The diastasis (distension of the tissue in between the recti of the abdomen) affects EVERY woman from the third trimester of pregnancy. This is one of the main causes of the mommy pooch! You should know that with the proper exercises, you can improve the strength of this tissue.

First of all, let me share with you that we should find a new name for this concept. Something preferably related to the MASSIVE ACHIEVEMENT that your body just made to create a perfect human being. The “mommy pooch”, “mum’s tummy” or “mommy’s tummy overhang” are different terms to name the increased volume in the area under the belly button. The appearance of this area concerns a lot of women after a baby birth. Unfortunately, It’s expected to be “back in shape” without considering the healing time of the body. The mommy pooch and the diastasis care generate a lot of insecurities in women. Let me show you how to take care of this in a proper way!

If you are searching about this, maybe you have been checking on social media for different exercises to make your abdomen look flat. Keep reading if you want to learn how to perform diastasis-mommy pooch exercises properly.

Let’s learn what is the mommy pooch in reality 

Do you know that the muscle making your abdomen flat is the transverse abdominis?

You need to learn how to engage the transverse of the abdomen.  This muscle surrounds the abdomen giving stability to the CORE. The transverse muscle spends 9 months distended to allow a baby to grow inside your womb. It’s a matter of time and work before the transverse comes back to its initial shape.

The mommy pooch is generally caused by the lack of strength of the transverse muscle and the distension of the connective tissue in between the muscle fibres, known as the linea alba or diastasis recti. Diastasis or mommy pooch exercises will focus on the proper activation of the transverse muscle!

Due to genetics, some women will not go back to the exact same body as before being pregnant. Luckily, this fact my dear friends is COMPLETELY FINE. While your transverse muscle is strong enough to give stability to your abdomen, there is no biological need to reduce its circumference. While you don’t have back pain ( yes, the lack of strength in the transverse gives back pain), you don’t feel bloated or constipated and you don’t have incontinence… your mummy pooch is not a problem AT ALL. Nevertheless, there might be an aesthetic standard you want to fit into, and this is also fine.

Anyways, if your objective is not the appearance of your abdomen but you feel that your abdomen doesn’t engage properly visit a physiotherapist specialized in women’s health or in the pelvic floor.

Why visit a physiotherapist to work on your abdomen?

The transverse of the abdomen gives stability to the connective tissue called linea alba or diastasis recti. Women with a “mommy pooch” (Damn! I hate this term) may have diastasis recti or not. After your baby’s birth, you should check if your transverse is working properly with a pelvic floor specialist to be sure about this. If the problem is the diastasis recti you should learn which exercises increase your core activation without making the diastasis bigger. Curiously, In the consultation, women expect to be told that their transverse is not working properly because they have diastasis. But once we do the assessment… we discover that the problem is THE PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLES!

The transverse best friend is the pelvic floor, every time one is activated the other one activates too. After both vaginal and abdominal (c-section) birth, the synergy between the transverse and the pelvic floor muscles may disappear. The lack of synergy makes that even if you work in your CORE you don’t feel it engaging. If you don’t work on your pelvic floor your muscles, and the abdomen will never arrive at its 100% of strength. So, diastasis or mommy pooch exercises should involve the activation of the pelvic floor too!

Ideally, try to learn how to work in your transverse muscle and pelvic floor during pregnancy to avoid back pain. This will also speed up the recovery process in the postpartum so you won’t need to worry about any mommy pooch 😊

The best way of assessing a diastasis of the recti of the abdomen is with an ultrasound making an echography.

With the help of the ultrasound, we are able to identify the muscles’ activation, the strength of the tissue of the diastasis and the synergy between the CORE muscles. This procedure can be manual too but the echography is much more accurate. In order to specify a program for diastasis recovery you MUST get your pelvic floor checked. Missing the pelvic floor assessment is a common mistake that leads to healing delays. The pelvic floor is a main component of the CORE. To heal the diastasis you need to work on your CORE activation. So you need your pelvic floor to work in your diastasis-mummy pooch exercises!

Diastasis or mommy pooch exercises involve the transverse, recti of the abdomen and the pelvic floor working in synergy.

Summarizing the previous information, to make your abdomen look flatter you need to:

1. Learn how to work in your transverse muscle.
2. Check how is your linea alba or diastasis recti (preferably with an echography)
3. Check your pelvic floor!
4. Try to start working during your pregnancy, if you didn’t know about this have it clear that is never too late to start!

I would like to add that this process of recovery should help you to love your body and admire the achievements that you are able to make with it. Instead of making you feel guilty about having a “mommy pooch” your exercise program should be fun and make you feel full of energy. As you see this topic is deep enough to make another post!

If you want to check your abdomen and pelvic floor do not hesitate to contact me!

Marina Vecino Pérez

Physiotherapist specialized in pelvic floor rehabilitation