The Secret to Building Core Strength Postpartum
The secret to building core strength after baby?
Deadbugs? Crunches? While there are core exercises I love to incorporate in postpartum fitness programs, the real “secret sauce” is about integration.
Wait, what?!
Hang with me.
Your core is how you stabilize, and makes a huge impact on how you move. When you integrate the muscles of the core and breathe well, you create intra-abdominal pressure and stability from the inside out. Essentially, we are training the muscles of the core to work in harmony with one another for balance and stability. Often in core training there is a focus placed on muscles in isolation, such as crunches for more rectus abdominis or “drawing in/TVA contractions” for TVA strength. But, how can we get the muscles to work together to support the system / body as a whole?
Without the integration and pressure management, we are missing a key piece in building some kick butt core strength!
Tension Focus
Have you been ever told to “squeeze, brace, suck in, or pretend someone was going to punch you in the stomach” for core work? In the media there is often a big emphasis on a “tension” strategy. Ultimately this involves searching for stability from the OUTSIDE in and compressing ourselves. Societal pressures to look smaller AND the images on social media certainly don’t help.
Optimal core training and strength creates a pressure strategy, stabilizing from the inside out. So, how do we do this?
Breathe well: build a dynamic ribcage
One of the biggest things I work with mamas on is unlocking the rib cage. If your rib cage doesn’t move well, then getting a 360 degree breath will feel difficult. Do you ever notice a part of your back, chest, or sides feels sort of “stuck?”
The ability of the diaphragm to contract and relax is dependent on a rib cage that can expand and compress. If the rib cage cannot move, the diaphragm and the pelvic floor cannot do their thing, which is important for pressure management.
Inhale: Diaphragm descends and increases intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). The pelvic floor responds by lengthening eccentrically under tension. Remember pressure isn’t a bad thing. We need it. We just need to learn how to manage it well.
Exhale: Diaphragm ascends into its dome shape again and abdominal wall and pelvic floor respond by shortening concentrically under tension. Pelvic floor ascends. This piston effect helps regulate pressure in our bodies.
Postpartum when our abdominals are in a lengthened position and feel “checked out,” we start with the breathing and reestablishing this relationship between the diaphragms. The diaphragm is the queen of the core muscles.
TLDR: Rib cage mobility and the ability to breathe in and out with ease is a huge piece in core training, managing pressure, building full body strength, and diastasis recti healing.
Find a Stacked body position
We talk about "the stack" because it's a great visual for a ribs over pelvis position. Essentially, it’s our “neutral” position. Many postpartum mamas are in an anterior tilt (open scissor position). In this position our thorax (rib cage) pushes in front of our ribs with the ribs flared. Think chest up and booty popping, J Lo style. An anterior tilt isn't "bad" (many athletes need access to this position for their sport), but we want to be able to access other positions too!
Why does the stack matter?
If we want to manage pressure and breathe effectively then we need to control the position of our pelvis so the diaphragm / pelvic floor can coordinate well with every breath. This coordination is what helps us build core strength and address things like diastasis recti, leaking, pelvic organ prolapse, and low back pain.
The stack is about restoring movement options.
In a more extended position it’s more challenging for the diaphragms to communicate and manage pressure. We will have to work harder to stand upright against gravity and breathe with ease.
In the BUILDCore program, we start by learning how to stack our bodies forward and back in the sagittal plane before progressing to more challenging core work. Lots of hamstrings and lots of deep abdominals and breathing. This will be key for addressing low back pain, feeling your lower abdominals, and feeling like a badass!
Get the neck and accessory muscles to chill
Sometimes we can get “stuck” in a specific breathing pattern. If we are overusing our neck and accessory muscles to pull air in and taking short shallow breaths throughout our day, we aren’t fully using our diaphragm. This may be accompanied by a forward head and/or rounded shoulders.
The goal: We need to get the diaphragm better positioned and the rib cage down and moving so we can use our diaphragm as the primary muscle of breathing. This takes time, but essentially we are restoring our ability to expand.
When performing breathing exercises, I highly encourage props. Resting your head on a pillow or towel can be really helpful for calming the neck muscles. You can also incorporate myofascial release techniques and work with a Pelvic Floor PT on manual techniques to calm the area down, while you also work on rib cage expansion. Below if one of my new favorites for chest expansion in a 90/90.
Apply this to other activities and more demanding positions
Once you have the breathing and pressure management down, you can apply that skill to everything you do throughout your day. Everything becomes a core exercise when you can breathe well and maintain a good position. Just a few things in mom life that require some serious mom strength:
Pushing a stroller
Lifting a carseat into the car
Holding baby for extended periods of time
Picking toys off the ground
Pretty much everything!! :)
And don’t be afraid to progress and add challenge. That is a key piece to diastasis healing and getting stronger overall.
You can explore what this integration looks like in practice in my BUILDCore program, designed to help you breathe better, connect with and strengthen your abdominals, find a stacked body position, and build some serious core + glute strength! You can start at any stage postpartum (post 6-week check up).
Early postpartum? You can also download my FREE guide.
Feel good mama <3 You got this.
xoxo,
Erica
Social Media Post that dives into Integration HERE.