Diastasis recti: How to fix it?

So, whenever I do crunches and press my fingers against my belly button, there’s this noticeable dip between my muscles.
It’s about one finger wide—roughly 2 cm above and 1 cm below my navel.
And right around the belly button itself, it feels like there's this little gap in the muscle about $1.75 big.
I hope that actually makes sense!

This has been there ever since I had my baby (about 2 years ago now), and honestly, I wasn't too worried because I figured it would just tighten up once I got back into a workout routine.
But recently, I was chatting with a friend of mine who’s pretty deep into the fitness scene, and she dropped two things on me:
a) that those muscles are never going to pull back together on their own again
b) that I should actually avoid doing crunches altogether because they might make the damage even worse.
And I was just... well, I was totally stunned. 😲

To be honest, neither of those points really sits right with me—but hey, what do I know, right?
So, I wanted to turn to you guys 🙂

What kind of exercises should I actually be doing instead?

I’m totally lost here.
Send a pic or just sketch it out.

And what does family have to do with muscle tears???

I didn't mean there's no actual birth—that came out wrong! There is definitely a pregnancy involved.
Your uterus just expands exponentially, and honestly, if you gain about 15 pounds, maybe 12 of those go straight to the belly. Plus, from what I understand, your muscles basically just... migrate? They stretch way out to the sides.
Here’s a photo so you can see exactly what I mean 😁



But, uh, a photo of my current stomach isn't going to help you much here—there's nothing to really show, I can only point at it, really.
I honestly have no idea how else to explain it to you! 🤔

Look, you aren't the first pregnant woman in space, and honestly, I've never heard of anyone dealing with abdominal muscle deformities because of pregnancy.

Just speaking generally here:
stretching helps a ton if your muscles feel uneven or knotty.
Basically, hit some stretches for about 20 minutes right after your workout while your muscles are still warm—it can work wonders.

If you're not sure which moves to do, maybe ask someone who does yoga or Tai Chi. Their stretching techniques are way more advanced and higher quality than the basic stuff you see in those random fitness apps.

Oh yeah, abdominal muscles can definitely get reshaped during pregnancy... placidgardener19, check out what hellgirl was saying about it over on this thread 😉

Susan Clark10, sending you so much love! 😘
This is exactly what I was hunting for 👍

(Hey mod, feel free to merge this if you want!)

My sister went through the exact same thing where everything just split apart—but honestly, after a few years, things finally settled back down to normal

silentpanther15 said:look, you aren't exactly the first woman in history to get pregnant, and I've honestly never heard of anyone dealing with actual abdominal muscle deformities because of it.

just speaking generally here:
if your muscles feel all knotty and uneven, stretching is going to be your absolute best friend.
basically, if you hit some stretching for about 20 minutes right after a workout while your muscles are still warm, it can work wonders.

if you're clueless about how to stretch properly, I’d suggest asking someone who does yoga or Tai Chi, since their techniques are way more advanced and high-quality than the basic stuff you see in some random gym pamphlet.

oh, they absolutely can.
I worked out throughout my entire pregnancy, and whenever I wanted to do ab exercises, I made sure to check things exactly the way placidgardener19 described.
Basically, if there's a gap wider than two fingers right down the middle of your stomach, it means you have diastasis recti, and you definitely shouldn't be doing any core workouts.

Clearly, I haven't spent enough time hanging out with pregnant women... 😁

placidgardener19 said:I didn't mean there isn't a birth, I just misspoke. There is definitely a pregnancy.
Your uterus expands so much, and if you gain an average of 15 pounds, about 12 of those go straight to your belly. Plus, your muscles shift outward as they stretch, from what I understand.
Here’s a photo showing how that looks 😁



As for a photo of my current stomach, it won't really help—you can't see much here, I can only point it out.
I'm honestly not sure how else to explain it. 🤔

placidgardener19, you seriously have a great figure. 😲 😁

Ethan Garcia8 said:placidgardener19, honestly—you’ve totally got a scheme going on there! 😲 😁

😂 😂 😂
I swear, I practically spat on my monitor because I was so incredibly frustrated with how much I just totally tanked!

So, seriously—is it just me, or does it feel like nobody actually knows what they’re doing when it comes to training those obliques? I mean, we all want that sculpted look, but it feels like everyone is just guessing! 🙂
Should I go ahead and ask?

I’ve heard from a few people that Pilates is actually the best way to go for that.