As a certified Pilates instructor, some of the most common questions I hear always relay back to core strength and deep core health—How do I shrink my waistline? How do I get abs? How do I get rid of my mom pooch? How do I strengthen my pelvic floor during pregnancy and postpartum?
I think core strength and health are areas we all struggle with, including myself, especially after two kids! I also find that a lot of women are still very unfamiliar with Pilates. My hope is that after reading this blog, and checking out some of my Free Pilates YouTube Classes, or signing up for a Free 30-day Trial to PILATESBODY On-Demand with promo code below, that you will know more about Pilates than the average person!
Most people have heard that Pilates is good for core strength, which is true. If you are hoping to learn about the muscles of the core, how to rebuild your core post-baby, or how to engage your core during pregnancy, we are gonna talk about all of that here! In addition, we will discuss how to rebuild core strength for more functional reasons such as back pain or for enhancing a specific activity you like to do.
Let’s start with one of the most common questions I get—
First of all, I always like to point out that Pilates is never about weight loss. It is always about finding a deeper mind-body connection within yourself, learning proper muscle engagement and body mechanics. With that being said, often after pregnancy, and especially after a C-section, your connective tissues are deeply affected which can directly affect the shape of your belly. Specifically, in postpartum, we may get a “thicker waistline” when we get a pooch in our lower belly that is often called the “mom pooch”. Sometimes, we wonder if this condition will ever go away or if it is just something that we’re going to have forever. Pilates can help you reconnect those tissues back together, resulting in the healing and shrinking of the mom pooch condition.
You have probably heard the words diastasis recti, or abdominal separation, and this condition occurs in pregnancy when the linea alba, the line that runs down the center of your abdomen, is stretched and expanded to create space for your growing baby. It also allows your abdominals to separate to allow more room for your expanding belly—which is such a great thing, our bodies are so amazing!
What can happen after pregnancy is the connective tissue doesn’t always return back together in the same way, so you’re left with a separation called “diastasis recti”. I also must mention that everyone, YES everyone, will have abdominal separation in pregnancy. It’s just the severity of it that will determine the necessary steps needed to take going forward in postpartum to heal. Separation alone can result in the “mom pooch” or pooching forward of the belly causing it to slightly hang forward and not pull-in as it once did pre-baby. This is a very real reality for most of us as the connective tissue is loosened during pregnancy, and we will have to focus on reconnecting the connective tissues in our abdominals again.
Diastasis recti can really affect the connective tissue and the shape of your abdomen. If you do have damage or separation in your connective tissue while doing traditional core work, trying to fix it with traditional sit-ups or crunches will not work. You’re not going to notice a difference or see much improvement because your abdominals are currently not working properly. Sometimes, trying to fix abdominal separation the incorrect way can even make it worse depending on the severity you have. So overdoing crunches can actually put more pressure on the abdominal wall causing more bulging and coning.
Abdominal separation is also pretty apparent during pregnancy, especially beyond the first trimester, if you start to notice coning, doming, or bulging in the center of your abdomen. This generally means it is time to focus on core work in a sideline position or a quadruped position (meaning on all fours). You’re going to want to address abdominal separation with intentional ab work with something like Pilates. We teach a lot of exercises in the sideline position and quadruped position in our prenatal and postnatal Pilates workouts as it is the safest way to continue core work. If you have something more severe going on during pregnancy or postpartum, definitely work with a pelvic floor specialist or physical therapist (Afterall, I am only a certified Pilates instructor, not a doctor).
When you’re trying to heal diastasis recti, you want to avoid adding more of that outward pressure onto the abdominal wall that pushes forward. We want to reverse that by pulling everything in. A great way to avoid putting additional pressure into your abdominal wall is by rolling to your side and pressing yourself up. This is talked about a lot during pregnancy but also so important in the early postpartum months and beyond depending on if you have a severe abdominal separation.
Now in Pilates, and even in yoga, we don’t really do “sit-ups”. We do more controlled exercises called “head nods” and “curl ups”. These are exercises done with intention with breath control while focusing on the position of your spine and how you’re drawing your belly button up and in vs. curling and flexing your abdominals. This is designed so you’re not just powering through the exercises for the sake of feeling that “superficial burn” to achieve “superficial muscles”. We are instead working deep and intentional to actually build that deep core strength from within and not from just the outside.
What I mean by “superficial muscles” in our core is referring to our “six-pack muscles” that you only see on the outside. The abdominals are made up of layers. The inner layer is your transversus abdominis (TA), and the outer layer is your rectus abdominis, or your six-pack muscles. These are the muscles that I’m also talking about with diastasis recti running along the front of your belly.
When you hear “abs”, remember the abs are only one part of the core. The core is the center of the body and really starts from the pelvis. A lot of our flexibility and strength really comes from a powerful and stable strong pelvis, which I truly believe is the key to successful core workouts. We don’t think about it very often, but in order to effectively build a strong core you need to learn how to stabilize your pelvis. The muscles that surround this area are your booty muscles, your glutes, but they don’t work alone. They work in conjunction with the hamstrings, back, and your abductor muscles which are more like the outside of your hips. Again, everything is connected! All these muscles will help you feel stable and strong. The back of your body is the posterior chain, and your lower back muscles are connected all the way up and down your body. We talk a lot about hip flexors, even these muscles come around and into your back it’s pretty amazing how all of this is connected!
Posture can greatly affect what is happening in your abdomen, and so much of the core work is connected to our posture. Let’s revisit the connective tissue—When you are in poor posture, you’re generally hunching and arching your back which puts pressure on your linea alba and your abdominal wall. This can cause additional problems in your core, or can exacerbate that abdominal separation.
In Pilates, we are always working on posture muscles and spinal alignment starting from the core out and working on strengthening the spine, the shoulders, the upper back muscles, and so much more. Even the hamstrings and glutes, everything is connected in Pilates. We are never working in isolation, we’re always working the body as a whole.
When you work on improving your posture you’re also working on improving the function of your core. As a result, you also draw in things inside your midsection, noticing physical changes but also deepening the connective tissue again and tightening up the abdominals. We also work on strengthening our oblique muscles in Pilates. The oblique muscles run along the side of your waist, your internal and external obliques. These muscles help create the corset, like connection in your center drawing everything in and up to support good posture.
Now, the superficial muscles are just one small part of your abdominal muscles, but in Pilates and deep core work we really focus on the transversus abdominis, so think “flat back” and “head down”. You really want to make sure that you’re working the muscles from the inside out, not just going for that deep burn in crunches. Your transversus abdominis is your deep core stabilizer muscle group. When you hear cues such as, “draw your belly button up” and “zip up” they are referring to your TA. Your transversus abdominis is also helping you engage your pelvic floor, an important part of your core.
The pelvic floor muscles are like a basket of muscles that weave together and they are super important for supporting your organs and many important daily functions. So a sit-up is never going to get most of these muscles active.
In Pilates, we use the Pilates principles of breathwork, centering, control, concentration, precision, and flow. I always say that every exercise in Pilates is a core exercise. We always focus on moving from the core out. So all of our muscles work together to provide a strong functional core. You’re often working into some of those tiny muscle groups, like the pelvic floor. The key to engaging the core, abs, and the pelvic floor is starting by moving with intention, moving slow, and moving precisely concentrating on zipping the abs in and up.
The pelvic floor is an area many of us experience issues during postpartum, pregnancy and beyond. So many of us will suffer in silence, but these issues are so common. Let’s talk about it! A lot of pelvic floor issues are in relation to pelvic floor dysfunction. This could be leaking, pain with intercourse, or even rectal pain and a magnitude of other symptoms—like back pain or even cramping. A lot of us will experience some sort of pelvic floor dysfunction at some point in our lives. I also want to mention, pelvic floor issues affect men too! There are so many resources available now to help, including Physical Therapy. However, for the average person, Pilates might be all you need, as it can have a significant impact on strengthening and softening/relaxing your pelvic floor.
A healthy pelvic floor muscle needs to be able to contract AND release. Sometimes, pelvic floor muscles get in a constant state of contraction. And that can actually be causing pain. A lot of times we think about needing to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, but oftentimes we actually need to release them. Tight pelvic floor can result in low back pain, leaking, pain during intercourse, and weak or no glute engagement at all. These are often very similar to a weak pelvic floor, so sometimes it can be difficult to determine which you need to work on so that is why it is important to both strengthen and soften the pelvic floor.
When engaging your pelvic floor, you want to think about contracting and pulling up. Imagine you are trying to pull up like you’re slurping up a Slurpee. This is different from a kegel exercise. Too much kegeling can cause over tightening or the constant clenching I mentioned earlier. You also want to be able to do the opposite and completely relax and release. A common practice of releasing is Sitz bone widening, opening up the pelvic outlet by stretching the Sitz bones apart. Sometimes you may want to avoid constantly contracting and constantly engaging in the pelvic floor as I can get stuck in the tightening position, so we need to be able to also release it.
Check out this Free Pilates class below on how to eliminate low back pain with Pilates exercises that target the pelvic floor (prenatal approved), and more classes on my YouTube channel!
When we work deeply in our core, we are actually drawing in those inner core muscles and the connective tissue back together. Engaging all these muscles are going to help reduce mom pooch, diminish back pain, improve posture, and have better control over the health of the pelvic floor and total body. Which will improve all of the things we need to live our life to the fullest. We’re connecting to our center to help move and operate better as a human. This is why I love Pilates and teaching people about their deep inner core muscles because there’s so much more to it than just “the abs”. All of this can also help to shrink your midsection and create that desired shape and connection you’re looking for. But again, this is so much more than just how you look.
Some of our favorite pelvic floor strengthening and softening classes are available on the PILATESBODY On-Demand App. Try them for FREE for 1 month with code FREETRIAL.
Fitness Level: Level 1 (Beginner)
Class Categories: Mat Pilates, Prenatal Pilates, Postnatal Pilates & Yoga
Duration: 15-minute Workout
Equipment: Exercise Mat
Certified Instructor: Kayla
This Pilates for Pelvic Health workout includes pelvic floor exercises that are extremely effective for pelvic floor strengthening and rehabilitation. It’s perfect for anyone dealing with pelvic floor pain, incontinence, recovering from surgery, or returning to exercise postpartum. Kayla designed this to be gentle, effective, and safe for those who have Diastasis Recti and for those who are in their first and second trimesters of pregnancy.
Fitness Level: Level 1 (Beginner)
Class Categories: Mat Pilates, Prenatal Pilates
Duration: 25-minute Workout
Equipment: Exercise Mat, Pilates Ball (Optional)
Certified Instructor: Kayla
In this prenatal Pilates workout, Kayla experiments with doing most of the workout lying on your side because it is a safe position during pregnancy. She plays with articulating the pelvis, strengthening the obliques, hips, and glutes with some added gentle spinal rotation.
Fitness Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)
Class Categories: Mat Pilates, Prenatal Pilates
Duration: 25-minute Workout
Equipment: Exercise Mat, Fitness Ball, Theraband
Certified Instructor: Kayla
Kayla Brugger brings you another prenatal mat Pilates class. Kayla is using the fitness ball to open the hips, align the spine, and mobilize the pelvis to get you comfortable on the ball to utilize it during labor. She also incorporates upper body strengthening to prep you for all the baby carrying! You will be seated on the fitness ball for the majority of this class.
Fitness Level: 1 (Beginner)
Class Categories: Mat Pilates, Prenatal Pilates
Duration: 15-minute Workout
Equipment: Exercise Mat, Pilates Ball
Certified Instructor: Kayla
Join Kayla Brugger in this circuit-style workout focused on strengthening and releasing the pelvic floor. This workout can be done daily to prepare for an easier birth, faster recovery after birth, and to help prevent leaking when you sneeze or laugh.
Fitness Level: 1 (Beginner)
Class Categories: Yoga Flow, Prenatal Yoga
Duration: 27-minute Workout
Equipment: Exercise Mat, Yoga Blocks, Pillows
Certified Instructor: Amy
Amy walks you through a pelvic floor yoga class where she uses breathwork to help you connect to your pelvic floor, and yoga poses and stretches to help passively strengthen and stretch the pelvic floor.
The PILATESBODY On-Demand App offers some of the best online Pilates and yoga classes and tutorials. New subscribers can use the promo code FREETRIAL during checkout to score 1-Month of Free Pilates and Yoga Workouts on the app. We have over 240+ Pilates and yoga classes in our on-demand library. New and inspiring exercise classes are added each month to keep your workouts fresh. Join today HERE!
If you have any questions, or requests for new app workout classes, leave me a comment below!
Your Friend & Pilates Expert,
Kayla Brugger
Founder of PILATESBODY by Kayla
Founder of PILATESBODY On-Demand
Hi, I'm Kayla Brugger. Certified Pilates Instructor & Minnesota Mama of 2.
