Are you recently postpartum and looking to get back in shape after having your baby? Are you dealing with diastis recti (ab separation) from pregnancy? Keep reading to see which workout program I LOVED that helped me heal my stage 4 diastis recti with my last pregnacy!
Please note, this entire post is in no way intended to be medical advice; you should always seek the counsel of your medical providers in making decisions for yourself.
Many product links in this post are affiliate links. If you choose to use them I may make commission off of purchases, thanks for supporting our family if you do.
The Diagnosis - Diastis Recti (Ab Separation)
This past summer, after giving birth to our second child, Hazel Grace, I suffered a stage 4 diastisis recti, which is one of the widest levels of ab separation. But I didn’t know I had DR right away. I just knew I really was struggling physically with pelvic floor pain in my pregnancy from not working out well during pregnancy, and wanted my body strong again to serve my family and prepare my body to have more babies should God grant them to us in the future!
I enrolled myself in pelvic floor physical therapy, but the wait list was so long I knew I needed to start something before they could get me in, so I did a little digging to see if I could find a program to help me get back in shape. I wished I had done it with our son, but I thought having had a c-section with our son that pelvic floor physical therapy was only if I’d had a vaginal birth. Turns out, nope it can help with postpartum for c-section mamas too because your pelvic floor and core are all working together during pregnancy not just birth. I was feeling good and ready for a workout routine, and my midwife cleared me for some postpartum specific exercise, and I dug in.
A couple weeks later, I went to my follow up midwife appointment, your typical 6 week appointment (mine was a bit later again due to booking issues), and it was at this appointment I was shocked to find out I had diastis recti. Actually both my midwife and later my PT, would conclude I had a level 4, which is one of the widest classifications of the ab separation-where four fingers could fit between the left and right side of my abs!
I noticed that some of my workouts felt pretty difficult, and now I knew why. So soon after this diagnosis, I realized the program I was doing, though educating on DR, wasn't geared specifically for DR, and I wanted a program that could help me heal. I found one designed just for this and they claimed that ALL the exercises were safe for DR. In fact Weill Cornell did a study and 100% of women who did the 12 week program had resolved DR! (see info and published study here.)
Switching to Every Mother
Though the other program I was using gave amazing education and taught some safety issues, it didn't design the workouts for DR recovery. I didn't know what I should do, or not do, and felt like they were harder than I could handle. So I switched. I tried the Every Mother Program and absolutely loved it and healed my diastisis with their 12 week program and was recently graduated from PT early December!
Top 3 Reasons I Loved Using Every Mother
Now, while I would not want to discourage anyone from going to PT, and want to note that this entire post is in no way intended to be medical advice; you should always seek the counsel of your medical providers in making decisions for yourself, I will say that I feel like I am grateful to have experienced PT-but my real progress, and education really came from the Every Mother program, in my opinion. And I know that is a BOLD statement! But even my PT was so impressed with the education I had been receiving, that I shared with her in our initial conversations at our evaluation meeting, that she wanted to know which app I had been using and wrote down the name. Below are my top 3 reasons I loved this program!
Cost Effective
One of the things I really loved about this program is the cost. Two months of the program cost about the exact same as 1 Physical Therapy Session after our insurance! That is huge in my mind! I chose to do PT along with the program because I wanted to compare what I was learning, and the exercises recommended. I also wanted someone who was trained to evaluate me for DR and do a physcial pelvic floor exam, which is just not possible through an app. Along with this, having the guidance of a live human, in hopes that I could use the information from the PT sessions again one day, should we be blessed with more pregnancies and babies in the future, was important to me. So I went to my appointments, and worked all the way through till she actually graduated me.
What I found however, was that many of the workouts/exercises were already incorporated into the workouts I was doing on the app-or I found the moves and exercises on the app more beneficial and they just seemed better designed and taught. Such as the core compressions segment.
Amazing Education
As mentioned earlier, the education of this program was astounding! When first beginning their 12 week recovery program just about every day had an educational video in addition to the workouts for the first few weeks-and it was SO helpful. I thought I knew a lot about pregnancy etc., but boy did I still have a lot to learn! I not only learned what was safe or not safe for my abs, but how to safely get up and down from the floor, how to lay down properly, what your poop is supposed to look like-yep I said poop, and so much more. This app is designed with Physical Therapists, and with your subscription, you have acess to chat with them if you have questions!
Easy at Home Workouts
The other amazing thing with this program is that you can do the workouts at home with very little equipment. It does focus on low impact, strength building exercises, so because you're working on building strength, it does use weights in a majority of workouts and resistance bands occasionally. But again, the cost of grabbing a few weights compared to lots of PT visits, hiring a personal trainer, or paying for a gym membership still made this very affordable in comparison.
The schedule was super achievable especially for someone who has struggled to stay consistent with daily workouts. Roughly each day your schedule is a “core compression” series (10 mins) to start your practice, followed by a workout (20-30 mins) and then a pelvic floor lengthening exercise (2-3 mins). They encourage you that even if all you can get in is that core compression series to at least to do that. And I’m not gonna lie many many days I told myself to just get that done and see how I felt. I did my workouts during naptime, and with a new born and a toddler I was tired by naptime myself. But you know what? Once I got going and did the core compressions it motivated me to keep going and finish the rest!! It’s amazing what our mindset can talk us in or out of.
You can try it for FREE!
If you are postpartum, either recently, or years down the road, I encourage you to look into Every Mother and consult with your health care team. You can learn more here and even try it free for 7 days!** And if you do decide to give it a try I hope you love it as much as I did.
Links
Many product links in this post are affiliate links. If you choose to use them I may make commission off of purchases, thanks for supporting our family if you do.
**See Every Mother for details-subject to change.
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