Best Postpartum Workouts: Tips for a Stronger, Healthier Recovery
The phrase, once postpartum always postpartum isnt just a saying, its has actual merit to it. Our bodies drastically change during pregnancy, delivery and throughout postpartum. It is vital that we respect the changes happening to our bodies while also challenging the “status quo”. Research has vastly changed especially in the past 10 years and women are doing more than ever throughout their pregnancies and postpartum period.
One of the best ways to prepare your body for exercise postpartum is to exercise throughout your pregnancy. This can help to decrease your active pushing phase during delivery and your recovery time postpartum.
There are different goals throughout each trimester of pregnancy. To learn more about second trimester exercise you can reference our blog, Exercise in Pregnancy: The Second Trimester or Third Trimester Exercises For an Easier Birth
Getting and staying active while postpartum has many benefits both physically and mentally. It can help:
decrease your recovery time
increase your overall energy levels
decrease stress and anxiety
help you start to feel like yourself again
In this blog we will detail when you can start exercising and what exercises are best for you.
When to Start Exercising Postpartum
What are the general guidelines for postpartum recovery? There is a LOT of information that is thrown around on social media nowadays, so what should you believe?
In general, it is less about the time frame and more about how you are feeling and how capable your core is at handling exercise.
We recommend starting pelvic floor physical therapy around 2 weeks postpartum. Your therapist will help you connect into breath work, your deep core and teach you how to move in a way that will project your pelvic floor versus bearing down into it potentially causing dysfunction or pain.
Recent research has produced guidelines that you can follow to return to running but they are just that, guidelines, not hard and fast rules.
In general a progression that you should follow to help ensure you protect pelvic floor and rebuild your strength is as follows:
Re connect to your breath and transverse abdominal muscles
Progress core strength with no coning or doming
Start with supine and prone strength
Progress to standing double leg strength
Progress to Single leg strength
Jumping
Walk jog
Running or high intensity exercise
This progression could take weeks, months or years. We can't highlight enough that everyone has their own unique postpartum experience. It is vital to pay attention to your body and the feedback you are getting. Just like you wouldn't start with a 5K if you were recovering from knee surgery, that should not be your starting place as a first postpartum exercise. Building a foundation and learning how your new postpartum body fires and operates will help ensure a painfree progression.
For more information on when you can return to running after having a baby check out our blog: When Can I Run After Having A Baby?
Differences between vaginal and C-section recovery.
When it comes to differences in how you rehab after delivering via cesarian vs vaginally. The main difference is time. We would use the same progression as above but the timeline would likely be longer than a vaginal delivery and we would spend more time educating you on how to manage scar healing and abdominal engagement to help ensure a speedy recovery. To learn more about managing your scar post c- section click here!
Signs that your body is ready for exercise.
You feel mentally ready
You have regularly checked your BP and it is within normal ranges
You have been cleared by your physician
You bleeding has stopped or does not increase with activity
Key Benefits of Postpartum Workouts
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction such as leaking, pressure or pain
Rebuilding core and pelvic floor strength
Decreasing or elimination back or hip pain
Help to improve your posture
Increasing overall energy levels and mood
Reconnnecting back to your body and helping to feel like yourself again
Building muscle strength to help you carry your kids as they get heavier
Postpartum MOBILITY Exercises
These are some of our favorite exercises to get your body moving postpartum
360 breathing in childs pose
Supported Adductor stretch
Hip Internal Rotation Stretch
WALL ANGELS
POSTPARTUM STRENGTHENING EXERCISES
Making sure to incorporate strength work that feels good to your body is key. Give these a try and let us know how they feel!
BEAR PLANK
MODIFIED SIDE PLANK
SHOULDER EXTENSION WITH LOWER TA ACTIVATION
CLOCKS
ADDUCTOR SLIDERS
Hip hinge
Common Postpartum Exercise Mistakes to Avoid
Skipping rebuilding your core and pelvic floor foundational strength and jumping straight to group classes or running is the biggest mistake we see!
Not listening to warning signs:
Pelvic pressure or heaviness
Leaking
Urgency
Low back pain
Hip pain
Overlooking proper hydration and nutrition
Overlooking getting enough restorative sleep
Remember, you are not in competition with anyone. Go at your own pace and respect that your body took 9 months to change and will likely take even more to get back where you want it to be.
Tips for Staying Consistent with Postpartum Fitness
The postpartum period is exhausting, stressful, wonderful and overwhelming. You are thrown into a new role in a new body while trying to keep a baby alive. The KEY to staying consistent with exercise while postpartum is to give yourself grace and minimize your expectations.
Your workouts will not look like they used to at first. You will not have the time or energy some days, some days your baby will cluster feed all day and you will not get any sleep so you will not have time to prioritize self care or exercise and guess what, that's OK!
Give yourself grace, don't beat yourself down when a plan falls apart or you didn't achieve your goal for the day, week or month.
One tip I like to give new moms is to change your perspective, you will have a hard time finding 30min to an hour to workout so instead try to sneak in exercise snacks.
What's an exercise snack?
In order to fit in movement for you daily, it will likely have to be broken up into small bits throughout the day. For example, try to challenge yourself to do one exercise every time your baby does tummy time or try to do 5 squats each time you go to the bathroom. You can also use your baby as your weight in workouts done both standing and lying down.
By sneaking in exercise snacks it may not feel to you like you are doing a “real” workout but you are giving your body much needed movement, strengthening, breathing work, core work in little bite size pieces that won’t feel overwhelming or unattainable.
Final tip, be sure to take time to celebrate small wins as you go. You got this mama!
Conclusion
We hope that you found this blog helpful and encouraging. If you take one thing away from this I hope it is that moms deserve to prioritize their wellbeing even if we have to shift our expectations as to how that looks. The postpartum journey is unique for everyone so take it at your pace, give yourself grace and enjoy the journey.
If you want help or guidance on your postpartum journey please reach out. You can call or text 678-413-5587 and we are happy to answer any and all questions.
Dig Deeper: Uncover More Secrets to Pelvic Floor Health
Hi! We are Dr.Aimee and Dr. Lauren
We are the owners of Empower Physical Therapy and Wellness. We are pelvic floor physical therapists who specialize in helping women from pregnancy, into postpartum and through perimenopause, menopause and then beyond! We believe all women deserve to do all of the things they love without symptoms!
You can contact us via our website, email at hello@weempowerpt.com or social media!
The information provided in this blog is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or symptoms. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this blog.
If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, go to the emergency department, or call 911 immediately. The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any medical or healthcare institutions.
