This one's personal for me. After having my two children, I was left with a weak core and a pelvic floor I didn't even know needed attention — nobody had really explained what pregnancy and birth actually do to your body, or what proper recovery looks like. I made it my mission to understand it properly, and now core work is built into every single session I run.
Why "just do some sit-ups" is the wrong advice
Traditional ab exercises — sit-ups, crunches, full planks — put a lot of pressure straight through a core that's often still healing. For many women this can make things like abdominal separation (diastasis recti) or pelvic floor weakness worse, not better. Rebuilding needs to start much deeper than that.
Where recovery actually starts
- Breathing first. Reconnecting your breath with your deep core muscles is the real starting point, not the finish line.
- The pelvic floor matters as much as the abs. A strong core and a functioning pelvic floor go hand in hand — one without the other isn't the full picture.
- Progress slowly and check in with your body. Coning or doming along your midline, or any heaviness or leaking, are signs to scale back and rebuild the foundations first.
- There's no fixed timeline. Some women feel ready to progress after a few months, others need longer — and that's completely normal.
What this actually looks like in a session
We start with breath and gentle core reconnection work, then build gradually toward functional strength — the kind that helps you pick up your toddler, carry the shopping, or get up off the floor without your body complaining. Every session I run includes this, whether you're weeks or years postnatal, because it's the foundation everything else sits on top of.
If you've had a baby and you're not sure where to start, or you've been told "everything's fine" but something still doesn't feel quite right, that's exactly the kind of thing we'd talk through at a consultation.