Can I still do abdominal exercises – like crunches – while I’m pregnant?
It is very important to maintain strength and stability in the core to help support the exaggerated curves of the spine and the weight of the growing fetus during pregnancy. However, one needs to be mindful of the manner in which it is done.
At Prenatal Yoga Center we focus on strengthening the transverse abdominus – the deepest layer of abdominal muscle that act like a corset around the torso. But we avoid such exercises like crunches, which highlight the use of the rectus abdominus, aka “the 6 pack muscles,” which can separate during pregnancy.
This separation of the abdominal muscles is called abdominal diastasis. While is it extremely common that pregnant women experience some level of abdominal diastasis, we actively look to minimize this. Any action in which there is strain or force on the uterine wall to push between the rectus abdominus can further increase the change of abdominal diastasis.
To help decrease the chance of abdominal diastasis , avoid such actions as:
- “Kicking up” or “jack knifing” up from a supine position. Instead either roll to the side and come or actively use your arms to help push yourself up.
- Avoid reclining from an upright position without first rolling to the side and then on to the back.
- Getting in and out of bed or a chair as if doing abdominal “crunches” can increase separation.
- Avoid deep twisting. When twisting, the expectant mother should keep her baby pointing forward and focus the twist on the upper back.
- Avoid lifting heavy objects (or small children) incorrectly. Use your legs and engage the transverse abdominus.
- Navasana (boat pose) tends to “bulge the belly” and should be avoided altogether.
- Also for those that have a regular yoga practice, it is best to avoid deep backbends which can overstretch the abdominal muscles which leads to diastasis.
To strengthen the transverse abdominus we teach the mother to engage these corset-like muscles. This can be done with the mother seated, lying down or on all fours. She then focuses on engaging and toning her abdomen as she is slowly exhaling. Another way to describe this could be to “hug the baby with her belly muscles.”
Other benefits of keeping this muscle group strong are to help the mother with the second stage of labor – the pushing stage. By incorporating the abdominal muscles in pushing, the result is often more effective, less straining pushes. The mother is able to use her abdominal strength to help bear down instead of creating pressure in her face and tension in her shoulders to help push her baby out.
So keep up a healthy, mindful exercise regimen and it will benefit mama and baby!
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Debra Flashenberg, CD(DONA), LCCE, E-RYT 500 is the director of the Prenatal Yoga Center. She has spent most of her life performing and was introduced to yoga through a choreographer in 1997. After several years as a yoga student, she decided to continue her education and became certified as a Bikram Yoga instructor. After being witness to several “typical” hospital births, Debra felt it was important to move beyond the yoga room and be present in the birthing room. In 2006, Debra received her certification as a Lamaze® Certified Childbirth Educator. In September of 2007, Debra completed a Midwife Assistant Program with Ina May Gaskin, Pamela Hunt and many of the other Farm Midwives at The Farm Midwifery Center in Tennessee. Drawing on her experience as a prenatal yoga teacher, labor support doula and childbirth educator, Debra looks to establish safe and effective classes for pregnancy and beyond. She is the proud (and tired) mother of new baby boy, Shay.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog contributor’s. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Writers may have conflicts of interest, and their opinions are their own.
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