In this 10‑minute video Lindsey Baumgren of NourishMoveLove guides postpartum mothers through eight core‑strengthening exercises that are safe for diastasis recti. She begins by explaining the purpose of the routine – to restore core connection, strengthen the transverse abdominals, and engage the pelvic floor – and emphasizes the importance of proper breathing and alignment. Each move is performed for 30 seconds with options to scale intensity up or down. The sequence includes: (1) transverse abdominal breathing, (2) heel‑slide outs, (3) alternating knee‑hugs/leg raises with cues to avoid low‑back “coning” or “doming,” (4) bent‑knee marches (alternating tap‑downs), (5) alternating leg kick‑outs, (6) leg‑out circles, (7) V‑taps that integrate inner‑thigh and pelvic‑floor activation, and (8) a final kick‑out/press‑in combo. Lindsey repeatedly reminds viewers to keep the rib cage and hip bones pulled together, to monitor the abdominal wall for bulging, and to adjust lever length for difficulty. The video ends with a cool‑down stretch and encouragement to repeat the routine several times a week, linking to additional low‑impact postpartum workouts.
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Hi, I'm Lindsey Baumgren of NourishMovelove. And today I'm gonna walk you through eight of my favorite exercises I use to heal and restore my core postpartum. So it's a great beginner ab workout. A great workout for moms who are postpartum and working to heal doctor or diastus recti or just looking to reconnect their core and their pelvic floor and find what core connection feels like. It can be hard after having a baby to find your core again and activate those muscles. So today is all about activating our core. And that's what we're going to focus on. I have eight exercises for you. We're going to do each exercise for 30 seconds. I'll give you some options and variations to scale up the intensity or scale back the intensity. And you can always go through this at your own. And you could maybe work for shorter intervals and then extend it and work for longer intervals. The goal is just finding that core connection again. Okay, so 30 seconds per move, eight moves again, I did these all the time postpartum. I'm currently. So don't look at my stomach and be like, Postpartum, I'm currently 11 months postpartum when we're filming this. And so I've done a ton of work to heal my doctor from a three finger separation now down to like a 1.1.5 and continuing to work on it. So this is great for me too. It's great for everybody. And the reason we added a full video to this is because let's be honest and call a spade a spade. Postpartum core workouts are boring. They stink. No one wants to do the work of breathing and connecting your cor, but I promise you, it is so worth it. Okay, mamas, this is so good for you. It's so worth it. And it's going to be eight minutes of me and you just hanging out. And you can put your newborn right by you if you want to. Okay, so we're going to take it all the way down. You're doing all eight exercises from your back. I'm going to show you the first move and then we'll start the timer. Okay, so your first move. I'm going to show you the first move. It's really, really just breathing. But we're going to get to know our core and just breathe for 30 seconds. So your first move is just big inhales. You're going to inhale, let your belly expand and then exhale, pull that core In. So this is what we call transverse abdominal breathing, or connecting our low. Your abdominal muscles, not your ones you can see, but the ones that are really deep. Your core set abdominal muscles. So we're just going to focus on breathing for the first 30 seconds and then we're going to continue to flow through this workout. Ok. So if you're with me, take your hands and place them on your stomach because we like to feel the muscles we're working and this is going to help us find that core connection. Okay, so. So we're going to start with the timer. At 30 seconds, you're laying on your back. Give me a big inhale. Your tummy expands. Exhale, pull it nice and tight. Okay. So on the inhale, relax. On the exhale, think about taking your hands and wrapping them around you. So inhale, exhale, pull your hands in. Your hands should be doing just what your abs are doing. So I'm pulling my rib cage in. I'm pulling my hip bones together. You got one more. Now hold this right here. We're going to go to a heel slide out. So slide one heel out, lift it up and set it back down. Other side, slide it out, lift it up and set it back down. So you're just doing an alternating heel slide out. Okay. While keeping those hip bones pulled together. So I'm still breathing through this, but I'm keeping that exhale position. My ribs are pulled in tight. My core is pulled in tight. My low back is connected to the mat. Keep those ribs in nice. You should feel your low abs turning on. You got 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Now you're going to send both legs long and you're just going to do an alternating knee hug and hug. Your option is to keep the opposite leg on the ground. If you want to intensify this, you are going to hover your opposite leg and switch. Okay. What we want to avoid, as soon as we take that other leg up, what happens is our low back pops off the mat or we'll see coning or doming in our stomach. I'm going to show you what that looks like. Okay. Trying to find my combing and my doning. Your stomach's going to go up. You want to avoid that. You always want to keep a nice flat core. And okay, you can always take the leg back down. You got 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Bring your legs up to a bent position. The closer my knees are in, the easier this is going to be. The farther my knees are away from my body, the harder this is. Going to be. It's an alternating tap down, tap the toe and tap the toe. All these exercises are slow and steady. You guys move at your pace. Okay? We're going through each move, then we're going to go through and we're going to do it again. Because you're going to know the moves and you're going to master them. Right? Alternating tap downs. Again. Closer the knees are to the chest, easier. Farther the knees are harder. So slowly work to get those knees farther away from you. Keeping that rib cage pulled in low back connected to the mat. Keep breathing through this. Nice. From here, we're going to go to an alternating leg kick out. So hold here. Kick the leg out, lower it, pull it back up to center. Other side. Kick it out lower, pull it back up again. How far this other knee is from my chest is going to determine how hard this is. Kick out lower. If the lower is too much for you, just do alternating. Kick out, pull back in, kick out, pull back in. Adding that lower. That's tough, right? One more other side. Kick out, pull back in. From here you're gonna kick out and you're gonna give me two circles. Circle, circle. Think about drawing a donut sized circle, a donut size circle with your big toe circle. Oh, yeah, that one really works. Okay, you guys, slow and steady. This is advanced. This is hard. Okay, if this is too challenging for you, what you're gonna do is keep your toe bent and draw a circle circle with the bent knee. This. The shorter the lever, the easier it is. As soon as I kick out away from my body, it gets harder. The farther my legs are from my body, the harder it is. One more. Other side. Circle, circle. From here, we do a V tap. Open, wide, close. Open, wide, close. Tap the toes wide as I pull in. This is where I really find that pelvic floor and core connection. Exhale, Inhale. Open. Exhale, close. Think about your hands. Inhale, open, exhale. As my legs are closing, so are my abs. Inhale, exhale. Now if you can add that pelvic floor, pulling the inner thighs together, that's going to engage that pelvic floor too. Nice work, you guys. So good. You have one more move after this. You're here for 5, 4, 3, 2. Last one. Find first position. Heels to touch, toes are out. You have a V. Just kick out for two. Pull in for two. You're almost kicking up to the sky. Okay. As you get more and more advanced, you'll kick straight out again, those inner thighs, pulling them together. That activates My pelvic floor. So that's where I get the pelvic floor and core. Core connection. Okay, it's up. Two in two. As I get more advanced, I kick straight out and pull in. Nice work here in the final 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Hug your knees to your chest and just roll your low back side to side. Okay, Those are your moves. We're going to repeat them. Take a nice little break here. Roll it side to side. Roll the low back out. Okay, we're gonna go through one more time. Same thing. Okay, Starting with breathing. Heels are on the ground. Set yourself up. Okay, Put your hands on your belly. Same eight moves. Inhale, belly expands. Exhale. Pull the hands together. My hands are doing the same thing. My core is. Pull it in. Think about pulling your hip bones together. Place your hands on your hip bones. Think about pulling them together. Oh, there it is. That's how we find core connection. I know this breathing stuff isn't the most thrilling, isn't the most exuberating, but you guys so important. Hip bones and rib cage stay in nice and tight. Okay, hold it here. Hold these hip bones and rib cage nice and tight. Heel slide outs. Slide the heel out. Lift up and set down. Other side. Slide it out. Lift up and set down. So I'm breathing but keeping the ribcage pulled in and down. Keeping the hip bones pulling towards each other. Nice work. You're doing good. Like I said, we're adding a full length video to this because these moves are not super thrilling to do on your own. But if I'm here holding you to the. Holding your hand to the fire, will you do them with me? Because they are so worth it, you guys. It is so important. This is so good for avoiding low back pain, low back injury, picking up your baby hunched over your baby. Core connection, core strength. So important for everyone, but especially mamas. Last one. Other side and then we're going to advance it. Bring the knees up, tabletop position. Okay. Or option one, leg stays on the ground. It's a two pulse. Pull, pull two. Switch, pull two again. Remember, your other leg can stay on the ground as you advance. You can bring that other leg up to a hover to make sure the rib cage stays in and down. Make sure the core stays connected here. Make sure you're avoiding any coning or doming. Really important. Especially if you have diastas recti or separation of the abdominal walls. Really important. Slow and steady. All these moves are slow and steady. Nice work. Five more seconds here and then we switch to the Bent knee March. Nice. Last one. Awesome job. Bring those legs right here. Again. Closer. Easier. Farther. Harder. Tap down, tap down. Just alternating tap downs. Keeping the ribs in, keeping the hip bones in. Nice work, you guys. Keep those hands on that tummy. Feel that core working. Really focusing on those deep, deep abdominal walls. Okay. If you have doctor or that abdominal separation, it's not even necessarily about how far your abs are separated. It's about the tension you can generate underneath that. Okay? That's your transverse abdominals. The tension you can generate underneath that separation. That's what's really important. Okay, So I had a three finger separation, but I could generate really good tension underneath it because I had a strong transverse abdominal wall because I did these exercises right. Stay with it. You got one more each way. Tap down. Last one. Nice. Moving on. Kick out with a drop. So kick it out. Drop it. Pull it in. Alternate kick out, drop. Pull in. Keep that rib cage in nice and tight. Don't let it flare out. Kick out. Lower. Pull it in. Nice work. You can always find ways to advance these exercises. Right. Farther the knees are kicking out straighter. Shortening the lever is easier. Lengthening the lever is harder. Nice work. Stay with it. From here, we go to the kick out with two circles. The kick out with two circles. You're there in three, two, one, one. Let's do it. Kick out. Draw those donuts with the toes. Oh, yeah. This one is challenging. Okay. This is advanced. You're getting advanced. Could always stay with alternating kick outs. Okay. I'm showing you lots of levels to scale up. As your postpartum recovery increases, you increase the time on the exercise, you increase the challenge, the length of the lever. These were my seven basic moves I started with. From here, I went to the 10 minute lower ab series. We'll link it in this post. And then I also have a 10 minute beginner abs with a sponge ball. All really great options for postpartum core recovery. Stay with it. One more each way. Nice work, you guys. Kick out two circles. From here we go to the bent knee. V taps. One more. Other side. Kick out two circles. Nice. From here, legs are bent at 90 degrees. Tap open, close. Pull the inner thighs together. Connect the pelvic floor. Open. Nice work. Big audible exhale. This deep breathing, good for your core. Also so good for being a mom to just take a minute and breathe. Because we all know there are stressful moments in motherhood. It is joyful, but it is challenging. Keep up the good work. Nice work. Two more. Last one and we go. First position. Kick outs from here. Heels to touch, toes are out. You're kicking up towards the ceiling if you're a beginner. Up two, in two, kick it up. Squeeze the inner thighs together. Kick up and squeeze. If you're advancing this, you're kicking out. Out two, in two, kick it out two. Avoiding that coning and that doming. Keep it nice and tight. You got it? Yes. Option A, kick up two. Option B, kick out for two. You're doing so good, you guys. Two more. Two more. Up two, down. Last one, last one. Up two and down. Pull it in. Oh, yeah. There you go. Nice work, you guys. Awesome job. Take a nice little happy baby stretch. Bring it full circle. Oh, yeah. Grab the inside arches or soles of your feet and just rock side to side. Awesome. Awesome job. Gently rock yourself up to a seated position. Awesome job working through this postpartum, core recovery, beginner abs, whatever you want to call it, this is an awesome workout. I hope you come back to this. Incorporate it a couple times a week, and you'll be well on your way to healing that core. Okay? Keep up the good work. Keep coming back. We have several more low impact exercises you can check out and we'll give you more information in the post associated with this video. Awesome job, you guys. Keep up the good work and find more workouts at nourishmovelove. Com.
