Every Mother

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I receive a bit of a commission at no additional charge to you.

Ever since having my first child, I’ve had a bit of a diastasis, a separation of the abdominal muscles that don’t grow back together after the stretching they do during pregnancy and childbirth. And with each child, that diastasis has gotten worse and worse.

I’ve known for a long time that it was bad enough that I needed to do something about it. But I was stuck in the not knowing exactly *what* to do for years. I wanted someone to just tell me what to do to fix this. Enter Every Mother.

Last November, I saw a post about a Black Friday sale for this program that could help heal diastasis. As I read more about it, it seemed like it might be a good fit for me. And if I’m being honest, someone else had done all the work of researching it, telling me exactly what was included, and there was a sale. This all appealed to me.

Since Sarah was born over three years ago, I’ve known my diastasis was bad enough to be qualified as an abdominal separation. I’ve dealt with back pain, muscle spasms, and light bladder leakage, which are all related to having a weak core.

I signed up with Every Mother, and I started doing the daily exercises on December 1. One of my favorite features is that each day the app tells you exactly what to do. You don’t have to figure out which exercises to try. You don’t have to guess at how to measure things. You open the app, watch the instructional videos (those are mostly the first week to get you used to the program and to learn what you’re looking for in terms of measurements and safe movements), and then do the 5-11 minute ab exercises, called Core Compressions. There are also optional additional short workouts for most days.

Pros of the Every Mother Program

If it isn’t already clear to you, my favorite thing about this program is that everything is laid out for you. There’s no guesswork involved. You open the app, do the day’s tasks, and you even get the satisfaction of tapping a little checkmark and getting the notification that you’re done with the day! That makes my checklist-loving heart happy.

Within the app there’s also measurements and tracking graphs, which you are prompted to do every 3 weeks in the program. You can clearly track your progress and see how you’re healing, even if it isn’t obvious to your eyes from day to day.

This program doesn’t require any special equipment for the Core Compressions exercises, and just a few basic things (like weights and a resistance band) for some of the workouts. I actually do my daily exercises on the carpeted floor in our guest room.

I also really appreciate that the fitness models are all different sizes and ethnicities. It’s not just one skinny woman teaching you to do these things. As a plus-size woman, I appreciated seeing figures that looked more like mine.

There are also three levels of the program, so you can choose the appropriate one to start (including a prenatal level if you are currently pregnant and want to support your core during pregnancy).

Cons of the Every Mother Program

When I was first starting, the pacing threw me off a little bit. The initial few positions for doing the Core Compressions are purposely at a slower pace, so you can make sure that you’re involving the correct muscles and doing things properly, which I appreciated. However, as you progress, there are some moves that are added that feel really rushed the first few times you do them. And then as you get used to doing the moves, those first ones seem really slow. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but I found myself occasionally getting frustrated at not being on the same pace as the instructor when doing the moves.

So far, I’ve been a member of Every Mother for five months, and I’ve done my exercises almost every day. (If you skip a day, you just pick up right where you left off, with no judgment). I’ve made it through the Reclaim Light program once, and I actually started over again to continue with my progress.

And I have made progress!

The first time I did the measurements, I wasn’t sure I was doing them correctly, because my muscles were spaced so far apart. I could fit most of my fingers between the muscles, which seemed huge (for reference, more than 2 fingers is considered a diastasis). But after three weeks of doing the program, I took my measurements again, and I measured my diastasis as 5cm. That’s huge, and it’s awful, but I could actually measure it. My muscles were coming back together.

By the time I completed Reclaim Light for the first time, I was down to 2cm. In three months I went from being able to fit my whole hand between my muscles to having a basic diastasis. And aside from one time, my back pain has disappeared. My core still needs work, but I have much more stability and strength than I used to, and I know it will continue to improve as I continue to do my Core Compressions every day.

Every Mother has helped my body heal from the stresses of having children, and I only wish I had found it sooner. If this sounds like something that could be useful for you, head here to find all the details and sign up. As a bonus, right now they’re having a Mother’s Day sale, which means that either an annual or a quarterly subscription is 20% off! That’s less than $8/month to heal the body that has worked so hard to support you and your little ones.

The sale ends soon, so sign up today!