Not only do these recommendations add pressure on postpartum mums to return to their ‘pre-pregnancy weight’ or their ‘pre-baby body’, they also don’t make complete sense!
Every healing process and progress is different, depending on your pregnancy and birth, as well as other factors like:
After childbirth, Musculoskeletal Dysfunction in the form of Low Back pain or Pelvic girdle pain, Diastasis Recti, Pelvic organ prolapse and Incontinence is relatively common and therefore I always remind my clients to be gentle with their bodies in the weeks and months post-childbirth. Rushing to get your pre-baby body back can sometimes cause injury, delay healing and leave you exhausted and fatigued.
The postpartum period is a transitionary period where a woman’s body recovers from delivery and she slowly and safely returns to engaging in activities that she enjoys.
While many women might think of the postpartum period as a short 6 week period I am of the belief that it lasts between 6- 12 months after delivery.
As a result, I have designed my postpartum programmes to cover a total of 24 weeks.
Your body suddenly not only looks different but feels and functions differently from what you are used to.
Even the most confident and secure women find themselves surprised by their reaction towards their post birth body.
I’m here to tell you the stretch marks, loose skin, mummy tummy, stitches, scars, dark circles under the eyes are all perfectly normal. In fact, it’s incredible! Your body has done what it needed to do to grow and birth a beautiful human being. That’s remarkable and you should be proud.
I don’t offer a postpartum ‘programme’ for this period, but instead, recommend going for low-intensity walks, doing gentle mobility routines and breathing exercises. I DO NOT recommend any form of weight training during this 6 week period.
The goal of my ‘Retrain’ programme is continued recovery, maintaining good breathing patterns, good core and pelvic floor coordination while incorporating more challenging strength training exercises.
As always there is no perfect prescription for exercise during this period. However, if you think about what every mum has to do in her everyday life it includes squatting, lunging, bending, twisting, lifting, walking etc – often with a baby in her arms!
This postpartum return to exercise programme is divided into two phases which last six weeks each. The sets and reps that I have prescribed are all indicative- i.e you can adjust the sets and reps according to the level of intensity, how you feel and your rate of progress.
This programme is designed specifically for you to do at your own pace, in the comfort of your home. However, to make the most of the programme certain equipment is necessary:
Read more about the RETRAIN programme here.
My ‘Bulletproof’ programme is designed for mums who are 18 weeks (4-5 months) postpartum or over.
The goal here is similar to ‘Retrain’- continued recovery, maintaining good breathing patterns and good core and pelvic floor coordination, however, the difference being I incorporating more challenging strength training workouts and circuits. With ‘Bulletproof’ I aim to help prepare your body to return to higher intensity exercise.
This postpartum workout programme is divided into 2 six-week phases. Each is broken down into strength training, low intensity cardio, moderate-intensity circuits, high intensity interval training and core.
Like my other programmes, the sets and reps that I have prescribed are all indicative- i.e you can adjust the sets and reps according to the level of intensity, how you feel and your rate of progress.
This programme is also designed to do in the comfort of your home if that is what you want. However, to make the most of the programme certain equipment is necessary:
Read more about the BULLETPROOF programme here.
These benefits are specific to the postpartum period, however, we must not forget the positive benefits of exercise in general: