Thoughts on Postpartum Fitness Round Two

I’m excited to get back into more rigorous exercise, especially because I haven’t been as active during this pregnancy.  That being said, I’ve thought some about how I resumed exercise after having Emerson, and I plan to take things even slower this time around. I know a lot more about postpartum recovery and there’s no reason to risk injury.  Plus, I have low expectations about fitting in exercise with two kids and don’t plan to return to a gym setting for a while.

Last time around, I followed the general recommendations  – I started shorter walks about 2 weeks postpartum, and then resumed running and HIIT/Popsugar Fitness/strength workouts as soon as I was cleared for exercise at my 6 week appointment.  I think I came right home from the appointment and went for a run and peed like 5 times during it. My doctor didn’t check my abs at my postpartum appointment, and I didn’t even know I had diastasis recti (ab separation) until 15 months postpartum when I decided to get checked out (because I still felt off when exercising and my belly was sticking out a bit). This post by The Fitnessista gives a good overview of ab separation and exercise. Seeing a pelvic floor therapist after Emerson  taught me soo much about recovering from having a baby. It’s such a shame that all women don’t have access to a PT  before returning to exercise!

From my understanding, doctors are trained to check stitches and uterine healing, but they are not trained to asses your pelvic floor, abs, and muscular system. This time around, I won’t be doing more than walking and yoga until I am cleared by a pelvic floor physical therapist!  I also don’t plan to resume running, jumping, and definitely not ab exercises (outside of those prescribed by the pelvic floor therapist) until at least 3-4 months  postpartum to give my body and core more healing time. 6 weeks is just way too soon to jump back into that kind of movement.

So, what will I be doing once I’m cleared by the PT:

1. Lots of walking
2. Yoga – there’s a ‘mini and me’ class near by that I’ll try, but don’t plan to use childcare at a gym until after flu/RSV season
3. Strength training + lower impact cardio – love my Popsugar Fitness videos and can easily modify these if I need to (no jumping or ab work).  A couple of the yoga studios near me also offer lower intensity strength training, and I may treat myself on weekends once I have some energy back
4. Kait Hurley has a great Move + Meditate program that I want to try because I think mindfulness will be super important when I’m feeling overwhelmed
5. Barre

In the end,  I feel like time, breastfeeding, and consistently working out during pregnancy contribute more to returning to pre-baby size than postpartum exercise anyway,  so there’s no point in intense exercise 6 weeks after giving birth. That being said, exercising definitely helps my mental health and makes me feel like myself, so my goal is to do more than a walk (so yoga, strength, or barre) 3 times per week once I’m cleared by the PT.

If you’ve had a baby, how did you return to exercise, and was it different if you’ve had more than one child?