Back at it, After Baby

get going again

According to your level of fitness and strength and how you feel after giving birth, you could give yourself a training break (not counting short walks with the baby) of at least about 2 weeks AND most normally closer to 6-8 weeks.

Start with longer walks with the baby outside when you feel like it. I started with 30 minute walks, 10 days after giving birth, plus some short sets of light squats and careful stretching and mild yoga.

After that: slowly build up your stamina and physical condition.

Take the baby with you whenever you can. They love going places. And they’re asleep most of the time anyway during the first few months when they’re not eating. 

in the gym

I found that I could easily do these exercises from the gym in my home and it’s actually most of the stuff I used to do before.

• Farmers walks (Go light! Your abs are still stretched out and they need time to recover.)
• Squats (I could do these with stitches, but you might want to skip these at the start)
• Deadlifts
• Lunges
• Step-ups
• Cross trainer (heaviest setting)
• Shoulder press
• Dips
• (Modified) light Turkish get-ups

outside

No gym? No excuse: go do some exercise in the park or in your own yard.

Make your initial walks longer as the days go by to increase your stamina. Babies love being outside, and it’s good for them too.

Have fun: find a fallen tree trunk and try log walking for balance, log squatting, backflips (haha)… all fun. As an added bonus, this stuff will make you feel like you’re 10 again.

Other exercises:

• Stroller lunges (or just lunges)
• Step-ups on a handy park bench or stable non-slippery log
• Interval short pram sprints (preferably without launching your baby)
• Squats (using pram for assistance if necessary)
• Park bench push-ups
• Park bench dips
• Park bench plank
• Stretches (careful)