Why Crunches Are Making Your Postpartum Belly Worse (And What Actually Heals It)

Diastasis Recti Postpartum Recovery for Mums

Sis. If you've had a baby at any point, even years ago, like me and your stomach still doesn't feel right, this article is for you.

You're not "stuck with mum tum." You don't need more crunches. You need to understand what actually happened to your body during pregnancy, and what your core actually needs to heal.

Most mums are walking around with diastasis recti (abdominal separation) and don't know it. The standard fitness advice you've been handed is making it worse. The Instagram workouts that promise "snap-back" abs are working against your body's healing process.

What Diastasis Recti Actually Is

During pregnancy, the muscles that run down the front of your abdomen, the rectus abdominis, often called your "six pack" muscles, physically separate to make room for your growing baby. That gap is normal. That gap is by design.

After birth, the gap is supposed to close. For some women it does, naturally. For most women, especially after multiple pregnancies, large babies, or limited postnatal recovery time it stays open.

That open gap is diastasis recti. It's why your stomach can still look "pregnant" 6 months, 2 years, even 10 years postpartum. It's why your lower back hurts. It's why your core feels weak no matter how many sit-ups you do.

The shocking part is most Muslim mums are not told this exists. Most are not screened for it, or when they get their 6 weeks check, it is very brief and brushed over. Most are sent home with a baby and zero information about what's actually happened to their abdominal wall.

If your belly still looks rounded, your back aches, you leak when you sneeze, or you feel a "doming" or "tenting" when you sit up, you likely have diastasis recti. And there's a clear path to heal it.

Why Crunches and Standard Ab Exercises Make It Worse

Honestly many of the exercises you've been doing to "fix" your stomach are actively widening the gap.

- Crunches and sit-ups pull the separated muscles further apart with every rep

- Planks done too early put pressure on a weakened core that can't yet hold the load

- Burpees, mountain climbers, jumping create intra-abdominal pressure that bulges through the gap

- Heavy lifting before you've reconnected your deep core can worsen the separation

This is why so many Muslim mums are training for years without seeing results. They're using exercises designed for a healthy core on a core that hasn't been healed yet. The harder they work, the worse it gets. They blame themselves.

It's not you sis. It's the order of operations.

What Actually Heals Your Postpartum Core

There is a clear, science-backed pathway to heal diastasis recti and rebuild your core properly. It looks nothing like the Instagram workouts.

Step 1 — Breath work. Your diaphragm and pelvic floor work together. Before any exercise, you need to retrain your breath. Diaphragmatic breathing: slow, deep belly breaths that expand 360 degrees, is the foundation. Most women breathe shallowly into their chest. That has to change first.

Step 2 — Pelvic floor activation. Your pelvic floor is part of your core. After birth, it's often weakened, stretched, or disconnected from your brain. Gentle pelvic floor engagement (a soft lift, like you're stopping the flow of urine) needs to be relearned before anything else loads it.

Step 3 — Deep core (transverse abdominis) reconnection. Your TVA is the deep corset muscle that wraps around your spine. It's the muscle that actually closes diastasis recti. You activate it by gently drawing your belly button in toward your spine WHILE breathing normally. No crunch. No bracing. Just gentle reconnection.

Step 4 — Functional movement. Bird dogs, dead bugs, glute bridges, modified planks (only when ready), these rebuild the integration between core, pelvic floor, glutes, and back.

Step 5 — Strength. Only when steps 1-4 are solid do you start loading the body. Squats, deadlifts, push-ups….yes, eventually. But not before the foundation is rebuilt.

This is the order. Most postpartum programmes skip Steps 1-3 entirely and jump to Step 5. That's why most women never heal properly.

How Long Does Recovery Take

This is the question every Muslim mum asks. The honest answer: it depends.

- For a recent postpartum (under 12 months): 3-6 months of consistent, correct work can close most diastasis fully

- For older postpartum (1-5 years): Months of consistent work, slower, but the body still responds

- For very long postpartum (5+ years): Improvement is still very possible, but expect some months and possibly some persistent gap that strength training can compensate for

You can heal this sis. The body is remarkable. But it needs the right inputs in the right order.

When to Seek Professional Help

Always get assessed if:

- You feel a "doming" or bulging when you sit up or strain

- You have pelvic floor symptoms (leaking, heaviness, prolapse sensation)

- You have ongoing back pain

- You've had multiple pregnancies and never received postnatal physio

A women's health physiotherapist who specialises in postnatal recovery is gold. Ask for a referral from your GP or seek one privately. They can measure your diastasis, assess your pelvic floor, and give you specific corrections.

The Body Is Amanah After Pregnancy

In Islam, your body is an amanah, a trust from Allah. Pregnancy and childbirth are profound acts of stewardship of that trust. The healing afterward is part of the same blessing.

Yet many Muslim mums treat the postpartum body as a problem to be hidden, lost, or apologised for. That's not from Islam. That's from a beauty culture that doesn't understand what your body just did.

Your postpartum body did something miraculous. It deserves recovery, not punishment. It deserves correct exercise, not Instagram crunches that make it worse. It deserves time, patience, and the right knowledge.

The Prophet ﷺ valued the body. He taught us to care for it as part of our deen. Healing your core after birth IS part of caring for the amanah Allah gave you.

You're allowed to take this seriously. You're allowed to invest in it. You're allowed to ask for help.

What to Do Next Sis

If you're nodding through this article and thinking "finally, someone said it", I want you to know there's a clear path forward.

Inside Fitsters' Pre and Postpartum Coaching, this is exactly what we do. Step-by-step diastasis recovery. Pelvic floor rehab. Safe progression back to strength. Modest, Muslim-mum-aware, islam-anchored coaching that respects what your body actually went through.

Three tiers depending on where you're at and how much support you need (full programme + intensive 1:1 support).

👉 [Book a free 15-minute discovery call to see if pre/postpartum coaching is the right fit]

Or, if you want self-paced recovery alongside the Fitsters sisterhood:

👉 [Join the Muslimah Wellness Membership (£35 first month)]

You deserved better information after birth. You're getting it now. The body can heal. The healing starts when you stop blaming yourself and start with the right steps and ACTUALLY take action!

Save this. Send it to a sister whose postpartum belly has been "her fault" for too long.