After nine months of pregnancy, you might be wanting to get moving again and add some exercise to your daily routine. Before you do, give these 11 exercise tips for new mums a read
11 exercise tips for new mums by Lucy Gornall, Health Journalist of the Year (HFMA) and personal trainer specialising in pre and post-natal fitness
New Mums And Exercise
Whether you’re a new mum or you’ve recently given birth to your second or third (or fourth!) child, you may find yourself wondering when and how to get back into fitness and exercise. After all, your body has just gone through an incredibly testing time, so it’s wise to be careful and not over do it. Follow these 11 exercise tips for new mums and ease yourself back into exercise safely.
11 Exercise Tips For New Mums
1. Before You Start Exercising, Do This
The first exercise tip for new mums is that it's important to get the go ahead from your doctor before partaking in exercise. If you had a natural birth, it’s advised to wait six weeks. If you had a caesarian, it’s advised to wait 12 weeks, however you can certainly start work on strengthening your pelvic floor before then and movement as oppose to actual exercise, is most definitely ok!
2. Work Exercise Into Your Day
You don’t have to wait until your postnatal check to build up movement. Take the stairs when possible and walk instead of using the car. If you feel up to it, you could carry your newborn in a baby carrier to give your arms some freedom.
3. Go Walking With Your Pram
Walking is such an underrated form of exercise, yet humans have been walking since the dawn of time. And, you can enjoy walks as soon as you feel up for it. Start gently, and in time as you begin to feel more comfortable, increase the pace and walk more briskly.
Walking with a pram isn’t just a great way to help your little one to nod off but being outside in the fresh air can help boost your own wellbeing, as well as your vital vitamin D levels, sunshine permitting! Try walking with a friend or if you fancy making your walks a little more challenging, find some gentle hills to walk up.
4. Be Aware Of Diastasis Recti
You’ll likely be clued up on this already, but during pregnancy, the two muscles that run down your stomach can often separate and after birth can leave a pouch-like bump on your stomach. This is diastasis recti, which often heals by about eight weeks post birth. Unsure if you have diastasis recti? A simple way to find out is to lie on your back with feet flat on the floor and legs bent at the knees. Slightly raise your head and shoulders from the ground and using your fingertips, feel between the edges of the muscles, above and below the belly button. Check how many fingers you can fit in the gap and over time, this gap should decrease in size.
This separation can lead to lower back pain and even constipation so working on strengthening your core is key.
It’s worth noting that if you notice your core muscles haven’t started to heal two months post birth, pay your GP a visit.
5. Watch Out When Doing ‘abs’ Exercises
Try to avoid doing sit ups or crunches immediately after giving birth as these can aggravate a weak pelvic floor.
6. Enjoy Pilates
If you’ve never practiced Pilates before, now is a great time to start. Pilates helps to train your core muscles, which in turn can help close the gap. Pilates can also help strengthen your pelvic floor muscles as well as helping with joint pain.
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