Almost every pregnancy produces some degree of abdominal separation. It is not an injury or a complication. It is what happens when a growing uterus stretches the connective tissue running down the middle of your abdomen, and it affects the large majority of women by late pregnancy.
The useful question is not whether you have it. It is what state it is in now, and what that means for how you train.
What it actually is
Your six-pack muscle, the rectus abdominis, comes in two vertical halves joined down the middle by a band of connective tissue called the linea alba. During pregnancy that band stretches and thins to make room. Diastasis recti is simply the two halves sitting further apart than they did before, with a wider, softer band between them.
The thing worth understanding early: the muscles are fine. It is the tissue between them that has changed. That is why the goal is not “closing the gap” so much as restoring the tension across it, so the whole abdominal wall can transfer force again.
The self-check
Two minutes, on the floor, no equipment.
- Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat.
- Place two or three fingers flat on your midline, just above your navel, pointing down towards your feet.
- Breathe out and lift your head and shoulders slightly off the floor, as though starting a small crunch. Not a full sit-up.
- Feel for a gap between the two firm ridges of muscle either side of your fingers.
- Note two things: how many finger widths across the gap is, and how deep your fingers sink before you feel resistance.
- Repeat at the navel, and again a few centimetres below it.
Do it in a decent light, without holding your breath, and ideally not first thing in the morning after a large meal the night before.
Reading the result
Most people focus entirely on the width. Width is the less interesting number.
Width. Up to around two finger widths is common and frequently unremarkable, including in women who have never been pregnant. Two to three is worth paying attention to. Beyond three, get it assessed properly rather than working from an internet article.
Depth and tension. This is the number that changes how you should train. When you lift your head, does the tissue under your fingers become springy and push back, or do your fingers sink into a soft, empty channel? A narrow gap with no tension underneath is a more meaningful finding than a wider gap that generates a firm, trampoline-like response.
Position. Separation above the navel, at it, and below it can behave differently, which is why the check is done at three points.
If you take one thing from this article: a gap that generates tension is doing its job. Chase the tension, not the number.
What actually helps
The uncomfortable answer is that no single exercise reliably narrows a separation, and anyone promising a specific closure in a specific number of weeks is guessing.
What does help, consistently:
Time. Most separations narrow considerably in the first several months after birth with no intervention at all. Do not make big decisions about your abdominal wall at eight weeks post-partum.
Breathing that manages pressure. If you hold your breath and bear down every time you lift something, you are pushing outwards against the weakest part of your abdominal wall repeatedly, all day. Learning to exhale through effort changes where that pressure goes.
Progressive whole-body strength. Connective tissue responds to load, gradually applied. The path back is loaded carries, squats, hinges, presses and rows done well, not endless targeted core work.
Managing what you do all day. How you get out of bed, how you lift the pram into the boot, how you carry a toddler on one hip. These add up to far more repetitions than anything you do in a training session.
What to be cautious with, for now
Not forever, and not for everyone. But early on, these are the things most likely to produce doming:
- Crunches, sit-ups and any repeated spinal flexion under load
- Full front planks, particularly held to fatigue
- Double leg lowering and similar long-lever core work
- Heavy overhead pressing while bracing hard
- Anything at all that makes a ridge appear down your midline
That last point is the rule that replaces all the others. Watch your midline. If a visible dome or ridge appears during an exercise, that exercise is currently beyond what your abdominal wall can manage. Regress it, rebuild, and come back to it.
When to stop measuring and get help
Book with a women’s health physiotherapist if any of these apply:
- The gap is wider than three finger widths, or you cannot feel resistance at any depth
- You are leaking urine, or feel heaviness or dragging in the pelvis
- You have persistent lower back or pelvic pain
- Your abdomen domes or cones during ordinary daily movements, not just in the gym
- You have any low back or midline pain that is getting worse rather than better
And see a doctor promptly if you find a visible bulge at or near your navel that becomes firm, painful, or does not reduce when you lie down. That can indicate a hernia, which is a different problem with a different answer.
Where training fits
At the studio, a post-natal assessment includes this check, done properly, alongside a look at how you breathe and how you manage load. That gives us a starting point rather than a diagnosis.
From there the programme is straightforward: build tension and strength through the whole system, progress the load week by week, watch the midline, and refer on if what we find is outside what training should be handling.