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Get Your Body Back
A Guide to Exercising After Baby
By Teri Brown
After professional figure skating coach Sarah DeSemple delivered her first child, she wanted to get into shape and onto the ice – fast. She had students waiting for her and personal skating goals to obtain. She felt she didn't have time to waste.
"Getting back in shape was important to me because I have goals that I want to reach and I couldn't work toward them if I didn't drop the baby weight," says DeSemple, a mother of two from Milwaukie, Ore. "I began skating, pushing my endurance on the ice and I also really watched my relationship with food."
DeSemple had a difficult first labor and couldn't begin working out until 12 weeks postpartum. After her second child, however, she was quickly back on the ice. Because of her love for skating, pushing herself wasn't difficult. As a perfectionist, she had to learn to be easier on herself.
"If you are a perfectionist like me and always question whether you are working hard enough, you need to keep in mind that sometimes just working your body out is a 'victory,'" says DeSemple. "Having a baby is no small thing, and having unrealistic expectations of yourself is mentally defeating and harmful to your heart."
"Before beginning a postnatal exercise program, a new mom should receive approval from her doctor to begin exercising," says Matthews. "This usually happens about four to six weeks for vaginal deliveries and six to eight weeks for Cesarean births."
Matthews says that prior to starting regular exercise, new moms can practice abdominal hollowing and light walking. Abdominal hollowing is done lying on your back and drawing your naval to your spine and holding it there while breathing. The back should stay touching the floor. Eventually, you can add an abdominal crunch to the hold or movement.
According to Matthews, initial postnatal exercises should focus on strengthening the abdominals: hollowing, crunches, lower back exercises (small range of motion back extensions) and pelvic floor exercises such as Kegels.
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