3 Breathing Drills Every Postpartum Mom Must Do

Photo by Xavier Mouton Photographie on Unsplash

Over 12 months ago my wife gave birth to our first son. Being a personal trainer and having a wide variety of training knowledge, I thought training my wife back to fit and strong would be easy. Boy was I wrong…

Biggest Challenge

The biggest challenge I ran into was my wife had diastasis recti and she couldn’t feel her core when doing ab exercises. Not having a stable core made exercise rather difficult.

So, we attacked the core. We attempted normal plank variations, dead bugs, leg raises, heel raises, normal bracing, and everything in between. Nothing worked. She couldn’t hold a plank. Not even for a second. She couldn’t figure out how to lift her legs when lying on her back. I watched her try and hold back tears of frustration. Anything that involved the core didn’t function or work at all.

Basics

Until we went back to the basics. We focused on the breath. Why is the breath important you ask? It mostly comes down to one muscle that gets tight and weak during pregnancy, the diaphragm (primary muscle for respiration). As the belly starts to grow, all her organs and the baby begin pushing against the diaphragm causing it to contract… and contract… and contract… for 9–10 months. By the end of it all, you have a diaphragm that is too tight and weak.

The diaphragm, transverse abdominis, and pelvic floor create your core stability. The diaphragm is on top and can be considered the lid, the transverse abdominis is the sheet that wraps around, and the pelvic floor is the bottom of the metaphorical can. If one of these areas is weak, tight, or not in place, the whole structure collapses.

You can think of a coke can. If you try to crush an unopened can, it’s almost impossible. But once you open the lid or put a dent in the side then the structure is compromised and falls apart rather easily.

The same thing will happen with the diaphragm. Because it gets tight and weak the pressure inside your core becomes very weak and you will run into problems like diastasis recti and not being able to feel your core, like my wife.

Focusing on breath work will strengthen and relax your diaphragm.

3 Breath Drills To Wake Up Your Core:

1. Diaphragm Holds. Lie on your back with your knees bent at 90-degrees. Take a deep breath in through your nose, to expand your belly as far out as you can, and then hold for 5–10 seconds. Forcing your belly out and holding will activate the diaphragm. Do 10 reps.
2. Expand Your Chest. While still lying on your back with your knees bent at 90-degrees — take a deep breath in through your nose. This time try to fill your ribs with as much air as you can without your stomach expanding outwards. This will stretch your intercostals of the ribs and diaphragm. Take 15–20 big breaths of expanding the chest as far out as you can while the stomach stays sucked in.
3. Transverse Abdominis Activation. Still lying on the ground with knees bent at 90-degrees — create a small arch in the lower back (make sure the arch stays the entire time), gently squeeze your knees together, and suck in. Feel your belly button move towards your spine and then up the spine as far as you can. In simple terms - small arch in low back, gentle knee squeeze, and then suck the belly button in and THEN up the spine to try and create a vacuum in the stomach. This activates the transverse abdominis which will be weak when the diaphragm is tight. Hold for 5–10 seconds for 15–20 reps. When done correctly you will feel different parts of your body start to open up or cramp such as: your chest, low back, mid back, upper back, hip flexors, and ribs.

This entire sequence can be done in less than 5 minutes and will dramatically improve your posture, core stability, and strength. I recommend postpartum moms do this at least twice per day, once in the morning and once and night. And if you’re currently working out or doing an ab circuit this is a must before doing either of those.

What are the benefits of doing this?

After I had my wife do this exact sequence, she noticed a few things:

• Improved posture in terms that she was standing much taller and no longer slouching
• Improved core activation — she could now feel her stomach when doing ab exercises
• Her stomach no longer bulged when doing exercises (big win)
• Her stress immediately went down

For additional information or more helpful hints regarding
postpartum training, check me out on Instagram @coach_kumosz

Email me at joshkumoszfitness@gmail.com

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back after baby!”

Josh Kumosz