First, congratulations are in order! Welcome to this new world, no matter where you currently find yourself. Exercise after your pregnancy can feel so different now that your body has changed. The goal though, in my opinion, is not to get “back” to anything. We will never get “back” to life before having kids, we are forever changed. So why should we expect that out of our bodies?
Second, my hope for you is that you’re at home, healthy and maybe sleeping. You may not even be thinking about exercise after pregnancy and that’s okay too! At some point, you may find yourself wishing for parts of yourself to look different. I get that!
The most dreadful realization though can be accepting where our body currently is, while missing the one we had before. We see ourselves in the mirror every day and while we know our body just did an amazing thing, it is hard to not be our toughest critic. I get it.
So let me put this here, in bold, for you to see. You are enough. No matter where you’re at right now.
Embrace this new you and let’s get her to the spot she wants to be. I like to focus on “regaining” strength. Although I do recommend exercising during pregnancy (with approval from your doctor), strength is sometimes lost during pregnancy or even the first few months postpartum, due to inactivity or health related reasons. If that is you, no worries. The body just went through an amazing thing and it can regain strength too.
Let’s discuss some of the questions I recommend you ask yourself or your doctor prior to starting a new routine.
1. Did you have a C-section or vaginal delivery?
You’re probably wondering why this one comes before “clearance from your doctor.” Prior to your first check-in with the doctor postpartum, there are light movements focused on breathing properly and muscle engaging exercises you can do at home. These will help support and recover your muscles (specifically your diaphragm, abdominals and pelvic floor) prior to any type of full workout after pregnacy.
How you delivered matters. Make sure you select exercises that are appropriate based on your needs!
If you decide you want to begin recovery exercises, you’ll want to select ones that tailor to just your basic breathing and pelvic floor (yes, this applies to c-section deliveries too.) Think of this as a way to regain connection between the mind and body.
You’ve been supporting a baby for quite a while and the body had to make adjustments to keep you and baby both going every day. Things as unnoticeable as your center of gravity shifting to balance both you and the baby.
If you’re interested in knowing more about what you can do at home prior to your appointment, head over to my Services page for more info.
NOTE: This is information is for general use only and should not replace any advice from your health care provider.
2. Have you been cleared by your doctor?
This is a given right? You’re going to see your doctor and this is the big appointment where you get cleared (or not) for many things. You will most likely sit in one of two camps: you have many questions to ask or you’re just wondering how long this is going to take.
I can’t stress this enough- ask questions if you can. My hope for you is that you have a doctor that asks about your mental health (some do not) but also about your pelvic floor health and diastasis recti (DR). They can perform an exam for both of these.
(Note: you can perform a diastasis recti test at home but it’s always good to ask a professional.)
In my opinion, it is good to know where to establish your new “starting point” before tackling exercise after pregnancy. While people make jokes about peeing while they laugh or sneeze, this is not normal. Common does not mean normal. However, if it isn’t causing any pain, people tend to write it off. It is up to you whether you seek a professional’s guidance however, I strongly recommend scheduling an appointment if you feel you may have diastasis recti or a pelvic floor dysfunction.
I encourage these two exams or self-checks because exercise after your pregnancy with either of these issues can make them worse. And they will present themselves at some point or another. (Running, jumping, lifting heavy, core workouts, etc.) Diastasis recti is a little bit more visible because you can see the ab separation in a lot of movements (planks, crunches, etc.) You may even see a bulge through the center line (linea alba) depending on the severity.
Especially if you had a c-section, you may require more time to heal. Knowing where you are at from a recovery standpoint is so important. According to The New York Times, women have reported they still had pain at 8-weeks postpartum than women who delivered vaginally. The degree of trauma definitely impacts your recovery so listen to your body (and your health care provider) when it comes to safely returning to any activities.
3. Do you have a plan for your new “starting point”?
As mentioned above, finding your starting point is so important to avoid further injury and preventing a larger problem that could have been prevented.
You’ll want to take the guidance from your health care provider and make the necessary appointments. If you’ll be attending physical therapy, you’ll want to make sure you receive guidance from them on what you are able to do on your own outside of appointments with them.
Being on the same page as your PT person is super important and they are usually pretty supportive of exercising on a consistent basis (safely of course.) Additionally, you’ll want to share with them what your personal goals are for exercising.
While you shouldn’t jump right back into your old routine pre-kids, there are safe exercises you can do to help your pelvic floor and/or diastasis recti. Frankly, these same exercises should really be done on a regular basis to help keep your core (abs, pelvic floor and more) operating efficiently.
If you’re interested in core safe or pelvic floor safe exercises after pregnancy, head to my Services page to reach me.
4. What’s the first step?
Okay so you’ve been cleared to workout by the doctor and/or your physical therapist, and you’re eager to get started. What’s the first step? Well, let’s determine a few things.
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- What workouts do you like? (running, swimming, lifting, etc.)
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- How often can you go? (decide how many days you can commit)
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- Who is going to watch the baby or will they join you? (obviously)
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- Do you have a plan for your workout or is it a guided class/group fitness?
If you don’t have a plan and would like a customized one, head over to my Services page and I can help you come up with one that fits your specific needs. I also have an exercise selector that’s great for building your own workouts, especially to support exercising after your pregnancy!
No matter which route you take, you’ll want to have an idea of what you’re doing so you don’t have to think about it. We as moms already have limited time to workout, let’s set ourselves up with a good plan to get started again.
5. Do you have any barriers to keep you from being successful?
This is probably the biggest thing I see from moms who want to work out consistently but can’t get the ball rolling. There are so many things grabbing for our attention and working out isn’t always at the top of the priority list.
Additionally, setting unrealistic goals such as, “I’m going to lose 20 lbs in 2 months” or “I’m going to the gym 4 days a week” aren’t going to be sustainable or attainable.
We all are looking for something that can fit into our busy lives, especially for those moms that will eventually go back to work or already are. Be realistic about the time you can commit and then show up for yourself. Your body will thank you, I promise!
Only have 30-minutes? Try one of my under 30-minute workouts.
