Five top tips for regaining your fitness postpartum
Having a baby places your body and mind under a significant amount of stress. Coping with the changes that you have gone through and the differences in your appearance can be challenging.
However, just because you have lost some of your fitness does not mean it is impossible to regain it. Here are five tips to help you with regaining your fitness postpartum.
Don’t rush it
It can be so tempting to rush back into fitness full force. Doing so can risk permanently damaging your stomach muscles (many women’s don’t go back together straight away) and adding to your fatigue levels (likely already very high).
Taking your time will make sure that you get back into some sort of routine (as much as you can with a baby) slowly but surely.
As a bare minimum, ensure that your bleeding has stopped before entertaining the idea of exercise. Regaining your fitness postpartum should never come before your health.
Take things down a notch or several
Along with not rushing things, you should consider starting small. You may have been taking part in HIIT workouts regularly prior to falling pregnant, but it is unlikely that you will instantly be able to pick that backup.
In fact, as detailed earlier, it is not advisable. Take your exercise down a notch or two. Take your baby out in the pram and go for brisk walks or fit some hula hooping in while bubba naps.
Not doing things quite as vigorously as before will lower the risk of injury. For up to six months after giving birth, your ligaments and joints will still be a little loose.
Work on your pelvic floor
I’ll bet that your friends, family members and midwife all warned you about the impact giving birth would have on your pelvic floor and reminded you to do your exercises on a regular basis.
However, it is likely you ‘forgot’ or found yourself unable to believe the horror stories. Going through labour puts a woman’s body under a significant amount of stress and pressure, so of course, there are going to be lasting effects from this.
It’s never too late to work on your pelvic floor, though (but if you are having severe problems, do seek medical advice). Ensuring you carry out these exercises daily will strengthen the muscles around your bladder, bottom and vagina, reducing the risk of leakage. Another bonus is that doing these can also lead to a better sex life.
Worrying about wetting yourself because of a weak pelvic floor will often mean that the exercises you can do will be limited. Strengthening yours will allow you to work fully on your fitness levels.
Exercise with your baby
Prior to pregnancy, you were in charge of your own fitness regime. Now, you undoubtedly find yourself tied to a nursing chair or covered in sick, dreading finding time to take a shower.
Engaging in exercise with your baby may be a solution to the lack of time. Your baby could really help with regaining your fitness postpartum.
There are numerous online workouts to try, incorporating the child as a weight to add resistance. If you’re lucky, there may even be baby fitness classes available for you to try, usually where you wear your baby in a carrier.
Don’t stress
As women, we often compare ourselves to others and our former selves, too. This is unhealthy and can lead to obsessions around returning to a previous size, weight or body shape.
Stressing about this can affect our mental health, detrimental to our overall well-being and that of our baby. Be gentle with yourself when it comes to regaining your fitness; you have done the most amazing thing by giving birth to a beautiful baby.
have these tips helped you feel more positive about regaining your fitness postpartum?
