Hi, I’m Elisa All with Pregnancy Today I have with me Shayne Young a prenatal fitness expert and a new mom. And as well I have Paige here.

Hi, I’m Elisa All with Pregnancy Today I have with me Shayne Young a prenatal fitness expert and a new mom. And as well I have Paige here. She is going to help demonstrate some postpartum fitness exercises. Shayna, I remember as a new mom feeling so tired but knowing I should be doing some exercises and I didn’t know where to start. Can you give us some postpartum fitness tips? Absolutely. Before you start any exercise program you’re going to check with your doctor, make sure that your doctor thinks your ready to start and that generally is going to happen six to eight weeks postpartum so don’t worry about getting going too quickly. When you are ready to getting going start slow, make it simple and be patient. Think about the postpartum period is really about a year until your feeling a hundred percent back to your full strength. So to get started, really simple, something you can do every day, when you’re feeding your baby, at the end of your feeding do about 10 to 20 keigels, really simple to get the lower abdominal and pelvic floor muscles back into toned position. OK. And also taking some nice long deep breaths, and every time you put the baby down to sleep maybe three to five yoga breathes. Great idea. To refresh, to regain that connection with your body. And then some simple abdominal bracing exercises, maybe some simple roll ups just with your head. One exercise that comes to mind are leg sweeps. Can you show us how to do that? Absolutely. So why don’t you demonstrate? It’s always good when your doing something on a single leg, which the leg sweeps are, to have a little something to hold on to. The stroller is perfect. Let’s make the left leg the stabilizing leg, so let’s go ahead and keep it little bit bent. That right heel is going to come in front of you; the leg is going to stay straight. Think about keeping that right leg straight. Sweep it around, circular motion; tap the toe on the back. OK. There you go. And then bring that leg right back around, tap the heel. Do that about 10 times. Tap my toe, then tapping my heel. As that’s feeling balanced, and you want to increase your intensity, you’re going to want to bend that knee just a little bit more. OK. Again, brace through the center. There you go. OK, that feels really good. OK. Is there a way to incorporate the baby into the post-partum routine? You’re ready to go. Look at you. You’re all saddled up here with the stroller. Take a walk. Re-energize. Excellent. Well I think of walking as a mental and physical exercise so I am ready to go. We appreciate you being here. Sharing your tips. Absolutely. OK. We’ll see you next time on Pregnancy Today.