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22 Comments

  1. I just started working my TA muscles to correct my diastasis recti problem after having children. Can’t wait to see results. This is a great read!

  2. Greg Marlow says:

    Here’s an ab exercises I came up with and found very effective. Basically it’s a push up against a sit up while standing. I start by pressing my hands against my thighs while standing straight. Then I slide my hands down my thighs to the knees while maintaining pressure against the thighs. The exercise is better than the plank because it gives a little curl to the abs. It’s better than the sit up because it doesn’t injure the spine.

  3. Oh that’s my problem! I can see my outer abs starting to get a little bit of definition, but it’s not getting any flatter. Thanks for the tips!

  4. I love the idea of the standing abs excersizes as I have a job where I literally am standing for 5 hrs straight!

  5. I love your post re ABDOMINALS. It was spot on as im suffering from back pain since jan this year. I’ve lost more weight just by doing my physiotherapy exercises than gym 3 time’s a week. It all makes perfect sense when im reading your article.

    You first grabbed my attention earlier in the year when you spoke about raising boys. Thank you x

    1. Thank you Punsara–So glad to hear it! I hope that your back heals up quickly now and you might get strong abs and avoid future injuries. 🙂 Much aloha for stopping in and I have plenty more boy-raising posts ahead as well. XO

  6. Great advise as always, thanks Monica! I will try that method today during my workout.

  7. This is very helpful. I like knowing what muscles I’m engaging with each exercise. It helps me to keep better form. As a woman that is closer to 60 than 50 fitness is all about prevention. Standing ABs, stronger spine, I ‘m on it! I have found the best recipe for new habits is to incorporate small steps into a bigger routine… Dishes = Standing ABs. Standing ABs, change the World :-). More like this please.

    1. Thank you Julie! That is brilliant. 🙂 Love your way of thinking. Aloha-

  8. You recommend shooting for doing your abdominal exercise 3 times a week. Is it to much to do it more then that? I love ab workout and have been doing a 3 minute workout every other day, but I’m afraid i don’t know a whole lot about abs so this post was most helpful!

    I had 3 babies in 3 years, each a year apart. My youngest is 2 now and i majorly need help strengthen my core.
    What would you recommend?

    1. No, you are totally fine doing ab work more than three times a week. I really meant that as a minimum to get results. 🙂 If you love them, then by all means, go for it! You might just switch it up a bit–one day really work on planks and the Transverse abdominals, the next day crank out some crunches, etc. Keep it interesting and keep the TA in all the time and you’ll get those abs back in no time! 😉 Glad you asked and thanks for stopping in! aloha

  9. I love the idea of the standing abs excersizes as I have a job where I literally am standing for 5 hrs straight!

  10. My first time commenting, but I love reading your fitness blogs because of the balanced mental perspective, the most important ingredient of all. 🙂
    So true about the transverse abs…..when I consistently do aerobic breathing, sucking my belly button in and holding it, my abs WANT to pull in – a neat feeling. Also, when I was pregnant, it naturally made me hold in the bump, for a while, but that went to pot eventually, lol!

    1. Thank you so much! Yes–the breathing (I didn’t mention,) I love that! It does feel so good when the pulling in things become a natural thing. And yes w/ pregnancy–there comes a time when no holding in is gonna make a difference! haha. Much aloha and I am glad you stopped to comment! Aloha-

  11. SUCH a fab (and LONG 😉 ) post. Great info. Will def give the link a share on my Busy & Fit FB page.

    Have you ever had Diastasis Recti after your pregnancies? I had it with my first last year and still have not recovered properly from it, even though I’ve done the exercise from the physio (mainly the TA stuff you discussed in this post).

    It’s frustrating b/c it eliminates a LOT of potential ab exercises for me, which would make the issue worse. Would love to hear if you have any advice.

    Thanks again for the solid info, and for the TA reminders.

    1. Thank you Corinna–I know it was way long, I try not to do that…Somehow couldn’t help it this time. 🙂
      I never had Diastasis Recti no, but things sure seemed like they were all out of whack for a while after my last two pregnancies…I should do more research on that because I don’t think I remember the typical course…Does that ever heal completely? You mention physio–did that help? Would be interested to hear more, and sorry I’m not much help w/ that. aloha!

      1. You should check out https://mamalates.com great resource for diastasis recti. It is unfortunately common and not well addressed in our culture where there is very little information or support for post partum mamas. Wendy who runs the site is a lovely lady and a wealth of knowledge. She helped me recover after my first pregnancy. Best of luck!!

      2. This was my concern reading this- new moms need to be very careful doing planks , crunches and twisting until their DR is completely healed of the tension can actually cause a great split in the muscles. There are exercises to do that will close it but they take time and then once healed these are excellent exercises. Check outhttps://www.pregnancyexercise.co.nz/category/diastasis-recti-2/ andhttps://www.mamalionstrong.com/topics/diastasisrecti/

        1. Thanks Alexis. Funny I did ab work pretty quick after each kid and never had a problem, but I’m glad you mentioned that because it can be a risk…Thanks for sharing. 😉