3 Things You Need To Know About Weightlifting After Babies

The time between having a baby and getting cleared for exercise is one of the most nerve racking times in a woman's life. It can feel like purgatory.

You're so happy about giving birth and adding to your family but you don't feel 100% like yourself. And it makes sense, your life has changed and your body has changed. It takes time to change it back.

One of the most important things you can do to help raise your child is to make sure YOU are happy and healthy. Being able to start exercising again, get the body you had pre-pregnancy (or even better than that) is something that you should prioritize.  

 The thing is - you can't just jump back into the weight room, or worse - a boot camp. Your body had gone through SO much. You have to slowly build yourself up so you can safely begin to increase your exercise intensity.

 Here are 3 things you NEED to know before you lift weights after giving birth!

1. Get cleared from a doctor to begin exercise and even more importantly, get cleared by a pelvic floor physio so you literally build a solid foundation from the inside out.

You can't just jump into a high intensity group class or boot camp. You need to slowly build up your deep core muscles around your hips to become stable before you begin bearing resistance. Make sure you get clearance from your doctor to start exercising. For most women 6-8 weeks post partum is pretty standard in terms of getting clearance. 

Depending on what type of labour you have there are different types of exercises to help rehab your pelvic floor and your abdomen. Working with a pelvic floor physio will fast track your recovery time and make sure you're progressing optimally and efficiently so you can get back to the weight room ASAP.

Prlvic floor physios are becoming highly sought after so try and book an appointment ASAP as well.

2.  Re-Train Your Nervous System

After going through pregnancy and giving birth your body and mind find ways to adapt to these big changes. One thing that changes is your center of gravity and your body has to find different ways to do things. That's why there are certain exercises and positions that aren't recommended during you're pregnancy. 

Your nervous system is what controls your ability to produce strength and coordinate movements patterns. Unfortunately those qualities change during pregnancy and giving birth.

Focusing on activating the right muscles and then loading them will help your ability to produce strength and build lean, sexy and functional muscles .

3. Movement Re-Patterning 

If you're wondering what a movement patterns is here's a simple explanation: Movement patterns are the coordination of your body's ability to move in different ways such as: weight transfer, forward motion, up, down and lateral motion, and coordinating upper and lower body movements.

Some examples are: Squatting (backs squats), Hinge (think deadlifts), Pushing (Push Ups), Pulling (think Seated Rows) and more! 

Movement patterns get thrown off from things like injuries, surgeries, sedentary lifestyle, pregnancies and staying in one posture for too long (office/desk jobs). This can cause more pain, discomfort or lead to further injury. 

You need to spend time practicing and working on the proper movement patterns again after you've given birth. Your body won't just bounce back to how it moved before without practice.

Baby To Barbell

 We've got a one of a kind program that takes you through proper post-natal fitness so you go from baby to barbell in 5 weeks!

Don't put your health and fitness on the back burner. Get moving and feeling great with this 5 week program!

If you want to learn more click here.