How to return to training after pregnancy

Many women after child­birth face such a prob­lem as being over­weight. Your fit­ness lev­el can be a key fac­tor in get­ting back in shape after giv­ing birth.

How to get in shape after child­birth, says our expert, sports nutri­tion­ist-nutri­tion­ist Anna Bilous.

Young moth­ers have become liv­ing proof that sports, main­tain­ing a healthy lifestyle are not an obsta­cle to moth­er­hood, because it is thanks to train­ing that you can quick­ly return to your usu­al shape, lose extra pounds, tight­en your sides and stom­ach, and also get a surge of strength and ener­gy that need­ed in the ear­ly stages of a child’s devel­op­ment.

I do not want to pre­var­i­cate, I will tell the truth. Recov­ery after child­birth should be giv­en at least 9 months, since a sharp weight loss dur­ing this peri­od is very unlike­ly, and also neg­a­tive­ly affects the state of health.

The con­se­quence of improp­er and dras­tic weight loss in the post­par­tum peri­od is a meta­bol­ic dis­or­der and a decrease in immu­ni­ty. Be sure to remem­ber that phys­i­cal activ­i­ty should be increased grad­u­al­ly, because intense train­ing will lead to prob­lems with lac­ta­tion, adverse­ly affect the con­di­tion of the skin, hair and nails.

If your preg­nan­cy and child­birth were dif­fi­cult or you had a cae­sare­an sec­tion, you need to real­ize that the recov­ery peri­od will increase sig­nif­i­cant­ly. But there is noth­ing to wor­ry about, because it is dur­ing this peri­od that your health should take first place.

After nat­ur­al child­birth, you can start exer­cis­ing after 4–6 weeks. After a cae­sare­an sec­tion, you will have to wait about three months until the seams are com­plete­ly fused. If you hur­ry, there is a high risk of diver­gence of the seams, increased intra-abdom­i­nal pres­sure and low­er­ing of the walls of the vagi­na.

Opti­mal are exer­cis­es using hydraulic equip­ment, which cre­ate the effect of water aer­o­bics and strength­en all major mus­cle groups. Before embark­ing on class­es, even spar­ing ones, you should def­i­nite­ly con­sult your doc­tor.

These terms are con­di­tion­al and depend on the lev­el of phys­i­cal fit­ness and expe­ri­ence in train­ing. I want to empha­size that 30 min­utes a day for a young moth­er will be enough for class­es.

What will be use­ful to remem­ber:

1. Reg­u­lar exer­cis­es for weight loss, short work­outs. You can cer­tain­ly find 30 min­utes a day of activ­i­ties that will focus on burn­ing fat and build­ing mus­cle in spe­cif­ic areas that need it in the post­par­tum peri­od.
2. The load should be increased grad­u­al­ly. Sports 2–3 times a week will be enough to start. If we are talk­ing specif­i­cal­ly about los­ing weight after child­birth, then it is advis­able to engage in hydraulic sim­u­la­tors. Also suit­able for water sports. For exam­ple, water aer­o­bics. It is impor­tant to remem­ber that it is impos­si­ble to lose weight local­ly. If you decide to lose weight, be pre­pared for the fact that the whole body will lose weight.
3. On oth­er days, bet on aer­o­bic exer­cis­es that burn fat. The eas­i­est way is brisk walk­ing or run­ning.
4. Train­ing must be com­bined with prop­er nutri­tion.

I want to empha­size that abdom­i­nal exer­cis­es must be com­bined with exer­cis­es to strength­en the back mus­cles, because dur­ing the first year of life we ​​often have to lift and car­ry our baby, and this requires a strong mus­cu­lar corset.

If after child­birth you still have dias­ta­sis (diver­gence of the rec­tus abdo­min­is mus­cles), then the clas­sic exer­cis­es for the press with bend­ing the tor­so from a prone posi­tion, with full and par­tial lift­ing of the body, lift­ing the legs are com­plete­ly con­traindi­cat­ed.

In this case, breath­ing prac­tices, stretch­ing or yoga are suit­able. It is nec­es­sary to strength­en after preg­nan­cy, first of all, the mus­cles of the pelvic floor.

If the doc­tor has not for­bid­den you to play sports, then after a month, train­ing should become your respon­si­bil­i­ty, because it is phys­i­cal exer­cis­es that help us con­tract the uterus, improve the func­tion­ing of the gen­i­touri­nary sys­tem and intestines, nor­mal­ize appetite and sleep, strength­en mus­cles, build pos­ture and pre­vent post­par­tum com­pli­ca­tions.

Physiotherapy exercises

Phys­io­ther­a­py exer­cis­es are need­ed by moth­ers from the first birth­day of a child. It is worth doing gen­tle exer­cis­es that your doc­tor will advise you, right with­out leav­ing the hos­pi­tal, lying in bed.

As soon as you are tak­en to the mater­ni­ty ward, as well as in the next 2–3 weeks after deliv­ery, you can start the exer­cis­es.

Problem areas

Every­one knows that it is the sides and abdomen that are the most prob­lem­at­ic areas of the body for young moth­ers dur­ing the post­par­tum recov­ery peri­od. Exer­cis­es worth pay­ing atten­tion to should include 3 mus­cle groups:

• oblique mus­cles,
• trans­verse mus­cles,
• rec­tus abdo­min­is.

You can start exer­cis­ing imme­di­ate­ly after the con­fir­ma­tion of the doc­tor, 3–4 weeks after the birth and 2–3 months after the cae­sare­an sec­tion. But do not for­get that a lot depends on your well-being. At first, try to force your­self to exer­cise every day for 10 min­utes, grad­u­al­ly increas­ing the time to 30 min­utes a day.

If you are breast­feed­ing, doc­tors advise you to feed your baby before train­ing, because the con­cen­tra­tion of lac­tic acid remains in the moth­er’s milk for up to an hour and a half after exer­cise, which can adverse­ly affect the well-being of your child.

Where do we start?

1. Talk to your doc­tor about when you can start exer­cis­ing.

2. Try to walk more with your baby.

3. In no case do not exhaust your­self with diets, espe­cial­ly dur­ing lac­ta­tion, since the intake of kcal should be 400–500 more than usu­al.

4. It is nec­es­sary to decide on the opti­mal train­ing pro­gram for you near the house (or choose a set of exer­cis­es for the home) of the pow­er direc­tion. Danc­ing, stretch­ing, run­ning — it’s all, of course, amaz­ing, but for mus­cle recov­ery, it is pow­er loads that are need­ed.

5. You need to start train­ing 2–3 times a week with low or medi­um inten­si­ty. You will start increas­ing the load when the doc­tor allows.

6. Adjust your diet to avoid fur­ther weight gain. I rec­om­mend the fol­low­ing: 3 full meals a day and 2 snacks. Breaks between meals should not exceed 3 hours. Remem­ber: as soon as we are under­nour­ished and allow long inter­vals between meals, our body begins to pro­tect us and store fat in those places where we would like to least. Espe­cial­ly in the abdomen and thighs.

All of the above rec­om­men­da­tions will help you recov­er faster after child­birth, return to active phys­i­cal activ­i­ty and opti­mal­ly quick­ly reduce weight. It is nec­es­sary to strength­en your body after child­birth in order to become “as before” again, and so that pos­si­ble fatigue, despon­den­cy and weak­ness give way to cheer­ful­ness, ener­gy and joy. Good luck!