10-Minute Diastasis Recti Workout

Welcome to Get Healthy U TV. I'm Kate Laing and I'm here for your 10 minute diastasis recti workout. Diastasis recti happens postpartum. The easiest way to find if you have an abdominal separation is to come down to your mat or floor and curl up for me. So when we come into cervical flection, or head neck and shoulders come off the mat, you can sometimes see a rainbow or like little bulge of muscle. Take a finger and place it in between that muscle. If you have a small separation, that's diastasis recti. So if it's two inches or more, so two fingers about approximately, or more, you might want to consult with a PT or your doctor before you start your exercises. If you're smaller than two inches, try these exercises before you go to the gym and hit those crunches and curls. This can really help you bring those abdominal wall back together and get you started safely. So all you need for this workout is a mat, of course. I've got a pillow as a prop which can be really useful. And if you don't have a TheraBand, a flat band at home try just using a long towel. We'll start out on our back and I'm going to have that towel or a Theraband below the small of my back. Starting out lying down, I want you to crisscross your towel or band and pull it. So it's a little bit tight, kind of like an eternal corset. So lifting the pubic bone towards the ceiling we just do a little pelvic curl and we'll exhale out. Inhale, bring it back in. Exhale, lift that pubic bone up, just a little bit of a tilt, not a lift, and bring it back in. Now, you may have noticed I'm starting to pull my arms a little bit with that pelvic curl. So I really want you to feel those deep transverse abdominal muscles, the muscles that are in between your two hip bones triggering. Now let's add a breath to that, please. Inhaling to prepare. Exhale, tighten that belly. Good, so we're really trying to get you to connect the deep muscles that can help you get stronger, longer, and stay upright for the rest of your life. Exhale, curl. Hopefully you're feeling those abs connecting. And three more. It's just a little bit of a pelvic curl. So my pubic bone's just tilting up towards the ceiling. And last one here, curl up and bring it back down. Great job. Let the hands go to the side. The next exercise we'll do is a nice hip opening leg stretch. So one leg will drop down to the side but both hip bones will stay pointed towards that ceiling. I want you to stretch that leg out on your mat, rotate the knee and the toe towards the ceiling, and pull back in using those abdominals. So we let the leg open, not drop. We reach, rotate back up and pull using those belly muscles. Let's do three more here. Reach out, up, pull in, drag. Two, reach, rotate, and in. Last one, reach, rotate, and in, going to that other side again, hips like headlights shining up, rotate, reach, pull, open, lengthen out, exhale, breathe through those pursed lips as you pull in. So really try to focus on the breath with this workout. Keeping the exhales when you're exerting force. Okay, nice, big breathing. And last one on this side, open, reach, slide that leg in. Good. Next one. Arms are gonna reach and pull so it's as simple as it seems. We'll inhale, lengthen both arms out. Exhale, use those abs and pull them in and up. It's okay if your mat slides a little bit at home. Exhale, lift in and up. So we want those feet sliding out, arms reaching. We're trying to keep that rib cage connected a little bit. So if your arms can only come this far back without that rib cage popping, that's where I want you to be today. The feet dragging across the floor and pulling back in. Four more here. And pull, you can see me probably shaking a little bit. Three and pull. Two and reach, slide them in. Try to stay connected to that mat if you can. And last one. Next exercise I like to call bedbug. So my clients all know this one. A little bit of a pelvic curl. We're not shoving our back into the mat but we're just tilting that pubic bone up a little bit. And I want you to think about really tightening that belly. So if I came and poked you in the belly it would tighten up. Right leg to tabletop, left leg will come up to meet it. Hands are going to go to the tops of those knees. And we're going to do a nice isometric hold. Chin to chest, pull the knees in towards the hands, hands in towards the knees and here we go. Exhale, feel that contraction. So it's almost like my ribs are sliding down towards my hip bones and my hip bones are sliding up towards my ribs. My belly's nice and tight. And I want you to just hold this connection. Feel that connection with your abs, cinching that waist nice and tight. I'm shaking a little bit here, guys. We've got about 15 more seconds. Big breathing, inhaling through that nose, exhaling out through pursed lips. Three more, two, and last one. Whoo! Bring those knees in and rock yourself out. From here, we're going to bring right leg to tabletop again, left leg is going to come up to meet it. I want you to bring one hand behind your head. The other arm is going to reach up towards the ceiling. So we'll do a nice oblique, but we're going to have some support behind the head because oftentimes we need that with abdominal separation. So arm up towards the ceiling, you're going to curl up and over the inside of that knee. Hold it tight. I'm pressing my forearm into my knee, feeling my abs connect and I bring it back down nice and slow. Nice big inhale, up and over. Pressure for the back of that forearm, into my knee, knee into my arm, feeling my obliques and bring it back down. Three more on this side, stay with me. Exhale up, support that neck, tighten that belly to the spine and down. And two more, support that neck. Chin to chest, nice and long. And back. And last one on this side, curl up, curl up, curl up, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it. And bring it down. We'll switch sides. Leg stay in tabletop, opposite arm up, and here we go. Cross over, feel that connection and breathe for me. Bring it back down, up and over and back to your shoulders. Three more, pushing into that leg. And bring it back down. Two more, over, hold it, hold it, hold it and back. And last one, hold it, hold it, hold it. And bring it all the way back down. We're going to rock ourselves up. Your strap can stay where it is. We're going to do a little bit of a scoop. So hands behind your legs. We're going to curl or curve that lumbar, or low back. So sitting up nice and tall, going back to that pelvic tilt we started with, we tilt that pubic bone up towards the ceiling just slightly coming away from those sitz bones. My hands slide down my legs and I feel that C curve created in my low back. And then I want you to lift all the way up to those sitz bones. Inhale here, exhale, scoop up those abs. Imagine I'm poking you in that belly. And then tighten to bring it back up. Three more here, scoop out and lift. Use those legs for support. Two more, reach out and lift. Last one here, scoop out and lift. Good, now we're going to add onto that. So we're going to scoop out, hold it for me. Lift your leg, lower your leg and bring it back in. So by adding that leg lift, we're really challenging those deep abs. And in. Four more here, scoop, lift, lower, return. Three left, lift, lower, return. Two more. Roll back on those hips before you lift that leg. This is our last one guys, here we go. Lift, lower, and return. Great job, all right, one more. I'm going to squeeze in one more exercise for you here. Back to our TheraBand, I'm going to take that TheraBand, find that scoop again. This is going to be a doozy. So we're going to do little pulses here, pulsing up and back. I'm using my abs, not my hips. Just little sit-ups. My neck's not doing the work, my abs are really working here. Let's do four more, hug those arms in. Three, two, one. Hold it, one arm straight, one arm back, reach, come forward, twist back, come forward. Really feel those side body muscles working Four. Four more here. You've got this, stay with me. Three, two, and last one. Good, now scoop out those abs, we're adding it all together. We're going to make a row, a reach, open, close. Row, reach, open, close. Keep that scoop for me. Reach, open, close. Six more. Scoop out those abs, big breathing. Five more. Reach, open, close. Four. Open, close. Three. Lift, open, close. Last two! Reach, open, close. Last one. Lift, open, close. Roll yourself forward, stretch out that low back. Give yourself a little bit of support. Stack yourself all the way up. Great job, you guys. So that's 10 minutes of ab exercises that will get you started on reconnecting that diastasis recti.