As a prenatal personal trainer, I speak to a lot of pregnant women, and a lot of women who consider themselves pretty fit. They’ve been in workout classes their whole lives, have a training routine that works for them, and seem to know their body pretty well.
So I can’t tell you how much it pains me when I ask a pregnant mama about their plan for prenatal fitness and I hear, “Oh I’m doing all my old workouts, I’m just skipping ab work!”
For some reason, and I truly don’t know where the idea came from, women have been led to believe that it is not safe to train your abdominal muscles during pregnancy. That it could somehow be unsafe for you or the baby.
In actuality, this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
First let’s take a minute to imagine what it would look like for a normal person to take nine months off from abdominal work. Then let’s say there are about three months postpartum where you are recovering and not training your core either. That adds up to an entire year without training the core muscles, which are essential for providing support, stability, control, and power to the rest of your body.
You can imagine that even without the stretching, shifting, and strain on the core that comes with pregnancy, your core would be pretty weakened after a year without training it. It would feel soft rather than tense, it would be difficult to connect to, and movements that were once simple would feel difficult.
And yet, when many women return to exercise postpartum, they are shocked and discouraged by the state of their core, and are surprised to have issues like back pain, hernias, weakness, leaking, and pelvic floor dysfunction. This experience has become so common, that many women have resigned themselves to this experience.
“Your abs will never be the same.” “You’ll pee your pants when you sneeze.” “Your back will hurt all the time.”
The part that no one discusses is: What if this was all preventable?
Because truth be told, my clients who DO train their core and pelvic floor consistently throughout their pregnancies have a vastly different experience. They have less back pain, less leaking, and their cores often feel strong and intact even at just a few weeks postpartum.
Can we guarantee these results? Of course not, because there are many many factors that go into your core recovery, including genetics, tissue tension, exercise history, number of pregnancies, and more.
However, when you train the core properly throughout your entire pregnancy, you significantly reduce your risk of developing many of these issues, and you set yourself up for an easier recovery postpartum. (National Childbirth Trust)
So why have I been told not to do specific movements like crunches, planks, and laying on my back?
While for the most part it’s lack of prenatal fitness education that brings instructors and trainers to make these blanket statements, it’s true that there ARE certain movements that can be counterproductive to core integrity, and that should be avoided at certain points in pregnancy. Our main concern when ruling out certain movements is trying not to contribute to abdominal separation, or diastasis recti. (Read my blog post on reducing your risk of diastasis recti for more info.)
But the answer is not cutting out core work entirely, because there is an entire world of core exercises we can do during pregnancy that are immensely helpful, AND do not increase your risk of diastasis recti. The main core movements we want to focus on are:
Deep core training (transverse abdominis)
Breathwork
Pelvic floor training, including strengthening AND relaxing the pelvic floor
Working on the deep core and pelvic floor creates support for the growing belly, kind of like a sling or hammock to support the weight of the baby. Keeping those muscles strong also fights back against stretching and lengthening that make recovery harder. Lastly, strong core muscles and pelvic floor muscles that can relax on command make the birth experience vastly easier.
All that support you provide to the torso with a strong deep core leads to:
Less back pain and pelvic pain in late pregnancy
Less leaking and pelvic floor dysfunction postpartum
Reduced risk of tearing during birth
Reduced risk of emergency cesarean section
An easier return to exercise
Ok, ok, I get it! I should NOT be skipping core work! But how do I know what movements are safe, and which are off limits??
My short answer: Work with a pro. And not just any trainer, someone with vast training and experience in the world of prenatal fitness. Choosing which exercises are safe for which points in pregnancy is not an easy assignment, and should be based on lots of hands-on experience. Your standard Youtube workouts are likely not covering this info, and it’s not something I suggest winging.
That’s why I’ve created the Prenatal Core Kit to take all the guesswork out, and give you everything you need to train your core safely and effectively throughout your entire pregnancy.
You’ll get 12 videos to teach you everything we couldn’t fit in this article about the pelvic floor, the deep core, and how to train both, followed by eight core workouts to cover every week of your pregnancy.
It’s a perfect supplement to your current workout routine, so you never have to say “I’m just skipping abs!” ever again! Grab the Prenatal Core Kit here.
Julia Neto is a prenatal and postpartum fitness expert with over eight years of experience in the space, and the founder of Her Move Wellness. She's a NASM CPT, CES Prenatal and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, NASM Certified Nutrition Coach, and Birthsmarter Pro. Julia's passion is helping women feel strong, secure, and informed in their bodies through pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and beyond. Her Move Wellness is a platform that makes safe and effective fitness affordable and accessible for women across the globe.
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