Diastasis Recti Exercises: A Gentle Place to Start

If you have been told you have a tummy gap, or you have noticed a ridge down your middle when you sit up, diastasis recti exercises are usually where the conversation starts. This guide explains what the gap is, how to check it yourself, five gentle movements to begin with and which exercises to leave alone for now. It is written for anyone in the first year after birth, and it is not a substitute for being assessed properly.

TL;DR

• Diastasis recti is a widening of the gap between the two halves of the abdominal muscle. It is normal in pregnancy and very common straight after birth.
• It improves on its own for many people in the first couple of months without any specific intervention.
• How the middle feels under load matters more than how many fingers fit in the gap.
• Start with breathing and connection work, then add gentle load. Slow beats hard.
• Avoid anything that makes your stomach cone or dome upward until that stops happening.
• See a women's health physiotherapist if there is doming you cannot control, back pain, leaking, or no change after a few months.

Context and audience

Your rectus abdominis runs in two halves down the front of your abdomen, joined by a band of connective tissue called the linea alba. During pregnancy that band stretches and thins to make room, and the two halves move apart. That separation is diastasis recti, and it is a normal adaptation rather than an injury.

What surprises people is how common it is. Some degree of separation is present in the large majority of women by the end of pregnancy, and a good proportion of it resolves in the weeks after birth without anyone doing anything in particular. So a gap found at six weeks is not a verdict on how the next year will go.

The other thing worth knowing early: the width of the gap is not the whole story. Clinicians increasingly look at the tension in the linea alba, meaning whether the tissue can generate stiffness and transfer force across the midline, rather than only counting finger-widths. A narrow gap that collapses under load can be less functional than a wider one that stays firm. That is why the exercises below are about control and pressure management rather than closing a measurement.

The NHS covers the broader picture of recovery in its guidance on your body after the birth, and Tommy's covers what to expect in the early weeks.

How to check for a gap yourself

This is a rough screen, not a diagnosis. If anything is painful, stop.

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Place your fingertips just above your belly button, pointing down towards your feet.
• Lift your head and shoulders slightly off the floor, as though starting a very small curl up.
• Feel for the two firm edges of muscle either side of your fingers, and note how many fingers fit between them.
• Repeat just below the belly button and a few centimetres above it, because the gap varies along its length.
• Now the more useful part: notice whether the tissue between the edges feels springy and supportive, or soft and sinking.

Two fingers or fewer is generally considered within a typical range. More than that, or a middle that feels like your fingers sink straight in, is worth getting assessed rather than self-managing.

Watch for doming

Before any exercise, learn to spot doming. When the abdominal wall cannot manage the pressure inside it, the middle pushes outward into a ridge or cone shape, usually during a sit-up type movement or when getting out of bed.

Doming is your signal to regress the exercise. It does not mean damage is being done, but it does mean the load is beyond what the midline can currently transfer, so you get more from an easier version. Watch your stomach during every movement below for the first few weeks, or put a hand there if you cannot see it.

Five gentle diastasis recti exercises to start with

1. Connection breath

The foundation, and the least impressive-looking thing you will ever do.

• Lie on your back, knees bent, one hand on your ribs and one on your stomach.
• Breathe in and let your ribs widen sideways and your stomach soften.
• Breathe out slowly through pursed lips and, as you do, gently draw your pelvic floor up and let your lower stomach draw in a little.
• Release completely on the next breath in. The release is not optional.
• Ten slow breaths.

You are training the coordination between the diaphragm, deep abdominals and pelvic floor. Everything below is built on it, and if you only do one thing, do this.

2. Heel slides

Adds a small load while you keep the connection.

• Same starting position. Find the exhale and gentle draw-in from the exercise above.
• Slowly slide one heel along the floor until the leg is nearly straight, keeping your back in the same position.
• Slide it back. Your stomach should stay flat, with no coning.
• Alternate legs, five to eight each side.

If your back arches or your middle domes, do not slide as far. Half the range done well beats full range done badly.

3. Glute bridge with a ball

• Knees bent, feet hip width, a small ball between your knees.
• Squeeze the ball gently, breathe out, and lift your hips until your body makes a straight line from knee to shoulder.
• Lower slowly, one vertebra at a time.
• Eight to ten repetitions.

The ball is not doing anything magic. It gives you something to press against, and most people find the deep core far easier to locate with that feedback than without it. A cushion works if you do not have one.

4. Side-lying clam with a loop

• Lie on your side, knees bent to about 45 degrees, a light loop just above the knees.
• Keeping your feet together and your pelvis still, lift the top knee against the loop.
• Lower with control. Ten each side.

Hips and glutes matter here because they share the job of stabilising your pelvis with your abdominal wall. Strengthening them reduces how much the midline has to do. Our routine of fabric glute resistance band exercises has more in the same vein.

5. Bird dog, regressed

• On all fours, hands under shoulders, knees under hips, spine neutral.
• Breathe out and slide one leg back along the floor, keeping your hips level. Do not lift it yet.
• Return and swap. When that is easy with no doming and no hip drop, progress to lifting the leg a few centimetres.
• The opposite arm comes in later still.

Most people are given the full version far too early. Sliding rather than lifting is the version that builds the control you need.

What to leave alone for now

• Sit-ups, crunches and full curl-ups. The classic doming movements. They are not banned forever, but they are a later step.
• Double leg lowers and V-sits. High pressure through the midline with very little control available.
• Full planks, early on. Regress to an incline against a worktop or your knees, and watch for the middle sagging.
• Heavy lifting while holding your breath. The breath hold spikes pressure exactly where you do not want it.
• Twisting crunches. Combine rotation with flexion and the midline gets the worst of both.

Also worth saying: abdominal binders and support garments get recommended a lot online. They have a legitimate role after some surgery, but they are a clinical decision rather than something to buy speculatively, because passive support does not build the tension you are trying to develop.

Kit you might find useful

None of this is required, and no piece of equipment treats diastasis recti. What kit does is make the gentle work easier to feel and more likely to happen. A small ball for the bridges, a light loop for the clams, and something comfortable to lie on covers everything above.

Our Postnatal Recovery Kit includes a light fabric loop, a soft ball, a latex-free band, a cotton strap and a printed pelvic floor guide for £14.99. Buy it because it saves you assembling four separate things, not because it will close a gap.

Shop the Postnatal Recovery Kit

When to get assessed

Book an assessment rather than carrying on alone if you have doming you cannot control with regression, back or pelvic pain, leaking, a heavy dragging sensation, or no change after around three months of consistent gentle work.

A women's health physiotherapist can assess the tension in the linea alba rather than just measuring the gap, and will progress you far faster than guessing. You can be referred through a GP, and the Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy network and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy both list qualified practitioners.

FAQs

Can diastasis recti exercises close the gap completely?

Sometimes, but that is the wrong target. Many people regain full function with a gap that is still measurable, because what matters is whether the midline can transfer load rather than how many fingers fit in it. Judge progress by what you can do without doming, not by the measurement.

How long do diastasis recti exercises take to work?

Expect to think in months rather than weeks. A lot of natural improvement happens in the first eight weeks after birth regardless of what you do, and consistent gentle work over three to six months is a realistic timeframe for noticeable functional change. Doing a little most days beats a long session once a week.

When can I start diastasis recti exercises after giving birth?

Breathing and gentle connection work can usually start early, often within the first weeks, but anything loading the abdominal wall should wait for clearance. After a caesarean the timeline is longer because it is major abdominal surgery. Your postnatal check is the natural point to ask.

Are planks bad for diastasis recti?

Full planks are usually too much too early rather than inherently bad. If your middle sags or domes, the load is beyond what you can currently control, so regress to an incline against a worktop or drop to your knees. Progress back to the full version once you can hold it with a flat midline and normal breathing.

Do resistance bands help with diastasis recti?

Indirectly. Bands and loops build the glutes, hips and upper back, which reduces how much work the abdominal wall has to do to stabilise you. They do not act on the linea alba itself, so treat them as supporting equipment rather than treatment.

Does diastasis recti come back with a second pregnancy?

Separation happens again in most subsequent pregnancies, because it is a normal adaptation to a growing uterus. Going into the pregnancy with better control tends to make the recovery afterwards more straightforward, which is an argument for keeping the gentle work going rather than for avoiding another pregnancy.

Conclusion

Start with the breath, add load slowly, and use doming as your guide rather than a tape measure. Most of the progress comes from doing a small amount most days for months, which is far less exciting than the exercises people usually search for but considerably more effective.

When you are ready to build the rest back, our 12-week postnatal return to fitness plan sequences it, and Pilates for core strength covers the next stage of deep core work. If anything above causes pain, doming you cannot regress away, or leaking, get assessed before continuing.