Returning to Exercise in the Postpartum Period

So you’ve just had a baby…now what? You’ve got to your six week postpartum checkup and the doctor has given you clearance…now what?

Generally the belief is that you want to wait until 6 weeks postpartum to begin exercise and when you reach 6 weeks postpartum you can return to whatever normal exercise is for you. But what if we took a different approach?

Breathing exercises and light exercise can typically begin early on in the postpartum period. These exercises in early weeks are going to be light, no more difficult than your tasks of daily living but they can be beneficial to start moving you in a rehab direction. Some great exercises to begin with in the early postpartum to help you reconnect to your core can be found below. As always make sure that you do have clearance from your doctor for these exercises. It’s also important in the early postpartum period to tune in and listen to your body. If you find yourself more tired or sore then scale some of these exercises back, or begin with just the breathing exercises and add as you feel is appropriate for you. When completing these exercises aim for 5-10 repetitions for 1-2 sets if that feels comfortable for you. You can always add more when you feel ready to do so.

Moving into your 6 week postpartum checkup you may be cleared by your doctor to resume exercise. What type of exercise is appropriate for you at this time will vary from one individual to the next. It will depend on what you were doing pre-pregnancy, how your pregnancy and labour/delivery went as well as how you are feeling overall. Don’t feel an enormous amount of pressure to return to what you doing pre-pregnancy after your 6 week checkup. You probably had to change some of the things you were doing at some point in your pregnancy and you will likely have to work back up to things you haven’t been doing for a while.

Some exercises that you may want to wait a bit longer to start to implement back into your routine can include

• Running
• Pullups
• Planks
• Crunches or situps
• Anything that feels uncomfortable

But when you begin to reimplement these things will vary from one person to the next. At the end of the day as you move through the postpartum period it’s important to focus on reconnecting to your core and increasing your overall strength as these things are needed while you raise your little ones. But it’s also important to feel like your best self as well.