If a woman has a normal pregnancy without any complications, whether that's natural birth or C-section, she usually gets clearance to work out six weeks after delivery, Dr. Gupta said. If infection or high blood pressure occur, "then we decide by case-by-case basis, depending on how they're doing at six weeks."
This clearance also goes for any pelvic floor physical therapy a woman may be referred for by her ob-gyn, said Prendergast, whose facility offers postpartum rehab focussed on bladder and bowel dysfunction, pelvic pain, and diastasis recti, the natural separation of the abdominals during pregnancy. This occurs in up to two-thirds of pregnant women and is more common if you're carrying multiple babies or have given birth before.
Your gut essentially "falls out," as Dr. Gupta put it, or starts to protrude through the muscle mass. And according to Prendergast, "There's still controversy over what is considered a diastasis in terms of the width of it and the depth." Typically, that means anything wider than a finger above and below the umbilicus, Prendergast explained, and depth-wise, it's "basically to the first or second knuckle." You can, according to Prendergast, incorporate physical therapy into your workout routine, but if you have a severe case of diastasis recti, for example, you should seek physical therapy first.