postpartum exercise

Okay. Lauren, this one's for you!



*Super attractive post-run photo by M.

I have cesareans. I have never had a vaginal birth, so I don't know the difference between c-section or vaginal recovery, but I imagine no surgery is better than surgery where they are cutting through layers of skin, muscle and tissue. Because no matter how fit I am during pregnancy, I end up at ground zero after being sliced open. But it doesn't mean my prenatal exercise was for naught. I do believe it takes me a lot faster to recover than someone who hasn't been exercising. I also don't have to deal with too much extra baby weight (except that extra five pounds in my - ahem - nursing bosom). My body's got enough going wrong with pelvic misalignment, displaced organs and muscle atrophy.

First Three Weeks

The first three weeks, I did virtually nothing, except a little bit of walking here and there. Like from the bedroom to the kitchen and back. (But if you've been to my 3,000 square-foot apartment, my kitchen is kind of far from the bedroom in a ridiculous layout, so I kind of consider it a feat those first few weeks).

After three weeks, I started taking short, little 20-minute walks outside. I kind of have a high pain tolerance, so it required serious effort for me to not do too much and regret it later. At four weeks, I was still sore, but it was no longer an acute pain in my belly, so I started doing some gentle first moves and abdominal strengthening exercises. I highly recommend Helene Byrne's DVD "Bounce Back Fast: Post Natal Core Conditioning" and her book, Exercise After Pregnancy: How to Look and Feel Your Best. You can find more information here. This is a great resource for all you preggo and postpartum mommies out there!

Belly Blues

After pregnancy, my belly feels like mush and my organs feel displaced and bruised. Because I am so petite, I always suffer from severe diastasis (or abdominal separation). When this happens, the rectus abdominis muscles that run vertical down the belly (and also give that 6-pack appearance) are separated in the middle, because the ligaments that connect the left side and right side have been uber stretched - kind of like a zipper that's been undone in the middle. You can check if you have abdominal separation by lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place one hand at your belly button, with fingers in the belly and the palm facing toward your face. As you do a little crunch, you will feel your rectus abdominis muscles on either side of your fingers. If the space is greater than two fingers' width, you have abdominal separation. Right after pregnancy, I could fit three fingers in that space. It was severe.

So my initial exercises involved strengthening both my pelvic floor with kegal exercises and my transverse abdominis. The transverse abdominis is the muscle that runs horizontal across and around your abdomen - your body's natural girdle and corset. Most people do not know how to work this muscle or that it even exists. Crunches will only work the rectus abdominis, and when the transverse is not strong and contracted during the crunch, your belly will pooch out during a crunch. This creates the opposite of what you want - a belly that still looks pregnant. You want to build muscle memory, so that your belly button is drawing in towards your spine at all times, cinching your waist tight and making it appear smaller. This is the transverse's job. So working your transverse muscle first will ensure you have a good foundation to move on to other core workouts.

Again, I recommend Helene Byrne's DVD and book above to help you know what exercises to do and how to do them correctly. It would take too much time and effort to explain on here.

Cardio and Strength Training

At six weeks (on the dot!), I started jogging again. It was probably over-ambitious, but I ran three miles right away. And I realized that not only had my muscles atrophied, but they were imbalanced. I was doing okay working my quads through pregnancy, but since I could no longer lie on my belly to do leg curls, I was lazy about truly working my hamstrings. There were other exercises I could have done with bands and things, but I got lazy. Generally, quads are about 20 percent stronger than the hamstrings. But my legs felt more like my quads were 60 percent stronger than my hams. So now I have started some "rehab" for my knees. This muscle imbalance was causing my knees to track out of alignment, opening me up to injury and an inflamed bursae sac. If you feel this happens to you, stick to the elliptical and the bike until you are feeling stronger. And in fact, those six weeks postpartum are the perfect time to cross-train with the elliptical and bike.

Touch Your Toes

We all know cardiovascular endurance and strength training are components of physical fitness, but flexibility is the third musketeer to keeping you well-rounded and injury-free. The last few months of pregnancy even tying my shoes requires Olympic effort. And after pregnancy, everything in my body feels misaligned, stiff and broken. But you know in the morning when you wake up and gently streeeeeeetch your body? Feels so good, right? I did BodyBalance for the first time yesterday and mmmm! It was like water to my thirsty bones. Stretch, stretch and stretch some more! We're stiff in our backs from hunching over and breastfeeding and from nine months of our center of gravity being in the wrong place. Plus, our legs are stiff from shuffling around with the heavy burden on our pelvic bones. But again, because I am in the process of correcting my abdominal separation and attempting to shorten my abdominal wall that's been stretched out, I avoid poses like Up Dog and the Pigeon Pose. Also, no Pilates 100s until my transverse is stronger.

Moving Forward

Right now, I am about 7 1/2 weeks postpartum. This is what I have been doing (and will do) this week:

Saturday - ran four miles; did BodyPump

Sunday - day of rest!

Monday - ran three miles; core work

Tuesday - 20 minutes on the elliptical; leg curls and leg extensions; hip abductor/adductor exercises; did BodyBalance

Wednesday - ran three miles; worked triceps, biceps, shoulders and did lunges; core work

the plan for the next few days...

Thursday - BodyCombat class (I burn more calories in this hour-long interval class than an hour-long run... the key is the intervals); more leg work; more core work

Friday - elliptical, BodyBalance, and arm work

Saturday - run four or five miles; maybe do BodyAttack

I have a half marathon (or two?) planned in the next few months, so I'm trying to gear up for that as well as getting back in shape to teach my favorite group fitness programs again. Good times, friends. Good times. I'm running high on endorphins. And maybe Cobra Starship's "Hot Mess" was my power track during my run this morning.

Don't judge.