How to restore fitness after childbirth

The core logic of postpartum recovery and fitness is always to "repair function first, then pursue form." There is no unified plan that suits everyone. All movements must be performed on the basis that there are no abnormalities in the 42-day postpartum review and that there is no obvious pain or discomfort. Don't follow the trend of Internet celebrity movements, and don't do it to lose weight quickly - this is the most practical conclusion I have come to after contacting nearly a hundred mothers with different situations and talking to obstetricians and rehabilitation therapists.

Don’t believe it, last year a mother who was born in 1995 came to see me. Two months after giving birth, she followed the online “Confinement Exercise to Lose 10 Jin in 7 Days”. She did abdominal curls and leg raises for half an hour every day. After half a month, she didn’t lose much weight. The urine became more serious. Before, it only leaked when coughing, but now I have to wear a pad when carrying the baby for two steps. I went to the hospital for a check-up and found that the diastasis of the rectus abdominis had changed from 2 fingers at 42 days postpartum to 3 fingers, and the pelvic floor muscle strength had dropped to level 2. The gain outweighed the loss.

There are actually two mainstream directions for fitness ideas regarding postpartum recovery. No one is right or wrong, but the people they are suitable for are different. The conservative obstetrics and health school recommends lying down as much as possible in the first three months after delivery, only doing abdominal breathing and Kegel exercises that can be done while lying in bed, stopping all standing postures and weight-bearing movements, and not even walking slowly for too long. This plan is especially suitable for mothers with severe side tears, excessive postpartum bleeding, and basically no exercise before pregnancy. Stability is the first priority. The sports rehabilitation schools from Europe and the United States have a more positive attitude. As long as the lochia is eliminated and the wound is completely healed after 42 days of review, you can gradually add gentle standing core activation, slow walking within 30 minutes, and even low-intensity yoga during pregnancy. For those mothers who have been exercising during pregnancy and have good physical fitness, it can actually reduce the probability of low back pain.

When I give advice to mothers, I usually don’t get stuck at a certain point in time and give priority to how my body feels. For example, you can do a few sets of abdominal breathing while you are leaning on the bedside and checking your phone after feeding. You can put your hands gently on your belly. When you inhale, let your belly slowly expand. Don’t let your chest move. When you exhale, you can feel your belly button moving in the direction of your spine. Deliberately holding your breath, 10 times per group is enough. Do three or four groups. Whether it is a natural birth or a cesarean section, whether it is 10 days or 10 months after delivery, this action can be done. It is the most basic operation to activate the transversus abdominis and help the belly retract. It is effortless at all.

Many people say that Kegel exercises are useless. Nine times out of ten, you are doing them wrong. They are using the muscles of your inner thighs or buttocks and not using the pelvic floor muscles at all. It’s easy to find the feeling. It’s the force you hold in during urination, which is the feeling of pelvic floor muscle contraction. But really don’t do it while urinating. It’s easy to get urinary tract infection. Try it twice more when you are lying down. Once you find the right feeling, practice again. Each contraction is 3 seconds and then relax for 3 seconds. One set of 10 times. Two or three sets a day is enough. If you are really not sure, spend dozens of dollars to go to the hospital for a pelvic floor muscle assessment. It will be more effective than just practicing blindly in front of the video for a month.

Oh, yes, if you press the line in the middle of your belly and you can fit more than two fingers into it, it means that the rectus abdominis muscles are separated by more than 2 fingers. At this time, do not do any exercises such as crunches, planks, and sit-ups, as they will only pull the separated rectus abdominis muscles farther and farther apart. There was a mother who had a cesarean section before. Three months after delivery, she still had 3 fingers separated. She didn’t dare to do maternity care programs, so she did 15 sets of dead bug poses every day before going to bed. She lay down with her knees bent at 90 degrees and raised her arms upwards. When she exhaled, she slowly lowered the opposite hand and leg without touching the bed. Inhale and then bring it back. The movements were very slow and she didn’t hold on hard. After practicing for more than two months, I checked again and found that only 1 and a half fingers were left. Her waist was not as sore as before.

Many people have been brainwashed by merchants and said that "6 months after childbirth is the golden recovery period, after which you will never recover." This is really anxiety about selling. I know a mother who took care of her baby full-time before and had no time to take care of herself. She only started systematic recovery training 2 years after giving birth. She first did pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation for 3 months, and then gradually added strength training. After more than a year of training, not only did her urinary leakage problem disappear, her buttocks line is also two centimeters higher than before pregnancy, and she looks better in jeans than before. It’s never too late to start, and there’s really no need to forcefully build your body just to catch up with the so-called golden period.

As for what everyone is most concerned about, when can you run, jump, and practice your vest line? At least wait until your pelvic floor muscle assessment is normal and the rectus abdominis separation returns to within 1 finger. Don’t rush. I have seen too many mothers start systematic strength training half a year after giving birth, and a year later they are in better shape than before pregnancy. On the contrary, those who are anxious to lose weight in three months have many problems with chronic back pain, which hurts when the weather changes, and the gain is not worth the loss.

To be honest, postpartum recovery really doesn’t have so many mysterious details. You don’t have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a maternity card or hire a personal trainer. When you hold the baby, don’t slump your waist and stick out your butt, tighten your core, and don’t sit on the sofa and feed milk for several hours. These small details are much more useful than the one-hour exercise once a week. After all, your body has just tried its best to give birth to a baby, so giving it more patience is better than anything else.