Exercising postpartum can seem like a daunting concept and we understand that figuring out how to approach moving in your new postpartum body can be a confusing time. At Collective Motion, we want to help guide you through this process and show you that it doesn’t have to be a scary or overwhelming task! Below are the most common questions we get asked about returning to exercise after the birth of your bub to help you feel more confident about your return to movement.

Benefits of postpartum exercise

Postpartum exercise has such great physical and mental benefits for new mums which is why we’re so passionate about providing these classes. The postnatal period, or fourth trimester, is a crucial time for mums to recover and recondition their bodies following the stresses of pregnancy and childbirth. Major benefits of returning to exercise after birth include;

• Re-strengthening deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles. These muscles undergo a lot of load during your pregnancy and also require retraining after giving birth. Regaining strength and control of these muscles is a vital step in restoring optimal function within our bodies stability as well as internal control of things like our bowel and bladder

• Improves posture. With the changes that occur during pregnancy, there are changes to our posture to compensate. Our bodies then adapt to the demands of being a new mum which can place a large strain on areas like your back and neck. Postnatal exercise helps strengthen muscles that are needed to support our posture during things like feeding and nursing

• Improves postnatal recovery. As with any surgery or injury, rehab is a crucial part of recovery, pregnancy and childbirth are no different!

• Restore muscle tone and whole body strength

• Reduce back & pelvic pain by improving muscle strength and support

• Reduce stress, help improve sleep and can help prevent postpartum depression. Any exercise is good for our mental health and the same goes for postnatal exercise. Having time to focus on you and your recovery is so important to mums in their postnatal period

How long before I can exercise after birth?

Every body is different and depending on your birth and your initial recovery you may feel you need longer before you start exercising, for example after a C-section compared to when to start exercise after vaginal delivery with stitches. In the meantime, there are post partum exercises you can do at home before returning to more structured or intensive postpartum exercise.

At Collective Motion, you can join our Post Natal Pilates and Mums and Bubs Pilates classes from 6 weeks after birth. 6 weeks is the general healing time frame for soft tissue injuries so this is a rough guide for when it is safe to return to exercise without overstressing the tissues that were affected during birth and labour. In the first 6 weeks, it is ok to do some exercise, in fact its encouraged to start doing certain things like muscle activation and stretching.

When you return to exercise, it’s important to remember that your body has been through a lot and not to overdo it. Whether you’ve had a C-section or vaginal birth, your body will need time to recover from the exhaustion of labour, pushing for delivery, surgery or much more. Gentle exercise is best to begin with and specific post pregnancy exercise is best. If you feel any heaviness, pain or discomfort take it as a sign from your body that it may not be ready yet. There are many factors that can contribute to when you are ready to return to exercise so if you don’t feel ready by 6 weeks then there is nothing wrong with that! Remember, this is about you and your body so listen to how your body is feeling and try not to put too much pressure on yourself.

Types of post pregnancy exercise 

In the first 6 weeks the focus is on stretching and muscle activation so that by the time you feel ready to return to exercise you have built some good foundations.

1. Stretching - as a new mum your body is going to doing a million new tasks that you’ve never done before and sitting in positions that may not be ergonomically perfect

2. Pelvic floor and deep core activation - this can be started basically as soon as you get home from the hospital! Start with just gentle activation to start to get these muscles firing again

3. Glute strengthening - starting some activation and strength work to help support your pelvis, low back and pelvic floor

4. Walking - start with slow and short walks (even 5-10 minutes) being careful of any heaviness or of pain around your scar. The guideline generally is to be able to walk about 30 minutes by 6 weeks so build up slowly and be patient

After 6 weeks, you have the option to return to exercise you may have been doing during your pregnancy or pre pregnancy. Some good post partum exercises to try include Pilates, yoga, swimming, cycling, light weight training. Make sure that you start slowly and ease back into your exercise after birth!

At Collective Motion we have Post Natal Pilates and Mums and Bubs Pilates classes to help support you on your postpartum return to exercise. These classes are focused on postpartum recovery and can be modified to where you are at during your recovery.

If our classes sound like the right fit for you, we’d love to have you at Collective Motion! If you’ve never been to our classes before, you can take advantage of our 14 day intro offer of 3 classes for $45. To check out our Pilates Timetable, click here otherwise press the button below to book into a class!

If you still have some questions or want to learn more, click the button below for more information. Otherwise always feel free to give us a call to chat or send us an email, we’re here to help!

If you’re after some more advice or are in need of some hands on help, we’d love to see you at Collective Motion! Collective Motion offers Osteopathy, Dietetics, Clinical Exercise and Pilates and is conveniently located to service our Bentleigh community as well as its surrounding suburbs including Bentleigh East, McKinnon, Ormond, Glenhuntly, Murrumbeena, Carnegie, Oakleigh, Gardenvale, Brighton East and Hampton East.