Post-Pregnancy Tummy Flattening

Julia,

My wife gave birth naturally 7 months ago and she's decided to work on getting the tummy flat again. She's read some stuff online where one site says do crunches, another says absolutely not. What are the best ways (other than in the kitchen) to get her going in the right direction?

– Jason

You're right, Jason. It starts in the kitchen. I'm guessing (as most women are) that she's pretty carb sensitive. And I'm guessing she doesn't hold a major amount of muscle, so her carb needs will be less. Without knowing how she currently eats, I'd suggest having no starchy/bready carbs for breakfast and lunch. Instead, fill it will veggies, proteins and fats...and maybe even some berries for breakfast.

As far as abdominal training, I'm a huge fan of stabilization exercises, standing ab exercises, and the like. There are various thoughts on crunches and sit-ups (flexion is bad, flexion is ok, flexion is good only if the lower back is in a neutral spine...) Coming back from a pregnancy is going to involve getting the abs to close back up in the middle where they most likely separated. Shirley Saharmann has a great deal of exercises out there that I used post-pregnancy. Have her start with those, then build to regular strength ab exercises.