Itching to get back to working out after baby? I often get messages from moms wanting to workout shortly after giving birth. They want to know what they should start with and when they can start!
Of course I need to recommend that you wait to start any fitness program after delivering a baby until you have been approved to do so by your OBGYN. However, many moms are not willing to wait the full 6 or 8 weeks especially when it comes to arms. They don’t see the harm and I get it.
After Tommy, I too was eager to start working out again. After Connor, I was not. I tell moms to take their time. If you follow me on Instagram, you likely know it took me 8 weeks to start working out again and 6 months to find motivation to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.
So please, do not DM me bitching about your lack of progress 8 weeks postpartum. It took your body 9+ months to grow a HUMAN! It might take another 9 months or more to go back to feeling or looking like it did before your pregnancy. For some of us, our bodies will NEVER look the same.
That being said, I wanted to share a workout that is likely OK to do before that 6 week check up as long as you are feeling good, not in pain and minimal bleeding. If you start bleeding again after stopping, that might be a sign you overdid it.
This is also a great a workout just to do if you only have 10 minutes. When I label a workout as postpartum or postnatal, all it means is that you’ll find it low impact and modified abs as to not exacerbate a diastasis recti or to heal one.
Use a lighter set of weights for this workout but don’t forget that if you just gave birth to an 8 lb baby, they might weigh 10 lbs now, so 5 lb dumbbells are totally fine. I would suggest 8 lb dumbbells
