Every mum would like to get back to her pre pregnancy fitness routine as quickly as possible. Depending on your fitness before the pregnancy, pregnancy itself, birth and possible injuries or c-section, how much help you have during your fourth trimester and afterwards plus how much sleep you get, your return to fitness may take more or less time.

Despite what Mr. Google says you should never start your postnatal recovery with any of these exercises: hip bridge, tricep dip, modified side plank, bird dog or plie squat.

They sound safe, and they will be after a few months, but before you start performing them, you have to first rebuild your muscle-mind connection and strength in your deep abdominal muscles.

Today, many women have distended abdominal muscles years after having children.

If we start exercising before we restore our abdominal muscle-mind connection and rebuild our strength, we risk destabilising the back and the whole body. The risk is even higher after a c-section or pelvic floor injury during birth.

The first gentle exercise together with breathing can be performed about 10-14 days after giving birth[1]. I was cleared by my midwife to start doing it just 10 days after c-section. Other guidelines encourage new mums to wait 14 days before starting any abdominal rehabilitation. Make sure you check with your midwife before you try it.

There is so much going on in those first few weeks after giving birth that I never remembered to do my exercises until I was in bed, ready to sleep. Fortunately, bed was the best place for me to do them.

After my pregnancy I had a two hand abdominal separation.

No wonder, as my baby bump was really big. My waist grew from 80 cm to 130 cm by the end of pregnancy. Managing my abdominal gap and helping my body heal was extremely important to me.

I had so little energy to do anything else other than nursing Freya but I enjoyed my easy pre bed workout.

Those were these few minutes just for me, when I could reconnect with my body. I noticed a difference after a few weeks. When Freya was about 12 weeks old, I was ready to start moving more and include different exercises to my postnatal abdominal work.

As I was so eager to rebuild strength in my abdominal muscles and keep them engaged with every move, that I refused to wear a belly wrap. I regret it now and I will definitely wear it next time if I get a chance.

In those first weeks postpartum, wearing a belly wrap will help your organs return to their optimal position, support your lower back and encourage your abdominal muscles to return closer to each other.

Belly wrapping has been included in postnatal care for hundreds of years in Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, India and Taiwan so it isn’t just the latest trend.

When my midwife mentioned it I thought it will make my muscles “lazy”. I hadn’t heard about it before and after Freya was born I didn’t have the energy to research it. I think my belly would look better today, if I did wear it. Research belly wraps before you give birth and get the right size after your baby is born. It helps the body to heal faster and will make your abdominal muscles stronger. Who would have guessed, right?

After the first 10-14 days postpartum, this gentle exercise performed with breathing, will build a strong base that will help you recover and get back to health after having a baby. It will create the foundation that will allow you to get back to your training when you are ready, without any back pains or aches or even hurting yourself.

You don’t need much time to perform this exercise, but you need consistency to rebuild your muscle-mind connection.

It takes time, it may be frustrating at times, but it always works.

Lay down on your back. Bend your knees and bring your feet towards your bum. Keep your feet flat on the floor/bed. Breathe in and as you breathe out tilt your pelvis backwards and flatten your back against the floor/bed. Take another breath and with exhalation pull your belly button towards the spine. At this point I always focus on engaging my upper abs, middle abs (belly button) and lower abs. This helps me find out if I can engage every part of my abdominal muscles (if I have a muscle – mind connection). Hold that contraction and now pull your side abdominal muscles in. Imagine that you were putting a corset on and trying to tighten it. Keep on breathing while you’re holding your front and side muscles engaged. Hold it for up to 10 seconds and repeat 3 more times. Start with only 4 reps a day and with each week add one more repetition.

If you cannot gently squeeze one or all areas of your abdominal muscles, then close your eyes. Put your hands on the part you would like to activate, take a few deep breaths, and imagine these muscles contracting. With this visualisation you will restore your muscle-mind connection, but it will take a bit of time.

When we are very tired (I was exhausted in those first few weeks), we sometimes lose focus and switch off. If you find your mind drifting, don’t worry too much and get back to the exercise as soon as you can.

Staying focused and mindful when you perform it will help you rebuild your strength and restore your muscle-mind connection faster.

Freya is 20 months old now and I still do this exercise.

It is the best postnatal abdominal recovery exercise, but it is also the base for all other core and abs exercises.

I have been working with women at different age, with and without kids, for over 8 years now and hardly anyone can perform abdominal exercises safely and effectively. This one exercise will teach you how to engage your abdominal muscles with every move and every exercise, so you can perform them safely and get the best results.

I recommend that you focus only on this one exercise for the first 12-16 weeks postpartum (or until you restore your muscle-mind connection) and then start adding more safe and effective postnatal abdominal recovery exercises.

My hope is that with this simple exercise you will easily rebuild function and strength in your abdominal muscles after having a baby. 

If it helps, you can grab a free resource with a video of me showing and explaining this exercise below — because let’s be real, if you're like me you prefer to see this exercise in person before you do it on your own.

With love,

Karolina

[1] As above