Best way to build your fitness routine after childbirth
Suppose you have recently given birth to a new life; congratulations! It is the most unique and exciting time in your life after forty weeks of pregnancy. After playing with your newborn or looking at the mirror, you might have wondered about returning to your previous self, the more proportioned and shaped. What is the faster and more efficient way to accomplish your goal other than a suitable postnatal workout plan?
However, before you go ahead and start exercising, you must remember that all pregnancies are different, and the same goes for deliveries. Usually, delivery is of two types; standard and complicated.
Normal delivery
Standard delivery is the one when you deliver a baby without any surgery, and it is also known as vaginal delivery. It has always been a popular way of childbirth due to the low mortality and morbidity rate.
Therefore, returning to your fitness routine after a few days is safe if you have gone through standard delivery. Nonetheless, it would be best if you consulted your doctor first.
Complicated delivery
A complicated delivery is one when you need a pediatrician in the delivery room. It is also termed prolonged labor and might last over twenty hours. You might also go through a C-section during this kind of delivery.
If you had to go through a C-section, starting exercise immediately after the delivery is unsafe. It would be best if you asked your personal physician’s opinion before getting started on your routine moves.
Tips for workout and exercise after childbirth
If you have already taken your physician’s permission to start a fitness routine after childbirth; you might want to consider the following tips before workout:
– Take a slow start, and refrain from heavy exercise because pushing harder may result in medical complications.
– Be careful in selecting your moves.
– Thirty minutes of daily workout five days a week is enough.
– Wait for a minimum of six weeks if you have gone through a C-section.
– If you are facing vaginal or abdominal aches, pelvic stress, or other complications, you should prefer the walk-only strategy.
– Do not go for weight-loss workouts if you are breastfeeding.
– Your joints become weak and soft during pregnancy; therefore, do not choose jerky movement.
– Keep yourself hydrated all the time, principally if you are breastfeeding.
What are the benefits of a postnatal workout?
It would help if you stayed motivated to get your fitness back after giving birth. Here are some principal benefits of exercise after childbirth for your motivation.
– Postpartum workout helps reduce stress which is common after delivery.
– It helps restore the strength of the abdomen muscles.
– Workout after childbirth induces good sleep if you are facing postpartum insomnia.
– Exercise after giving birth is also suitable for reducing postpartum fatigue.
– It is also excellent for boosting your energy level.
– It also helps improve your cardiovascular health.
– Exercise after delivery also alleviates your mood by stimulating the production of happy chemicals.
– It is the best healing activity for your body that has faced many changes during pregnancy.
Best workouts and exercises after childbirth
One thing you should remember is that pregnancy workouts and exercises are slightly different from post-delivery activities in terms of their purposes. The primary purpose of movements during pregnancy is to control body weight, cope with the changes occurring in your body and prepare yourself for labor and delivery.
On the other hand, after giving birth to a child, you work out to lose extra weight, restore your muscular strength, regain the body’s original tone, and cope with postpartum depression.
Let’s discuss the best fitness routine after childbirth to help you cope with several postpartum problems.
1. Walking
Walking is the best way to start your fitness routine after delivering the baby. It is a simple, gentle, and effective way to stay fit and active. You do not have to wait longer for a walk after childbirth. Walking after the childbirth has following benefits:
– Walking shortly after giving birth to a baby helps prevent blood clotting, and it helps reduce postpartum depression.
– Walking gives you a chance to visit outside. It is crucial to increase your confidence if you are a new mother.
– Walking boosts your stamina and helps with postpartum fatigue.
– It gets you ready for the regular workout routine.
You might want to walk for only ten to fifteen minutes at the start and then increase the timing gradually. Using variations like backward or zigzag walking may prove more beneficial.
2. Pelvic floor exercise
Pelvic floor exercises, also known as kegel exercises, involve your pelvic area muscles. Pelvic muscles control the passageway of pee and stools, and these are the muscles that help control bladder and bowel movements. Kegel exercise enables you to cope with incontinence or urine leakage, which is common after delivery. The benefits of pelvic floor exercise are:
– Kegel exercise helps recover pelvic muscle strength that weakens during delivery.
– It helps you with incontinence or urinary leakage, which frequently happens due to pelvic muscle damage.
– Pelvic floor exercise also makes sex more exciting and enjoyable after childbirth.
– Damaged pelvic muscles also affect your ligaments. Doing kegel exercises strengthens them.
You could start pelvic floor exercises days after childbirth if you had a standard delivery. However, in case of a C-section or complicated delivery, wait for your physician’s approval. You can do Kegels daily or twice a week. Start with a few sets, and then keep increasing the number according to your comfort. You do not want to purchase any equipment for this kind of exercise because they mostly do not work as effectively as advertised.
3. Pilates
Postpartum Pilates helps you in many ways. Your body changes a lot after giving birth to a new life, and these changes cause many physical problems for you, such as weak abdominal muscles, backaches, and shoulder and neck pain. According to experts, Pilates may help you cope with these troubles. Some benefits of postpartum Pilates are mentioned below:
– Pilates helps you with diastasis.
– Pilates reduces pelvic floor instability by bracing the pelvic area muscles.
– Pilates is also helpful in regaining the strength of your joints.
– I am doing Pilates regularly for your arm muscle strength.
– Pilates also helps you with postpartum anxiety.
After a C-section, you must wait for at least six weeks to start doing Pilates with your doctor’s recommendation. Even if you had a normal pregnancy, do not start immediately without asking your doctor.
4. Squats
Many new moms, who are also regular exercisers, wonder if they can do squats? If you are also a fan of squats, then we have big news for you. According to experts, you can do squats after childbirth without any trouble. Postpartum squats are beneficial for you in many ways.
– Squats work almost all the muscles in your legs and strengthen them.
– Squats also help you weaken pelvic floor muscles.
– Squats help regain core stability.
– Squats lessen back and pelvic pain.
– If you are facing postnatal stress, then squats can help with that as well.
– Squats also help improve the movement of your hip muscles.
While doing squats, avoid heavy lifting as it might cause particular injury or other problems. It is better to keep support by your side before starting the first round. Do squats only when your doctor allows you to.
5. Glute Bridges
As with other parts of your body, the buttocks also get affected by pregnancy and childbirth. They become more prominent and baggier. So, new moms want their previous shape back, and the glute bridge is a suitable workout. Following are some benefits of postpartum glute bridges:
– Doing glute bridges helps get your buttocks straight.
– Unlike other exercises, glute bridges do not stress your lower back.
– Glute bridges help you get the posture back.
– This exercise also helps you get a flat belly after childbirth.
– The aching lower back is a common problem in new moms. Glute bridges also lessen the intensity of lower back pain.
You can add glute bridges to your regular postpartum workout in the second week of standard delivery. However, wait for your doctor’s green signal in case of a C-section.
6. Heel slide
Heel slide is another simple and easy exercise that mainly works your deep core muscle (found primarily in the abdominal region). These muscles lose their strength and tone during pregnancy due to the pressure exerted by the growing baby. According to experts, a heel slide is the best way to regain these muscles’ strength. Here are some benefits of heel slide after childbirth:
– Heel slides help improve the mobility of the knee.
– This exercise is also beneficial for improving the tone of your buttocks.
– Doing regular heel slides enhances blood circulation.
– The heel slide is also suitable for diastasis recti.
– It is also helpful in bolstering the core muscles, which lose their strength during pregnancy.
– The heel slide is also ideal for coccygeus and levator ani.
With your doctor’s permission, you can start doing heel slides a few days after the standard delivery. However, wait for a minimum of two months if you have complicated labor.
7. Pelvic tilt exercise
Another best exercise to do after childbirth to regain your abdominal muscle strength is pelvic
tilt exercise. Because during the gestation period, a rapidly growing baby applies pressure, due to which your pelvic loses its stability. This results in many postpartum complications. These problems can effectively be reduced using pelvic tilt exercises. Listed below are some benefits of this exercise:
– After gestation and childbirth, your body loses its pre-child posture, and you can recover your previous posture by doing pelvic tilt exercises daily.
– Pelvic tilt exercise helps with diastasis recti, a problem where your abs muscles get separated during pregnancy.
– This exercise helps improve your pelvic floor muscles’ functionality.
– It is another excellent activity to treat lower back aches.
Generally, there is no problem with starting pelvic tilt exercise after one or two days of vaginal delivery. However, in case of any problem, stop immediately and talk to your healthcare professional. Do not go for this workout for six weeks in case of complicated labor such as a C-sec. It would be best to ask your doctor before starting pelvic tilt exercises.
Exercises to avoid after childbirth
Your body undergoes an enormous transformation after gestation and childbirth, especially if you have experienced a C-section. Your muscles are weakened, ligaments have gone soft, and the pelvic has changed its position a little bit. Therefore, you must avoid certain heavy activities long after giving birth. Some of the workouts that you must not do after childbirth are as follows:
– Sit-ups: Sit-ups can be potentially dangerous if you suffer from diastasis recti.
– Push-ups: Specific variations of push-ups can worsen your back-pain problem.
– Crunches: Crunches exert more significant pressure on your back and neck, causing stiffness and aches.
– Russian Twists: You should not try Russian twists if you went through a C-section.
– Jumping: Jumping can increase infection risks if you go through surgery.
Conclusion
Conclusion Exercise and workouts after childbearing are excellent ways to regain your previous self. The physical activities described above are carefully selected for you if you give birth to a child. However, you must start the workout only if your physician allows it.
Besides physical activities, your specific genetic make-up also plays a vital role in regaining muscular strength after childbearing. According to National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), particular genes significantly affect the birth type and mothers’ recovery afterward. These genes, combined with environmental factors, decide:
– What kind of delivery are you going to have?
– What type of exercise and workout will help you in the process of healing?
Therefore, conducting a DNA fitness test before starting your daily exercise routine would be best. HealthCodes DNA provides the best platform to run tests based on your genome to customize your aerobic and anaerobic workout regimen.
Our Fitness Panel DNA training program uses superior DNA testing technology to customize your postpartum workout plan based on the ratio of your aerobic and anaerobic genetic make-up. These DNA fitness test results will help you select suitable types of both aerobic and anaerobic exercises to boost your recovery.
Additionally, you do not have to wait more than three weeks after sending your saliva sample to get your results. Every fitness program at HealthCodes DNA includes the following:
- A user-friendly and non-invasive DNA collection kit with easy-to-understand instructions.
- A convenient process to quickly evaluate your body in approximately 2-3 weeks from the comfort of home.
- Customized aerobic and anaerobic workout regimen, workout recovery advice, overall fitness potentials, workout mood predispositions, and injury prevention.
If you’re looking for the fastest and most direct path to building your best self after childbirth, a DNA fitness program is the most effective tool in your healthy living toolbox to help unlock your best self.