A new mom’s guide to regaining fitness during lockdown

By Potso Mpandawana, aka Fitnessmpanda

Last year at this time I was at home with my one-month old baby. I was honestly improvising through motherhood because I still wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing.

What I knew for sure was that I wanted to get back to training after receiving clearance from my gynae but everything still felt a bit uncomfortable.

Getting your fitness back on track

I’m sure you also feel like that now: Ready to get back to your fitness regimen, especially with everyone at home, which hopefully means extra hands on deck to give you more time for exercise.

But you’re probably wondering how you get back on track? Exercising after childbirth, be it a C-section or vaginal birth isn’t easy but it is achievable.

You’ll have to navigate through various challenges unique to each birthing method, but in general your movements will be limited to avoid high-impact exercises and because you are likely breastfeeding, you’ll have to be conscious of leaking during your exercise session. These are the joys of motherhood, but I know that you’ve got this.

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Postpartum exercise guidelines

Here are my top three tips to get back to training after childbirth:

1. Make time to exercise. You won’t find time to exercise, you have to create time. Being a new mom means you’ll have a lot to do but you also need to prioritise and schedule n exercise for your health.
2. Start slow and easy. Pace yourself during your workouts, especially the initial workouts.
3. Listen to your body. Your body will guide you in terms of how intense your workouts should be in the first three months. You will also know from your past exercises routines how much you should push or not.

Postpartum exercise recommendation

My top 5 exercises for new moms:

1. Walking: If you can, take a walk. With the lockdown still in force, it might be a bit challenging but if can, start by walking in your house or in your garden. It is very light impact and intensity but it will help get you going. I encourage you to walk for about 20-30 minutes at first.
2. Bird Dog: Strengthening your core and lower back is vital. I highly recommend this exercise as it does both. Start on all fours, then gently lift your left leg off the floor, making sure it’s in line with your hip. Slowly return it to start position and lift your right arm out. Bring it back to the starting position and repeat the sequence on the other leg and arm. Once you develop better balance and coordination, lift one leg and the opposite arm off the floor. Make sure maintain head and neck alignment and engage your core throughout while breathing deeply and slowly.
3. Squat presses: As a new mom, you will spend a lot of your time either picking up stuff off the floor or lifting baby up, so you need both upper and lower body strength. That’s why I recommend squat presses. This exercise might look and sound advanced but you will get the hang of it in no time. Stand with your feet hip-width apart or slightly wider. Hold 2kg or 3kg dumbbells up by your shoulders. Squat down as if sitting down on a chair. As you extend back up and reach the upright position, raise the dumbbells above your head. If you don’t have dumbbells, use filled water bottles for extra resistance.
4. Kegels: This exercise is really great for strengthening your pelvic floor. When done correctly, this an extremely effective exercise to strengthen the areas that pregnancy has weakened. Here’s how to do them: Find the muscles you use to stop urinating. Squeeze these muscles for 3 seconds, then relax for 3 seconds. Add 1 second each week until you are able to squeeze for 10 seconds each time.
5. Wall push ups: This is a great exercise for strengthening your arms, shoulders, and upper back. It’s a good start to strengthening the arms while not placing too much pressure on your core. Stand with your legs hip-width apart and your arms stretched out touching the wall. Gently move forward and press your chest to the wall, bending at the elbows. Slowly return back by straightening your arms.

These exercises are simple yet effective and will get you back into a routine without totally taking you out of your comfort zone. Here’s to a healthy and safe lockdown postpartum recovery.

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Author: Pedro van Gaalen

When he’s not writing about sport or health and fitness, Pedro is probably out training for his next marathon or ultra-marathon. He’s worked as a fitness professional and as a marketing and comms expert. He now combines his passions in his role as managing editor at Fitness magazine.

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