wellness

When it comes to menopause, the information age is opening up our collective conversation, but the confusion for most women persists.  This blog is a deep dive into the science of menopause and full of science backed tools for you to thrive for longevity.

A silent risk to women’s health as we age, especially as we approach menopause, is declining bone density. Here's what you need to know about osteoporosis and a lifestyle guide to prevention and strength.

There is always that nagging voice in the back of your mind asking, “what has happened to me?” 

Women’s bodies have different cross-training needs than men’s across a lifetime, so the right approach trains strength, mobility, and core function together rather than chasing one goal. You’re not doing anything wrong and your body isn’t broken—understanding how your female body actually works is what keeps you strong, capable, and injury-free for the long haul. Knowledge every woman needs to live a strong, embodied life. You’re not doing anything wrong and your body isn’t broken. I’m going to say something seemingly basic, but totally revolutionary for us each to hear: Women’s bodies have different cross-training needs than men’s over the arc of our lifetime. Understanding how your female body works is how you thrive and stay strong for the long haul. As the new year is underway and we are all hitting the fitness routines hard, a thought has occurred to me that I wanted to share with you. I hear these statements uttered in disbelief from almost every woman I’ve ever worked with and is quickly followed by her tearing up: “I’ve never felt those muscles before—actually, I don’t think I ever knew they existed. I definitely never felt my abs like this in a plank or sit up before. I think I’ve been doing it wrong my whole life.” These realizations are usually delivered with a mix of disbelief, frustration, sadness and…hope. Hope that she finally now knows, but also, fear of what else they might not know and still be doing wrong. My answer to those spinning mom-thoughts is simple: it’s totally normal that you never really understood how to do a plank, a sit-up or the basics of your body’s changing, cross-training needs—you are a woman and no one ever taught you how to work out and how your muscles work (or don’t!) at different points in your life. If you’re pregnant, understanding how to modify your movement is key. The best pregnancy workout routines focus on building strength while prioritizing stability and alignment—laying the foundation for a smoother postpartum recovery. So, let’s change that! As you harness your new year’s motivation to hit the gym, cue up your favorite videos, and lace your sneakers for those runs in the park, I want to share 5 powerful shifts you can make to prevent injury, feel better in your workouts, and get the full-body results you want and need. The bonus? A sustainable fitness habit that meets all of your mental, physical, and emotional mom-needs in less than 30 minutes a day. 1. Simple Sit-Ups Muscles activated: Your back and abdominal wall. While doing a basic crunch, feel your lats (the large muscles under the shoulder blades) wrap you before lifting the upper body off the ground. Instead of squeezing your neck and shoulders to crunch, this will help lengthen your upper spine by pulling the back muscles down and enclosing the rib cage. You’ll also want to feel engagement in your chest. My favorite cue is that your boobs are driving your ribs downward towards your belly button—it's a funny image, but it triggers your pecs to flex with your upper-most abs. These muscles, coupled with your lats, creates a true 360-degree sit up. 2. Powerful Planks: Muscles activated: Your entire body! Start off by doing a few squats, so that your pelvis is mobile and your glutes and upper-thighs are lit up and ready to work. Getting planks out of your shoulders and into your core requires practicing with your knees down in “incline plank.” Take some weight off your upper body and turn on your chest/upper back, pull your lats down while thinking about your glutes pressing your pelvis down while your abs and thighs press up—chin in neutral so that your neck is long and throat is relaxed. If you’re in the early postpartum phase, this is where a structured approach makes all the difference. The best postpartum workout program won’t rush you into high-impact movements but will focus on gradual core strengthening—starting with deep transverse abdominal activation, breath work, and rebuilding pelvic stability. 3. Seriously Good Squats: Muscles activated: quads, glutes, inner & outer thighs. While doing squats, your pelvis should angle back and instead of reaching your arms out in front of you (this uses your shoulders and neck), put your fingers on either side of your rib cage, engaging your rib-girdle postural muscles, to hold you up instead of gripping your arms and shoulders for balance. If you’re not feeling your butt as much as your thighs, that’s ok, but that’s a sign that you could use some isolated glute work to help your back body wake up and get involved. 4. Back By Deadlifts: Muscles activated: entire back body; especially back & hamstrings Your back body is essential to your fully functional, fit body and life. It gets as whacked out through pregnancy/childbirth as your abdominal wall and pelvis, but is often a forgotten or ignored part of the body. So, go gently and take your time, beginning with your pelvic corridor, abs and glutes. Then, begin working the dead-lift by hinging at the waist, wrapping your abs and squeezing your glutes, lats, and hamstrings to rotate back up. Start without weights and slowly add a few pounds once you’re feeling the full-body activation and workout. 5. Soft Roller For The Win: Muscles activated: Your entire body! Your muscles turn on and off depending on your hormone levels, menstrual cycle, age, stress, sleep quality…I mean, the list goes on! Your body is built in layers and some layers get stuck, turn off or overcompensate when injuries are incurred. Soft-foam rolling essentially irons out these layers (also known as fascial hydration—we’ll dive into this more in the January 26th issue of The Rewrite) and allows your body to move freely, with ease and a full range of motion. It’s absolute magic! Check out this short rolling video to try it for yourself. Postpartum fitness isn’t just about recovery—it’s about long-term strength, balance, and confidence in movement. Your body has been through a transformation, and the way you train should honor that. Understanding how to cross-train in ways that work with your body—not against it—ensures you stay strong, injury-free, and empowered for life. Whether you’re newly postpartum, years into motherhood, or just looking to refine how you move, these principles will help you train smarter, not harder. Keep reading: Building Muscle After Childbirth: Rebuilding Strength From Your Core Out 5 Moves to Tackle Mom Muscle Aches RM Strengthen — the Revolution Motherhood method Start your free trial with Revolution Motherhood →

Most diastasis recti resolves with consistent deep-core work, but a smaller number of cases need more. Diastasis recti exercises postpartum focus on reconnecting the transversus abdominis and avoiding coning or doming. In over 20 years of practice, true cases needing further intervention are uncommon—and when they occur, they’re best evaluated by a pelvic-health professional. When More Intervention Might Be Needed In my last Diastasis Recti article, I defined DR and shared how to assess your abdominal tone and strength—a true DR that needs additional treatment is actually not that common. Today, I'm going to talk about those cases, how it feels and looks, and how to treat it, should you be wondering about the state of your abdominal wall. To be clear, in my 20+ years practicing, I have only seen a handful of these cases and they have all been treatable with the following intervention. For those of us who embark on the journey of motherhood, there’s a lot about it that scares us…all the flipping time! Your body doesn’t have to be one of those things. It can be a refuge for self-connection, self-understanding, stress release, and emotional clarity. Here’s how you know, what to do, and where to begin if you think you may need more help with your abdominal recovery post babies… HOW TO TELL IF YOU NEED FURTHER INTERVENTION A true Diastasis Recti is when the abdomen is like a pool of thinned and soft belly tissue—there’s almost no response even at the mom’s very best effort. In these cases, I refer moms to a very specialized pelvic PT for manual, visceral manipulation. This is because, the loss of the front core muscles will have also resulted in extreme weakness and tension in the back, pelvic floor, and hip-stabilizing muscles, requiring manual release, visceral movement, and often organ realignment prior to a mom’s ability to begin isolating, feeling, and engaging her transverse abdominals (TVA). In these cases, there are common symptoms that accompany the DR such as stress incontinence, back pain, hunched shoulders and “stuck ribs.” The term, stuck ribs, is used to explain how a widened diaphragm and ribcage are unresponsive when asked to expand and contract 3-dimensionally. WHY DIASTASIS RECTI EXERCISES POSTPARTUM MATTER When caught early, Diastasis Recti exercises postpartum can play a critical role in closing abdominal separation and restoring core function. By progressively engaging the deep core muscles—especially the TVA—these exercises help rebuild tension and elasticity in the midline, allowing moms to regain strength and prevent further weakening. Proper core activation also reduces the risk of secondary issues like pelvic instability or back pain, making postpartum fitness a smoother, more supportive journey. THE 411 ON CONING + DOMING Ever heard of “coning” or “doming?” These terms refer to an abdominal contraction that instead of pulling down and inward, separates and pushes your midline out between the two sides of your 6-pack. This separation and outward pressure occurs in a moment when your TVA are not able to engage and so your external abs are disorganized and de-stabilized, like when you’re 9 months pregnant or just gave birth. COMMON CONING Sometimes coning spontaneously and naturally occurs when you sneeze, cough or simply try to sit up after lying down. These short-lived moments are not dangerous and do not ‘cause’ Diastasis Recti. You can try and engage your TVA mindfully before you sneeze or cough (and definitely when rolling up out of bed) and this can help hold things in place in the moment, but it’s ok if you can’t and don’t. You will not make things worse because you are 9-months pregnant or 1-week postpartum and have a moment of coning. The coning that we want to watch out for is a separation that occurs when you are working out and your abs cannot sustain their engagement through exercise—so, you “cone.” Paying attention to this “lost TVA moment” will allow you to pause your exercise and use breath to re-engage from the inside out, continuing to strengthen your abdominal wall. If ignored, you begin to risk training your abs to pull apart for strength instead of together, which can lead to thinning and weakening of the midline, resulting in a more severe Diastasis Recti UNDERSTANDING YOUR CORE & ITS CONNECTION TO OTHER SYSTEMS A strong, engaged core doesn’t just impact your abs—it affects your entire body. Without a functioning core, your spine lacks stability, your pelvic floor compensates in ways that lead to tightness and dysfunction, and your breath becomes shallow and ineffective. PELVIC MUSCLE SPASMS & WEAK CORE MUSCLES One often-overlooked issue in postpartum recovery is the development of pelvic muscle spasm due to core weakness. When the TVA and deep abdominal muscles are unable to activate properly, the pelvic muscles overcompensate, leading to chronic tension, discomfort, and even pain. Many moms experience this as a tight, gripping feeling in the pelvic floor, which can contribute to urinary leakage, hip pain, and discomfort during movement. To prevent this, it’s essential to restore proper core engagement through breath work, progressive strengthening, and intentional pelvic floor relaxation techniques.. HOW TO KNOW YOU NEED MORE HELP An Easy Way To Test Your Midline: Standing or lying down, simply take a deep breath. If your midline sticks out below your ribs (and your ribs don’t move), this is a sign that you need some help from a pelvic PT. Make an appointment with a specialized PT to help remobilize your ribs and diaphragm. They can also release the back tension that is keeping your TVA from gliding with your breath. EXERCISE & “DOMING” What can exacerbate your abdominal weakness and lead to a widening of the midline is sustained coning and weight-baring core work while the TVA are disengaged. For example, doing a plank while pregnant and the midline is pushing down and out instead of up and “hugging” the baby. If you are working out and noticing that your mid-belly is lax, bulging or can not draw in and together, then you need to pause and go back to your foundational TVA strength. BELLY BANDS: DOs & DON’Ts Belly bands are tight, elastic-type corsets that wrap around your back and waist to help hold your belly in. Moms are advised way too frequently to use belly bands and it f’s up their abs! Extended or frequent use keeps your muscles deactivated and trains them to become increasingly passive and reliant on the belly band. I have seen this lead to complete atrophy of the majority of your trunk’s core muscle system, requiring months of rehabilitation and recovery. I only advise using a belly band in very specific, early postpartum or post-operative situations, where the mom is often needing to care for her older children and or perform standing/walking tasks that are beyond her body’s capacity. In these instances, the band can lend itself to support the mom through a couple hours of activity and then, she takes it off, but I always use them with a plan to stop using them. THE SURGICAL OPTION Surgery is the right choice for you if you and your medical team decide so. No one knows your body and your needs better than you. I have advised women with minimal separations to head into surgery because psychologically, they just needed to see a quicker fix than the rehab fitness was going to yield. Some have gone in because their tissues were so compromised, they likely would never be able to bring elasticity and strength back to the core without it. Whatever you choose, I applaud you. POST-OP TIPS Corrective surgery is major undergoing and you will need the same course of muscle reeducation and strength training post-op as you do now. But, the great news is, you’ll have muscles that are aligned where they are meant to be and tissues with enough tension and elasticity to engage and build 3-dimension strength! Remember, surgery will only be an option after you are sure you’re done having children. So, no matter where you are in your journey, a daily, mind-body core workout that meets you at your fitness level and supports your muscle activation are a must for your long-term health. THE PUNCHLINE A fit, active lifestyle is key to success. Find a program that inspires you and keeps you moving forward. It should resonate with you and you should feel changes happening as you make your way through the program. Postpartum Fitness & Core Strength: A strong core is essential for postpartum fitness. Whether you’re lifting your baby, returning to exercise, or simply moving through daily life, core stability is at the heart of it all. Strengthening your TVA through intentional movement ensures long-term function and resilience. For more on diastasis-recti and your pre and postnatal muscle education, check out the RM DR Program on our App.For an exceptional Pelvic PT, check out Beyond Basics with multiple locations located in Manhattan. Keep reading: Pelvic Organ Prolapse: Your Complete Guide Diastasis Recti: What It Is, Symptoms, and Nothing to Fear RM Heal — the Revolution Motherhood method Work with Rachel in a private session →