Core recovery is a sequence, not a list of exercises: breathe, activate, load, progress. These guides walk each stage with the exact cues used inside the Mum21 program.
An epidural doesn't change your anatomy, but it can temporarily blunt the sensation that normally guides core and pelvic floor reconnection. Here's why that matters for recovery, and what to do about it.
Heavy lifting asks something specific of your core that a plank doesn't — a hard breath-hold under real load. Here's how to get back to real weight safely, not just 'light weights forever.'
Running is high-impact in a way planks aren't — it's not just about your gap, it's about your whole pelvic floor and load tolerance. Here's the actual criteria-based approach, not a fixed week number.
If your ribs sit flared out in front of your pelvis, no amount of core exercise will fully catch up — the alignment itself is working against you. Here's the mechanism, and how to check your own.
You can't avoid lifting a baby who needs picking up thirty times a day. You can change how you do it — and that difference matters more for your gap than almost any exercise.
The way you get out of bed, thirty times a day with a newborn, matters more for your gap than which side you sleep on. Here's the technique that actually protects your midline.
The honest answer isn't yes or no — it's 'depends which plank, and whether your body shows the one sign that means stop.' Here's how to tell, and what to do instead if it's not yet.
A gentle 5-minute self-check to understand your postpartum belly without forcing anything or adding pressure.
A stiff pelvis is a leaky pelvis. Mobility work is the quiet accelerator most postpartum programs skip, and it fixes symptoms strength alone can't.
Squatting is a fundamental human movement your body needs back. Here's the safe, progressive way to rebuild it after birth, whether vaginal or C-section.
Safer than a plank, more effective than a crunch, and it trains your core exactly the way you need it to work when you're carrying baby.
Weak glutes are the hidden cause of back pain, poor core engagement and pelvic floor overload. The glute bridge fixes all three in one movement.
Before every other core exercise, learn this one. If your deep core can't fire, everything you build on top of it collapses.
Before crunches, before planks, before anything, your deep core needs to remember how to fire. Lateral breathing is the unlock.
You don't have to wait 6 weeks doing nothing. Here are the gentle, physio-approved movements you can start almost immediately, and the ones to wait on.
Physio-designed, fully online program. Lifetime access and a 30-day money-back guarantee.