The Healthy Post Natal Body Podcast
The Healthy Post Natal Body Podcast
Busting the Myth: The Truth About Planks After Pregnancy
From the vault;
This week I talk about the importance of doing plank exercises if you're working on your postpartum recovery
Too often do I hear "Planks are dangerous to do post-partum" or "avoid doing planks or you'll make your diastasis worse".
This is complete nonsense. Planks are your friend post-partum but you kind of have to know what you're doing and why you're doing certain exercises at a certain time.
So I discuss things like reverse planks, side planks and front loaded planks and how to do them safely and effectively.
I also explain why you will NEVER recover post-partum if you don't do plank exercises, it just won't happen!
And I talk about the difference between static and dynamic planks and why movement during a plank makes the plank significantly more effective.
Reminder; HPNB still only has 5 billing cycles.
So this means that you not only get 3 months FREE access, no obligation!
BUT, if you decide you want to do the rest of the program, after only 5 months of paying $10/£8 a month you now get FREE LIFE TIME ACCESS! That's $50 max spend, in case you were wondering.
Though I'm not terribly active on Instagram and Facebook you can follow us there. I am however active on Threads so find me there!
And, of course, you can always find us on our YouTube channel if you like your podcast in video form :)
Visit healthypostnatalbody.com and get 3 months completely FREE access. No sales, no commitment, no BS.
Email peter@healthypostnatalbody.com if you have any questions, comments or want to suggest a guest.
If you could rate the podcast on your favourite platform that would be a big help.
Playing us out this week; "No Quitter" by Grace McCoy
Hey, welcome to the Healthy Postnatal Body Podcast with your postnatal expert, peter Laak. That, as always, would be me. This is a podcast for the 3rd of August 2025 and time flies. This is a From the Vault episode. To be fair, this is an episode I did a while ago, in 2023 sometime, where I spoke about the importance of planks when it comes to your postpartum recovery. You know, a lot of personal trainers and postpartum people say you shouldn't do planks postpartum because they're dangerous and all that type of stuff. And I'm here to tell you that that ain't true. That ain't the case, at least. I mean that original phrase. Is it true, is it not? It is not true, right? Postpartum planks are important. You just need to build up to it and do them correctly. So, without further ado, here we go about that nice quick podcast because, to be honest, I'm running massively behind schedule. It's been a busy, busy week. I've done loads and loads of interviews. Um, what do I have coming up? Interview wise, because I've also made some changes to HPMB that I'm still to tell you about. John Pabon's book is out. John Pabon, the great greenwashing book. You know, I did the sustainability interview with him a little while ago. Well, his book is out in the US, uk and Australia, so check that out. I will link to it in the podcast description. I've done an interview with various people. What did we talk about this week? I've done so many interviews. It's absolutely, absolutely crazy. I've done an interview with sheila carroll, who is, of course, a doctor um, she's an md and um, we spoke about weight management for kids, um, and health for kids and all that. So that's coming up. Um, that's a touchy subject, I know for for a lot of people, um, but it really is well worth listening to. It's not going to go the way you think it's going to go. Um, we also did, and I also did, an interview with alicia patterson about somatic healing and all that sort of stuff and the pelvic floor and all that sort of thing. You're going to love that one. Somatic healing, holistic pelvic floor recovery, trauma, sensitive pelvic floor recovery and all that sort of stuff. You're going to love that. Those are the interviews coming up in the next couple of weeks. Those two guests have absolutely crushed it. You know the Kelly Smith interview is still coming up about postpartum rage and meditation and all that sort of thing. So that's awesome and big news.
Peter:Hpmb is now at another level. What I have done for you, good people you know you always get three months completely free postpartum programming and support and all that sort of stuff. Right, like I said, like I always say, cancel on day one, you still get three months completely free. Don't cancel late, cancel on time, just cancel nice and early. If you don't want to pay for it, it's completely fine. After that you pay eight pounds or ten dollars a month, but I have set a cap on that now. After five, count them one, two, three, four, five months. So after five, count them one, two, three, four, five months. So eight months into the program.
Peter:If you've paid 50 bucks or 40 pounds, you will get lifetime free access to the program and to export support. So you never need to pay more. It will end there. You never need to pay more than 50 bucks. So that means that if you have a baby and you're going to do the program and then years later you have a second baby or a third baby or a fourth baby or whatever you want to do, you can always go back to the Healthy Postnatal Body Program, never pay a penny more. So it's not like the MUTU system where you pay 80 quid a year or 89 pound a year or something like that. Or if you pay monthly 250 pound a year some outrageous amount and 50 bucks since you're through 40 pounds, since you're completely done and dusted with all your postpartum stuff which you also could do if you don't want to pay a penny, you take the first three months and you make sure you save that information somewhere and then you know you always have access to the first three months Also. Fine, I'm more than happy with that. I just don't want you to pay too much for your stuff.
Peter:And if you're a member, of course you get expert help, right. You get to email me all your questions and all that sort of stuff and I get quite a few questions coming in. See, there's a nice little link in here. I get quite a few emails in these days about planks and you know I was doing exercising. I was training somebody this week who said she was went to like week three of my postpartum program. So this is a PT session and we were doing a little side plank, side plank with dips.
Peter:If you do the HPMB program, you know I'm a big fan of these and she said she was under the impression that you should not be doing front loaded planks Postpartum because and I quote, they are dangerous. Loaded planks postpartum because, and I quote, they are dangerous. And as I was explaining to her, because I get this question a lot there's fundamentally nothing wrong with doing a front loaded plank. Now, a front loaded plank for those of you who don't know is a plank with your belly facing the floor right. The load is at the front, so on your stomach. The issue with them postpartum isn't that it's dangerous to do so, that your guts are going to fall out or anything like that. It's not just that your core isn't strong enough to actually handle them, or that you don't know how your body should feel whilst holding a plank, that your muscle activation is just not great enough. So other parts of your body are doing the work and holding you in place. But that is what the problem is. So I'm actually a really big fan of planks if you do them in the right order. So that's what I'm talking about today the importance of planks, right?
Peter:So, first of all, the first plank we do in the HPMB program is in week one of your postpartum program, and that is the glute bridge, right. So week one of your postpartum program starts with top of my head, I'm fairly sure I'm right in this Starts with the core breath, right, first, exercise the core breath, because that's what we always do first, because breathing is key to postpartum recovery. It just is. That's just science, um. So the core breath first. Second exercise is the glute bridge. Now, a glute bridge is a reverse plank.
Peter:The way we do glute bridges means that at the top, as I say in the demonstration video for the glute bridges, at the top, I want your core to be as tight as you can, and you should feel that, and I want your glutes to be as tight as they can and you should feel that. So the reason we do glute bridges first is, first of all, people's glutes tend not to be that active postpartum. They tend not to be great at activating and doing what they're supposed to do. So for glute bridges, quite often what happens is your hamstrings really feel it. And at the top of the motion, at the top of the exercise, when you're in that reverse short plank because that's effectively what it is you feel your stomach tends to be quite pudgy and weak and not active and all that sort of stuff Staying in that position for a while or relaxing and getting into that position then and dropping back to the floor, relaxing, exhaling as you move up into that glute pitch, means that your body learns that at the top of the movement, your glutes have to be active and your core has to be as tight as it can be and as it needs to be, and your core has to be as tight as it can be and as it needs to be. That's a reverse plank. In any other world you would call that a plank Right. So that's our starting point. So that's how early on we're actually starting to use planks. We're just not front loading that, we're back loading that, if you want to use that phrase.
Peter:Now, one of the other exercises I tend to do and this is also, by the way, this is a dynamic plank. I'll get to that, over to that a little bit in the next section, so to speak. But it's important to remember that dynamic planks are different from, say, static planks. So there's a plank with movement and, like I said, I'll get into that a little bit in a bit. Then one of the other exercises we do is a side plank. Usually in the beginning we do a half side plank. So you're on your knees side plank with dips, so again squeezing up, and then we're releasing that as we're going down. So we're squeezing that up and you feel that. I always tell people you feel that bottom oblique as you squeeze up and the video demonstrates I think it's Kirstie in the video doing the exercise she feels that oblique as she squeezes up. You can feel that oblique, tightening up and that's where the focus is. But again, at the top, your core is as tight as it can be and your oblique is doing a lot of the work, so you're exhaling through that movement and then at the top you're in the side, in the side plank position. So the only thing we haven't done yet is a front loader plank. So for the first three to four weeks these repetitions come up regularly.
Peter:Actually, the first 12 weeks, if you want to look at the glute bridges, because we're just making the glute bridge more and more difficult. In the second stage we add a knee extension and then in the third stage, uh, the third and almost final stage, if you will, of the activation, uh, part of the program we do single leg glute bridges and a single leg glute bridge is a plank, absolutely 100. You can't call that anything other than well. You can call it. The glute bridge is a plank, absolutely 100%. You can't call that anything other than well, you can call it a glute bridge. But other than that it's a plank In anyone's book. Any PT's book should have that down in the plank section and the glutes stop section.
Peter:And of course, for the side plank with dips we're adding a hold to it at the end, not because the hold is tougher, but just because your body gets better at using the right muscles in the beginning. When you do a side plank with dips you don't really feel your glutes, your obliques, doing all the work. And after winding that muscle up, telling it to activate, telling it to squeeze eight or nine or ten times, but so for the 10 minutes you do it and do you do that regularly. It'll learn that when you move from that position, from the side relaxed position, to the up position, your oblique has to do the work. This is all basic muscle activation stuff.
Peter:And then in that second stage we add hold. So we don't start with the hold, we build up to that. The hold is important but it's not your starting point. First, what we do is we teach that muscle, we reactivate that muscle if you will, and I know there's a physio out there somewhere typing up something, you know, anthony Lowe style, saying that we don't actually activate the muscle. It's already working, yeah, but it's not working right and your mind muscle connection is messed up, those parts, and that's what we're trying to work. So we have to get that going a bit. So I just use the term activate because it works for people. So only then do we hold that position. So we don't start by holding a side plank, because in that case what happens quite often is your oblique doesn't do most of the work, but your hips and your shoulders and all that, so basically your intercostals and all that all of a sudden start holding your place. You start putting a lot of strain on your lats and you start using muscles that you're not supposed to use. And that is the biggest part.
Peter:The biggest problem with doing planks postpartum is using muscles that are not the main muscles that you want to use when holding a position. So in the case of a plank, the main muscle group that you should be using are your core muscles. I know that a plank also works. A normal front loaded plank also works glutes and quads and all that sort of stuff and shoulders and lats and all that sort of thing. But the predominant reason for holding a plank is working the core muscles. The problem postpartum is that that muscle group is not working properly yet. So all the other muscles will start to compensate for that muscle group. So you'll be able to hold a plank for one, one and a half, two, three, four, five minutes.
Peter:I've seen people hold planks for five minutes, not use their core. Once that front part of your core, they're using the glutes and all that sort of stuff. So and you know I count those as core muscles, but it's, they're not using the right part of the core. It's still squidgy as anything in the middle, right, and that is what. That is what the problem is Now. Right, and that is what. That is what the problem is Now, like I said In the beginning, so we have to build up. So the first time you hold the plank in the HPMB program we're not actually holding a short plank front loaded either.
Peter:We do press ups. A press up is a plank with movement Right, and we do them on our knees, not because women aren't strong enough to do a full press-up, but because I want you to do a press-up, a properly with these half decent form doesn't have to be perfect form in your arms, but you have to realize that a press-up is a core exercise. Yes, it works triceps and all that sort of stuff and chest but predominantly for what we are using it for, it is a core exercise and that's again that means that we drop into that half plank position. That makes it a bit easier and we add movement and the movement teaches the body to relax at the right time and to activate at the right time, to engage at the right time. We don't need muscles to be active all the time. We don't need muscles to be active all the time. We don't need muscles to be tight all the time. We need muscles to react when they should react, to respond properly to external stimulus such as you're picking a travel buggy off the ground. That means you need your core to activate properly and a little bit more than you needed to when you're walking around. So we're teaching the body that. So before we do a full loaded plank with a full front loaded plank, we do some press ups. Still it's a plank position.
Peter:There's no difference between a short plank and a press-up other than you know, press-up without movement, and this is important. The core basically consists of three layers Right, you have the external layer, the abs. You have the middle layer, your transverse abdominis, and you have that's the one that everybody bangs on about a lot postpartum um and you have the muscles in between your vertebrae and all that that allow you, allow for like spinal rotation and all that sort of stuff, so that allow you to turn side to side, uh, with um and so, and there they run in between your, in between your vertebrae right. And again, I'm keeping this as simple as possible, so I don't want physios emailing me losing their mind over. Well, technically, no, this podcast is not for you, so I'm kidding. So what we do when we add movement to a plank is, instead of predominantly working that middle layer, that TVA layer, we're working them all Because we're adding movement. So we're working all three layers at once by adding some movement. So that's why in the HPMB program you see things like a walking plank moving from low to high, a rocking plank moving from front to back, plank with hip dips, half plank with hip dips, and all that sort of stuff. Adding some oblique rotation, adding some movement in the hips. That means that your body has to learn to squeeze back, squeeze back up and engage your core to go back into that plank position.
Peter:A dynamic plank is significantly more effective for full body postpartum training, for postpartum recovery training, than a static plank is. It's much, much, much, much, much more effective. And again, as dr chris allah, who came on the podcast a while ago, um, was asking, are you going to do studies into that? I think the studies have been done. There's a study by napier university in edinburgh that uh was done into effectiveness of core exercises and I cannot, for the life of me, remember who did it for them. I think one of the things they found out was bicycle crunches were the most effective for oblique exercises and all that sort of stuff. It was near the top of their stuff. But a dynamic plank is more so a moving plank.
Peter:So when you're in a position whether that's a glute bridge or a side plank or a front loaded plank that you add movement to is more effective for core training than just holding a static plank for as long. As static plank for holding it for as long as possible is awesome and the benefits if you hold it for five days or whatever the crazy current record is. I think it's like 19 hours, something stupid. Like that you're gonna have phenomenal core muscles, right, you, you are that is. That is seriously impressive. But for those of us who don't have 19 hours every day to do core training and who might want to be a bit more efficient and a bit more effective, we need to add a bit of movement and that is what we're doing in the HPMB program. So far from avoiding planks postpartum, you should be adding them to your postpartum core routine.
Peter:If you're a personal trainer, or even if you're a woman's health physio, you have to get your clients to do planks, just not in the way that people tend to do them in the gym. You don't have to hold a one-minute plank. I do them with some of my weight loss clients as fillers, as pre-exhaust and all that sort of stuff. So I have them go from I don't know Spiderman crawls or Spiderman planks or Everest climbers or something like that into a plank hold and then into another moving plank exercise. So I just use them for fatigue. I don't use them as a serious core exercise because they're not.
Peter:I am not impressed with anyone who can hold a plank for a minute and then you add a 20 kilogram weight or 40 kilogram weight or however many plates you want to add, and then you can still hold it for a minute. This really isn't that impressive. It also does you very little good because for most people, what that happens what happens there is. Then they start to compensate by using the wrong muscles. Right, don't get me wrong if you're like nile wilson the gymnast and all that sort of stuff. Those guys are ridiculously impressive when it comes to their core routine, but they don't get stronger by holding planks. They get stronger by doing movement, by moving, whilst they're focused on their core. So it's important in a postpartum recovery program that you don't ignore the benefit, the multiple benefits, that a plank can give you.
Peter:Various forms, like I said back-loaded planks, such as glute bridges, side-loaded planks, whether with dips or without them, or alternating side planks. So when you really get through, you can add kick-throughs and you can add sit-throughs and you can add planks with reach-across and all that sort of stuff, all that stuff that we use in the HPMB program. There's a reason it's in there and it's not because I was bored and couldn't think of other exercises to do? I had to pay people to come to a studio to film these exercises. I have to think about this stuff. Alternating side planks are a wonderful exercise once you are ready for it right. It's all just about getting your stages right when it comes to postpartum recovery, and the first stage is muscle activation. It just is. There isn't anything else in that first stage that you need to focus on other than getting the right muscles to move at the right time.
Peter:Planks are beautiful. For that You're missing out if you're not using planks in your postpartum recovery. You really, really are. Just don't start by doing the front loader plank. That is not the most important bit early on. And when you do them, do them nice, steady pace, but do them as press ups. So do them with movement, so there is no continuous strain on well, where you should be working the core.
Peter:But if you do 10 press ups it takes about 20 seconds, right. If you do them nice and steady on, maybe a bit. Maybe it takes a bit longer 25, 30 seconds, maybe at a push if you're really nice and slow, nice and slow if you're not just banging out. The press ups take about 20 to 30 seconds depending how fast you want, but only a little bit of that is really tightening the core excessively, so at the push, when you exhale on the way up. That's just why I always tell people core breath on the way up, right, so exhale on the way up as you're pushing up. That is where you get more core engagement. And then you drop back down and it relaxes a bit of it and just exhale on the way up so you're teaching your body to again exhale on the effort, to engage the core more when effort is being exerted and all of a sudden that's a beautiful exercise to do and it's ridiculously beneficial and it will help you help give you a flat stomach, not if you fall straight into doing full press ups and not using your core.
Peter:We have to realize that when we train postpartum, the triceps and the chest are not that important in our postpartum training. We train them a bit and you know, within the HPMB program we also do bench dips and all that sort of stuff. There's a benefit to that, but predominantly those exercises are for the core. We do them for the core when it looks at postpartum recovery. So just remember that and just remember that if you don't feel your core doing a press-up. You need to drop to half press-ups and you need to have a different focus, right? So that's pretty much it.
Peter:Planks are your friend postpartum. They really are. You just have to be a little bit careful with how you do them. You have to build everything up in a proper way and then you're laughing. You really are, if you're.
Peter:I will hammer this point home again If you ignore planks in your postpartum recovery, I would virtually guarantee you won't recover postpartum. There is no postpartum recovery without planks. I will tell you this and I will stick by it. And I'm now going to get emails from people who fundamentally disagree with me because they're wrong, right? They'll either think a glued bitch isn't a plank, or a side plank doesn't count as a plank, or that press-ups should not be done by postpartum women, which is just insane. You have to do planks postpartum, but you have to know what you're doing, which is why I'm working with a professional or a solid point, right. On that happy note, I've just been waffling for 25 minutes about planks and all that sort of stuff.
Peter:Like I said, lovely interviews coming up. Hpmb is now the max you pay. If you decide to pay, the max you pay is 50 bucks, 40 pounds, for lifetime access. So you know, tell your friends, I will change a little pop-up on the website to show this as well, because I'm fed up with that stupid pop-up that's there for downloading the free postpartum guide and all that sort of thing. A ton of good music coming up as well, and, speaking of which, here's a new bit of music for you.
Peter:You take care of yourself, peter at HealthyPostnatalBodycom. If you have any questions, if you have any comments, if you'd like me to talk to any guests or you'd like me to discuss a particular subject with someone, you tell me the subject, the subject with someone. You tell me the subject. Email it in, peter at healthyplusnatalbodycom. Again, I don't check social, right? So you have to email it and I will find somebody to speak to, right? You take care of yourself and I'll be back next week.
Peter:Bye now, don't you feel it in your bones? It shakes you to your core and it chills you strong. I I got my flag held high Without a speech of why? Singing a battle cry, singing Na-na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na, yeah, we ain't gonna stop. Na-na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na, yeah, we ain't gonna stop Till we get to die, till we get to die, till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die. Till we get to die.
Peter:That ceiling is not like they go. Yeah, we're never gonna stop. Oh-oh, I've let it take control, cutting my teeth in oh-oh Cause. Well, you know, you know, nothing's ever meant to be simple. And mama didn't raise no quitter. Yeah, she told me, go on, call. You gotta answer when you call. Yeah, she told me, go on, break the mold. Yeah, we ain't gonna stop Till we get to the top. Where you sit to, the bottom is gold. But that ceiling is not like the gold. Yeah, we're never gonna stop. Mama didn't race no quitter. Mama didn't race no quitter. Mama didn't race no quitter. Mama didn't race no quitter. Mama didn't race no quitter. Mama didn't race no quitter. Mama didn't race no quitter. Mama didn't race no quitter. Well, mama didn't rest. Yeah, we ain't gonna stop Till we get to the top. Way you sing till. The bottom is cold, but the feeling is not like they go. Yeah, we're never going to stop.