86: Brianna Battles: Must Know Tips to Transform Your Body After Baby
Must-Know Tips to Transform Your Body After Baby (Without Wrecking Your Pelvic Floor)
Pregnancy and postpartum expert Brianna Battles shares essential insights on training through pregnancy, protecting your pelvic health, understanding diastasis recti, and safely regaining strength after baby.
Let's be honest, pregnancy and postpartum fitness advice is either completely nonexistent or so overly cautious that it treats you like you're made of glass. Neither extreme is helpful when you're trying to stay strong through pregnancy or get back to training after having a baby.
The reality? This season of life brings unique challenges that mainstream fitness advice just doesn't address. How do you modify your workouts to protect your pelvic floor? What the hell is diastasis recti and should you be worried about it? And how do you train your body while respecting the massive changes it's going through?
In this episode, Tara sits down with Brianna Battles, founder of Pregnancy and Postpartum Athleticism, to break down everything you need to know about training during and after pregnancy. This conversation is packed with practical, evidence-based advice for women who want to stay strong through this transformative period.
The Struggle: Balancing Motherhood and Your Health
Let's start with the uncomfortable truth: motherhood and personal fitness can feel like competing priorities. Between sleep deprivation, completely unpredictable schedules, and the physical demands of caring for a tiny human, finding time and energy for yourself feels nearly impossible.
But here's what Brianna emphasizes: staying active during pregnancy and postpartum isn't just about aesthetics or "bouncing back." It's about maintaining your strength, supporting your mental health, and preparing your body for the physical demands of motherhood. Because let's be real, carrying a car seat, lifting a toddler, and functioning on minimal sleep all require serious physical capacity.
The mindset shift starts here. This isn't about getting back to your pre-pregnancy body. It's about building a stronger, more resilient body that can handle the demands of this new chapter. When you reframe fitness as self-care rather than vanity, it becomes something you do for yourself, not something you should feel guilty about prioritizing.
Pelvic Health 101: Why It Matters During Pregnancy
If there's one thing that gets overlooked in pregnancy fitness conversations, it's pelvic health. And according to Brianna, this is the foundation of everything else.
Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles that support your bladder, uterus, and bowels. During pregnancy, these muscles are under immense pressure from the growing baby, hormonal changes that increase tissue laxity, and postural shifts that change how load is distributed through your body.
Signs your pelvic floor needs attention:
Leaking urine when you cough, sneeze, jump, or run
Pressure or heaviness in your pelvis
Lower back or hip pain that won't resolve
Difficulty controlling gas or bowel movements
Here's the thing: these symptoms are common, but they're not normal. Just because "everyone" experiences them doesn't mean you have to accept them as your new reality.
Brianna breaks down the importance of proper core and pelvic floor engagement during exercise. This isn't about doing a thousand Kegels, it's about learning to coordinate your breath, your core, and your pelvic floor to create stability and manage intra-abdominal pressure effectively.
When you exercise during pregnancy (and postpartum), you need to be mindful of exercises that create excessive downward pressure on your pelvic floor. Think: heavy loaded squats to depth, jumping, running, or any movement that causes you to leak, feel pressure, or experience pain.
The goal isn't to stop exercising, it's to exercise smarter.
Navigating Body Changes: Embrace the Shift
One of the most challenging aspects of pregnancy and postpartum is watching your body change in ways you can't control. Your stomach expands. Your ribcage widens. Your hips shift. And postpartum, things don't just "snap back" the way Instagram might have you believe.
Brianna and Tara discuss the importance of adjusting your mindset around body changes. Your body is doing something incredible, growing and birthing a human. The physical changes are part of the process, not something to fight against.
That doesn't mean you can't have aesthetic goals or want to feel strong in your body again. It just means approaching those goals with compassion and realistic expectations. You're not broken. You're not behind. You're exactly where you need to be.
This is also where having proper support makes all the difference. Working with coaches who understand the pregnant and postpartum body, connecting with other women going through the same thing, and giving yourself permission to adjust your expectations can make this journey so much more sustainable.
Core Training During Pregnancy: What You Need to Know
Core training during pregnancy is one of the most misunderstood topics in fitness. Some people think you shouldn't train abs at all when pregnant. Others think you can just keep doing what you've always done. Both approaches miss the mark.
Brianna explains that core training during pregnancy isn't about six-pack abs or crunches. It's about maintaining stability, supporting your changing posture, and preparing your body for labor and delivery.
Key principles for core training during pregnancy:
Focus on anti-rotation and anti-extension exercises. Think: pallof presses, dead bugs, bird dogs, and planks (modified as needed). These exercises teach your core to resist unwanted movement and maintain stability.
Avoid exercises that cause coning or doming. If you see a ridge or bulge forming down the center of your abdomen during exercise, that's a sign you're creating too much intra-abdominal pressure. Modify the movement or choose a different exercise.
Breathe properly. This cannot be overstated. Holding your breath creates more pressure. Learning to exhale during the exertion phase of a lift and maintain core tension while breathing is crucial.
Progress gradually. What felt fine in your first trimester might not work in your third. Listen to your body and adjust as needed. This isn't weakness, it's intelligence.
The conversation emphasizes that maintaining core strength throughout pregnancy will make your postpartum recovery significantly easier. You're not starting from zero if you've kept your core engaged and functional throughout pregnancy.
Understanding Diastasis Recti and Postpartum Recovery
Diastasis recti, the separation of the abdominal muscles along the midline, is one of the most talked-about postpartum concerns. And for good reason. Nearly every pregnant woman experiences some degree of abdominal separation as the belly expands to accommodate a growing baby.
But here's what Brianna wants you to know: having diastasis recti doesn't mean you're broken or that you did something wrong. It's a normal physiological response to pregnancy.
What matters more than the gap itself:
Can you generate tension across your midline?
Do you have functional core strength?
Can you manage intra-abdominal pressure during movement?
A small gap with good tension is better than a wider gap that you can actively engage. The focus should be on restoring function, not just closing the gap. Some women will always have a measurable separation, and that's okay if it's functional.
Postpartum recovery takes time. Not six weeks, more like six months to a year (or longer) to fully rebuild strength and capacity. This isn't a race, and comparing yourself to celebrities or influencers who have teams of support is a recipe for frustration.
The key is progressive loading. Start with foundational movements, rebuild core and pelvic floor coordination, and gradually increase intensity as your body adapts. Rushing back to high-impact exercise or heavy lifting before you're ready is when injuries happen.
Overcoming Postpartum Challenges and Restoring Strength
The postpartum period comes with its own unique set of challenges: sleep deprivation, healing from birth, hormonal fluctuations, and the constant demands of a newborn. Finding time to exercise can feel impossible, and when you do find time, you might not have the energy.
Brianna's advice? Start small. Five to ten minutes of intentional movement is better than nothing. Breathwork, pelvic floor exercises, gentle mobility work, these all count. You don't need hour-long gym sessions to make progress.
Practical strategies for postpartum training:
Prioritize sleep and stress management. Your body can't recover and adapt if you're running on fumes. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your fitness is take a nap.
Focus on what you can control. You might not be able to hit the gym for an hour, but you can do bodyweight squats while holding your baby. You can take a walk. You can do breathing exercises while nursing.
Work with professionals who specialize in postpartum recovery. A pelvic floor physical therapist can assess your specific needs and create a plan that's right for you. Don't just follow random online programs without understanding your body's unique situation.
Build a support system. Connect with other moms who are navigating the same challenges. Join a postpartum fitness program. Ask for help so you can prioritize your health.
The goal isn't perfection. It's progress. And some days, progress is just showing up for yourself in whatever small way you can manage.
The Bottom Line
Pregnancy and postpartum don't mean the end of your fitness journey, they're just a different chapter. One that requires adjustments, patience, and a willingness to let go of how things "should" look in favor of what actually works for your body right now.
Whether you're currently pregnant, postpartum, or planning for the future, understanding how to train safely and effectively during this season is crucial. Your pelvic floor matters. Your core strength matters. And your mental health and sense of self matter just as much as your physical recovery.
What's your biggest challenge with pregnancy or postpartum fitness? Share your experience with us on Instagram @broads.podcast, this community is here to support you through every stage.
