Diastasis recti can make you feel like a stranger in your own body. You trained through or around pregnancy, you want to get back to lifting or class, and instead you are staring at a gap down your midline and a list of exercises the internet says you must never do again. We work with postnatal women returning to real training at ActiveX Physio in Singapore, and the never-again list is mostly wrong.
Does the gap size actually matter?
Less than everyone tells you. Abdominal separation during pregnancy is normal and expected, and what matters afterwards is less the width of the gap and more how the tissue manages pressure and load. The usual welcome package, avoid planks, avoid crunches, avoid anything heavy, plus a sheet of gentle breathing exercises that never seem to go anywhere, treats the number on the measuring tape as the whole story. We assess how your abdominal wall responds under progressive demand, how you breathe and brace when you lift, what your recovery, sleep, and feeding schedule realistically allow for training, and where your strength baseline sits after months away. The gap is one data point. Your function is the plan.
How do you train with diastasis recti?
Progressively, on the same loading principle we apply to every other tissue in the body. We start where your abdominal wall can currently control pressure and build from there, restoring the brace, reintroducing load, and progressing you back toward the training you actually want: barbells, pull-ups, classes, running. Each stage earns the next one. Progress is tracked against what your abdominal wall demonstrates, and the timeline flexes around postnatal recovery rather than a generic week-by-week chart. Where symptoms suggest pelvic floor involvement beyond our scope, we say so early and point you to the right specialist care.
Who can help
Helen Nguyen is currently completing the APA Women's Health course, trained through two postnatal returns of her own, and leads our women's health work. If your goal is returning to functional fitness or classes, Isabelle Chow coaches the loading progressions that bridge rehab back to the gym floor.
Go deeper
Want the evidence behind all of this? Helen's full guide on diastasis recti covers what the research actually says about the never-again list, a check you can do at home, and how the return to lifting is built. Read the full guide on diastasis recti →