date":"2021-08-07T07:36:36","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T07:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.mutusystem.com\/en-us\/?p=2130"},"modified":"2026-08-09T16:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T16:55:11","slug":"exercising-with-diastasis-recti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mutusystem.com\/en-us\/diastasis-recti\/exercising-with-diastasis-recti\/","title":{"rendered":"Exercising with Diastasis Recti: Which Ab Exercises Are Safe?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the other way round: what’s safe, what to build towards, and how to know when you’re ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What matters is readiness. Rebuild your core foundations first, then reintroduce loaded movements gradually, watching how your body responds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A randomized controlled trial led by Sandra Gluppe at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences<\/a> found that curl-up exercises improved abdominal muscle strength in postpartum women with diastasis recti, without worsening the gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In July 2026, a scoping review by Nina-Margrethe Theodorsen, Gr\u00e1inne Donnelly and Professor Kari B\u00f8<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That isn’t damage. It’s a readiness signal \u2014 the load is ahead of where you are today. The answer is to back up a stage, not to give up on the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crunches, planks and heavy lifting are not bad or taboo exercises. No movement is. But the foundations come first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before you train your abs hard, the deeper muscles need to be recruiting properly \u2014 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A small gap may not be a problem at all. You can have a strong, functional core with a gap remaining \u2014 and that’s a far better goal than a number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Save the harder progressions until you can manage the extra load without doming, straining or symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Progressing a plank:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More on how to reintroduce crunches and curl-ups safely.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat the latest research says (updated August 2026)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhy crunches and planks got their reputation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Exercising with diastasis recti – building the foundations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to re-introduce ab exercises<\/h2>\n\n\n\n