{"id":57389,"date":"2019-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/blog\/uncategorized\/functional-training-after-pregnancy\/"},"modified":"2019-06-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T22:00:00","slug":"functional-training-after-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/blog\/discover\/functional-training-after-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Return to Your Functional Training Routine after Pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve just had a baby then you don\u2019t need us to tell you how astonishing the human body is. You\u2019ve grown a life – and now it\u2019s time for you to recover<\/strong>. Bond with your bundle of joy, listen to your body and work with the energy you have – don\u2019t rush anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving well, functioning normally and getting back to your pre-pregnancy shape is different for every new mother. It took nine months to grow your baby, so getting your stomach back to how it was is also a process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


How soon can I start exercising?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Women recovering from a cesarean section or vaginal birth are advised to wait six weeks after childbirth,<\/strong> but you can start your kegels (pelvic floor exercises) and walking as soon as you feel up to it. How soon you start doing anything more than that depends on a lot of factors, but two in particular:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. How active were you during pregnancy? If you weren\u2019t functional training during pregnancy<\/a> (or before), consult your doctor before you begin exercising<\/li>
  2. How did the birth go? Complications such as tearing and infections may mean you need more time to heal before getting active.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n


    What do I need to be careful about?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Rebuilding your strength and fitness levels should be done progressively<\/strong>. And that means keeping things gentle, even if you\u2019ve been used to intense workouts before the baby arrived. After pregnancy, hormones and breastfeeding affect your joints. High-impact cardio too soon can cause further stress and damage if you\u2019re not fully healed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fat gain during pregnancy is common, so the majority of women focus on getting back to their pre-pregnancy weight. But it\u2019s Diastasis Recti many new mothers want to recover from<\/strong>. This is a condition where two vertical abdominal muscles down your front stretch apart and weaken, giving a post-pregnancy pooch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These separated stomach muscles usually heal on their own over a six-week to three-month period. You can help the process with deep-breathing stomach exercises and strengthening your pelvic floor muscles. Avoid planks, sit-ups, crunches, straight-leg raises and any moves that cause the belly to bulge – these can force your Diastasis Recti to separate even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another exercise to be careful with is swimming<\/strong>. Only take to the water after your postnatal check and after seven days without postnatal bleeding or discharge. New mothers are more prone to infections from the pool while healing – particularly those with cesarean stitches, which take longer to heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


    What are the benefits of functional training after pregnancy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Functional training means exercising to improve your ability at carrying out day-to-day tasks<\/strong>. Moves which mimic real-life activities, such as picking up the baby or pulling the pram up stairs, can be carried out more comfortably with functional fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Exercises such as squats can help you regain your core strength and stability<\/strong>, get more movement through your pelvis and tighten your abdominals. Hip flexors are another useful move – a half-kneeling lunge (while reaching up to the ceiling with one arm) can be a refreshing side stretch for new mothers with cramped-up diaphragms and ribs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thanks to functional exercises mimicking the way our bodies naturally move, you\u2019ll correct your alignment, posture and strength in a way that\u2019s comfortable and progressive. You\u2019ll target all the key areas – the core, diaphragm, abs, spine-supporting muscles, pelvic floor muscles and glutes – all without being too intense and slowing down recovery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The most important thing you can do for you and your baby is to take care of yourself. Our personal trainers can design a customised training plan that will enhance your wellbeing (physically and mentally), prevent injuries, improve your movement and increase fitness for weight loss and health. Meet them on a free trial at EVO<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If you\u2019ve just had a baby then you don\u2019t need us to tell you how astonishing the human body is….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":57390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Functional Training after Pregnancy | EVO Fitness","_seopress_titles_desc":"Takes nine months to grow a baby, so regaining a flat stomach also takes time. Here is how to return to your functional training routine after pregnancy.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[300,2040,140,180],"class_list":["post-57389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discover","tag-recovery","tag-after-pregnancy","tag-functional-training","tag-training"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}