It doesn’t matter what labor you have. Whether it’s long, drawn out, painful, surgical, or relatively quick, the female body endures a massive transformation. 

Needless to say, you’ll have to get your doctor’s okay before participating in postpartum exercises, and when you do, it’s recommended you engage in 150 minutes of weekly moderate-intensity aerobic activity.

So, we’ve listed four tips on how you can (safely) achieve this goal. 

Let’s dive in!

1. Gently Gently Catchy Monkey

Pushing yourself to undertake a challenging exercise routine can set you back massively. We’re not saying to do nothing during your recovery period. Instead, be mindful of how your body is feeling. 

In light of this, it’s always best to begin with gentle exercises to ease yourself back into things. Walking is a fabulous starting point. If you’re feeling up to it, attempt a five-minute walk around the block. Then when you get home, assess the strain on your body. 

If you’re feeling okay, try to extend your walk to ten minutes the next day. From there, you can gradually increase your activity. After two weeks of walking (comfortably), you could perhaps consider a postpartum exercise class.

2. Work on Your Pelvic Floor

After giving birth, there’s a good chance your pelvic floor will be weaker than it was before. So, exerting too much abdominal pressure by doing ab-based exercises can overly strain the pelvic floor.

Doing this can delay the healing process, or worse, trigger a painful organ prolapse!

So, it’s wise to introduce a kegal routine as part of your postpartum exercise regimen. This works wonders for restrengthening your pelvic floor. The right pelvic floor exercise will help in the postpartum prolapse recovery.

3. Keep an Eye on Your Joints

During pregnancy and childbirth, our bodies naturally release a hormone called relaxin. This helps to soften our ligaments and joints to facilitate the growth and delivery of a baby. 

However, relaxin can stay in our bodies for as long as six months postpartum. Consequently, new mothers often suffer from weak joints, which makes the likelihood of sports-related injuries higher. 

As such, we suggest that your postpartum workout focuses on smooth movements rather than activities that are overly harsh and jerky (this is likely to put too much strain the joints). 

4. Keep Hydrated

Once you’re feeling well enough to participate in postpartum exercises, you’ll need to make hydration a priority. This is even more important if you’re breastfeeding.

Ensure you have a small bottle of water in your bag while you’re out and about so you can stay hydrated at all times. 

Top Tip: For more info on how to lose your baby weight  has some great advice!

Did These Postpartum Exercise Tips Help?

We hope the above postpartum exercise advice was useful! If you enjoyed this article, you’d love the other features over on our parenting blog. 

Over there we discuss everything from signs your child needs urgent medical care to how to find comfy clothes for your kids. You’re bound to pick up a handy hack or two!  

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