Let's talk postpartum fitness

stine28 · January 2015

So I dragon boat, and this far north, our river is safe for practices usually by early June. The season runs till September. I've had this pie-in-the-sky idea ever since I found out my due date that once I was cleared for exercise, I'd be able to take turns with DH (also on the team) going to practices and that we could bring one of our moms to the festivals and we'd both be able to paddle. I know that the kid him/herself might not like this plan, but it hadn't occurred to me that my actual body might not be ready for it, until my fittest-of-the-fit friend said she still can't run at 3-months postpartum.

Do you have an opinion or experience to share? Dragon boat uses a lot of abs/back/thighs. Will my abs be out of sorts for longer than I hope? I'm completely assuming a vaginal birth here, btw. I'm sure a c-section will sideline me for the whole season.

And how about you? How do you plan to break back into exercise post-baby?

jpavenski · January 2015

I was a pretty fit person before & after DS came along, not at all in my pregnancies & usually gain close to 40 pounds. Last time I danced in a show 6 weeks after my son was born but didn't feel even close to my normal self. I really got back into exercising & loosing the extra 25 pounds when he was about 9 months old. I would say my abs felt back to normal around then & it felt great! Hopefully I can do that again, just do what your body will let you do when the time comes. Good luck!

Whitfry · January 2015

I'm not planning to engage in anything but healing and resting and caring for baby J for the first six weeks. Then I'll see if I feel like picking up some sort of light exercise routine.

stine28 · January 2015

@jpavenski‌ Dancing! 6 weeks postpartum! Holy shmoly woman!

@Whitfry‌, yeah I'm thinking I'll try to take lots of walks for the first 6 weeks and that's it.

I forgot to mention that my team has LOTS of overweight & unfit people on it. We're more of a social/drinking team. If I show up unfit but ready to paddle on practice #1, I'll be on par with everyone else.

Edit: messed up tagging.

jpavenski · January 2015

I'm a dance teacher & my son turned 6 weeks day after the show. I only did two numbers & trust me it wasn't that great lol this time I will be 10 weeks out so hopefully will have more practice time & my little man is in the show this year so that is what I'm most excited for!

lifeisnot2fear · January 2015

I think by the time he arrives I will have gained 40lbs+. Once I get the green light to exercise, I'll start slow. It gets super hot here in the summer, so outdoor walks and such will be hard. I have had a goal to run one half marathon per year which I have done for the past 4 years. I'd like to run one in 2015, but I don't know how realistic that will be. I have to look into what half marathons will take place locally and within driving distance for Nov/Dec 2015.

suz0989 · January 2015

I really think it is completely dependent on your body after delivery. I am a STM and I started jogging again, after my first, as soon as my doctor cleared me at 5 weeks. I started slow and by 3 months I was up to 3 miles. But my sister, who is a jogger also, had such hip pain that she had a hard time jogging up to 6 months after. I think playing it by ear would be the best bet.

happybabe123 · January 2015

Listen to your body! Each person and each pregnancy is different. I ran a 10k at 3 months pp, and half marathon at 6 months pp (note I was running long distance prior to that pregnancy as well).

I have a friend who was running 10ks 6 weeks pp and said it was the worst idea ever. She had a c-section and pulled her incision apart - really bad idea!

That said, my body was ready last time and I took it REALLY slow with lots of walk breaks.

This time my hips hurt when I fast walk and I highly doubt my body will be ready for that kind of stress so quickly. So I will do what my body will allow and not worry about it.

stine28 · January 2015

Wow, the variety of answers is really interesting. I really wish I could plan my summer already but I guess it 's just not possible. And mostly I just don't want to miss out on all the fun if DH gets to do it all. But I'll be a grownup about it if it goes that way.

skootnshoot25 · January 2015

I was overweight before I became pregnant but I had been exercising. However at about 7 weeks pregnant I went from 1 hour intense workouts and being able to run a mile to not being able to make it up a flight of stairs without severe shortness of breath. My plan post partum is to play it by ear, but as my midwives and body allows, start building back up. I'm not going to commit to anything like a race for at least 6 months. I do plan to do WW for weight loss, esp. if I can BF as planned since they factor it in.

Basically I always planned to workout during pregnancy with appropriate modifications and since those plans didn't play out, I don't feel comfortable with planning anything after the baby is here until I know I have my lungs back.

CarterWA · January 2015

I really can't wait to start taking walks and getting some exercise! I really want to start now, but at this point I'm out of breath walking to my car lol For me I think it took about 2-3 months before I felt like I could actually be active with out any pain in my lady parts and hips. I have heard that it can take up to a year for your body to fully recover from giving birth. So just depends on how you feel.
@stine28‌ Good luck this summer! It sounds like a lot of fun!

genmccarley · January 2015

It was about 2 months after my first baby before I started exercising. Even than it was just walking and baby wearing. I'm not an indoor workout type of person and the weather doesn't get great around here til May so as soon as the snow melts I plan to get back out walking and such as soon as the snow melts.
It took me 4 months postpartum to get back to my normal size so I'm hoping its at least almost as easy this time.

peeppeeppeep · January 2015

I'm still walking 5-7 miles a day and doing yoga - I hope to do it through to the end and hoping I can get started up with those again soon after Lo's arrival with ok from my doc. Exercise is something I really depend on for my mental health as well as physical, even if it isn't strenuous.

savspillers · January 2015

I have tried to stay active this far into the pregnancy, as I exercised most days before getting pregnant. My workouts have been modified, of course, limited mostly to stairclimber/elliptical/free weights. Running makes my newly huge boobs hurt, not to mention gives me the urge to pee! I'm hoping this continued level of activity will make postpartum fitness somewhat easier to ease back into - but I plan to take it easy and follow my doc's recommendation as far as when it's safe to hit the gym and what exercises to try/not try. Im pretty sure my body will have to re-learn how to run even short distances after taking a nine month hiatus from the treadmill!

coleybug13 · January 2015

I plan on taking the first couple months to heal and get into the groove with the LO, then I plan on getting back into riding my horse, granted my hoohah is up for it. Otherwise I'll have to wait until I'm recovered enough to handle being in the saddle. I don't have a specific fitness routine but I'm pretty busy in the summer with DS, beach, outdoor activities and such so I plan on mostly letting my body do what it's gotta do. Horseback riding is the only really "athletic" thing I do

rowboat4 · January 2015

@jpavenski I teach dance too, and will be dancing up until this lo comes. I was even still doing pointe work with my girls up until a few weeks ago. I'm hoping I'll be back dancing within 4-6 weeks of birth, but I know it will depend on a lot of other factors, and that that might not be able to happen.

jpavenski · January 2015

@mrssanders2013 I think it helped last time that I continued dancing up until three days before my son was born. Then I was there marking things prob 3 weeks later. If you can keep going right up till delivering it's awesome! I am going to try again this time.

capulet · January 2015

I was running 15-20 miles a week until a couple weeks after I found out I was pregnant, when I just couldn't run consistently anymore without getting fatigued. My plan is to walk as much as possible starting a couple of weeks after I have my baby (I walk 1.5 miles a day back and forth from my kids' school anyway, I just can't do strenuous exercise) and start couch to 5k after 6 weeks. I deferred entry for an October 2014 half marathon to 2015 and I am confident I can at least cover the distance by this fall, if not very fast. I will try to get back to running long distances over the summer and not worry about time.

FWIW I had c-sections with both my kids and will have another this time. I had pretty easy recoveries, by which I mean I could walk short distances within a week and felt pretty much back to normal by six weeks - not in great shape, obviously, but fully healed and capable of resuming normal activity. I wasn't as into running back then so it's hard to compare, but I eased back into running when DS was about four months old and could have done it much sooner physically, it was just the logistics of weather, motivation, and most of all erratic infant sleeping/eating schedules were challenging.

sweetmama17 · January 2015

I was walking 2-3 miles a few weeks after DS and slowly built up to jogging. I think I returned to a boot camp class around 6-7 weeks but was soooo out of it. Couldn't even do a crunch. I think I did a 5k about 3 months after but I was soooo much slower than before. I have never got my speed back (was a pretty consistent age group finisher for road races and triathlons) but with the baby and work my schedule didn't allow for the prebaby workout schedule.

The biggest thing that held my workouts back that I wasn't expecting was my boobs. I breastfed so they were still balloons for months after and trying to get a run in before the baby woke up once he was sleeping through the night meant very full boobs for a run. It was a good 6 months at least until I was semi comfortable and didn't really feel I got my body back til after I finished breastfeeding at 15 months (and I had lost all the weight by 4 months).

cinnamonlatte · January 2015

I was in pretty good shape before I got pregnant with my daughter. I continued to exercise through the entire pregnancy. Afterward I remember feeling like I had absoultely no abs. It took a few months to start to feel some strength again. Also I was so tired from being awake all night, it was really hard to find motivation to exercise.

stine28 · January 2015

I am so impressed with all you ladies. I have nearly quit exercise, I'm down to a short workout once a week tops.

...And just the thought of horseback riding makes my vaj hurt....

LBeez13 · January 2015

I plan on trying to get back in the gym about a month and a half after she is born. I took a long time last time to get back to my gym routine and this time I want to get it started a little earlier. The kids club at Gold's Gym (I don't think) takes babies until they are at least 6 weeks so I probably wont get fully started to my gym routine until after that point.

I played a lot of soccer before my first son who is 18 months and I remember I played my first game 6 weeks after he was born and I was struggling. I did score a goal but I was super out of shape. It did feel good getting back out there again though.

lisap0924 · January 2015

I plan on walking when I can PP and eventually running again, but it will be very slow

Skrittens · January 2015

I plan to start back at the yoga studio doing gentle at about 2 -4 weeks and get out walking and biking as soon as I can. Even if it's around the block, which is more than I do now.

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