First things first- Congratulations, mama! YOU DID IT!

Now, when things start to slow down and you’ve had a chance to rest, you may soon find yourself anticipating all of the things to come and perhaps even already be planning how you'll start to heal and rebuild your body. And a common question you may find yourself asking now is, “When can I get back to exercising?” 

The postpartum period is a beautiful opportunity to slow down, reset intentions, re-learn movement patterns, and rebuild a super strong foundation for your long term fitness and overall wellness goals.

It’s important to remember that it took 10 months to grow and birth this human- it will take AT LEAST that long to recover. Try to remind yourself and anyone else in your life that may need it: "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast". 

The quick answer to the exercise question that we’re usually given is that you can start once you’re cleared by your doctor, which is generally at 6 weeks postpartum (or 8 weeks if you had a C-section or complicated vaginal birth).

However, the truth is that most new moms are not ready to jump back into exercise at 6 weeks, especially returning to what they were doing pre-pregnancy. It’s also likely that your Ob/gyn/healthcare provider is unable to fully assess your readiness to exercise, which requires the help of a practitioner trained in pelvic floor health. 

Once you have a baby, there’s lots of healing, rebuilding, and relearning that needs to happen and it needs to be a gradual, intentional process. Getting back to exercise after having a baby is important and supports your health in so many ways, but the when, what, and how need to be carefully considered.

It sure would be nice if there was a simple answer to these questions. But as we know, pregnancy and postpartum are rarely simple and each woman is so unique.

Instead of focusing on a set date or time frame, we encourage you to instead, consider a step-by-step approach to exercising again after having a baby.

SP POSTPARTUM RECOVERY AND MOVEMENT TIMELINE

Below is a timeline* providing suggestions for supporting your recovery, preparing and strengthening your body, and gradually returning to exercise postpartum. While this timeline will need to be personalized for each woman, according to her pregnancy, birth, healing, potential symptoms, fitness level, and more, it’s a great starting point and gives you a plan you can adjust to your needs!

*Please note that if you have something more serious going on like prolapse, severe tearing, prolonged bleeding, complicated cesarean or traumatic birth, etc., this timeline may not apply to you. Please reach out directly for more support by emailing mamas@streetparking.com. 

Weeks 1-2: Rest, nourish your body with a lot of nutrient dense foods like soups and stews, and get a lot of baby bonding and skin to skin time! Try out some of these Nourishing Recipes for the Immediate Postpartum Period. Consider starting the SP Postpartum Recovery program. This program is gentle enough to begin immediately postpartum and provides a nice opportunity to practice some self care and support your healing and recovery. With programming for 2 days a week, 10 minutes a day, for 4 weeks, the program provides restorative exercises and practices for the mind, body and soul.

Weeks 2-3: Take walks while babywearing and gradually increase your time, distance, and pace. Pay attention to your body and any symptoms of leaking, spotting, pelvic pain, etc. Those symptoms could be a sign that the activity was too much. You can learn more here: Our Advice On: Warning Signs of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. Consider starting the SP Postpartum Recovery program if you haven’t yet. Especially if you’re itching for a bit of structure or some much-needed time for you, this program can provide both.

Weeks 3-4: Make an appointment with a practitioner who is trained in pelvic floor health, such as a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist. If you can make it in person for an evaluation, that’s great, but you can still gain a ton from a virtual consult! We even have Pelvic Health professionals that we'd be happy to connect you with if needed. It’s likely that you won’t need to be seen for a visit until at least 6-8 weeks postpartum but it can be helpful to start reaching out and establishing a connection early. 

Week 4:  If you have some desire (and room) for a little more structure around meals, you can begin by focusing more on food quality (check out our Recommended Foods), balancing your meals, and utilizing the palm method.  If you have questions about our postpartum nutrition template and program, please feel free to email nutrition@streetparking.com.

Weeks 4-5: Begin a core and pelvic floor rehabilitation program. We suggest the SP Postpartum Rehab program, which guides you through specific programming to help lay a strong foundation and get prepared to take on movements in the SP Shift programming or next phase of your exercise. If needed, continue working with your pelvic floor practitioner to address your own unique needs and goals. 

Week 6-8: Your Ob/Gyn/healthcare provider may give you the "OK" to exercise again. (This may be at week 8 if you had a C-section or complicated vaginal birth). Please remember that getting a complete green light usually requires a more in depth evaluation from a pelvic floor practitioner. Continue core and pelvic floor rehab and taking walks!

Week 8 and beyond: Once you have completed the Recovery and Rehab phases of your postpartum journey (at least the first two months), including a core and pelvic floor rehab exercise course and ideally, working with a pelvic floor professional, you can safely begin reintroducing exercise with the goal of getting back to your “usual” workouts. This is the Rebuilding phase.

In this phase, you’ll want to be extremely intentional, using proper warm-ups, movements, and modifications and paying attention to your posture, breath, and tension. Begin with bodyweight movements and SHIFT programming (our more simplified version of the daily SP workout) with the appropriate modifications and gradually add more load, reps, distance, time, etc.  Always monitor your body's response to the activity and scale or adapt your approach if you notice any symptoms of dysfunction. 

To help guide you through this phase, we suggest utilizing the SP Postpartum Rebuild guide, which provides a holistic approach to postpartum exercise at this stage, covering important related topics like postpartum workout mentality, pelvic floor health, nutrition, stress and hormones. It also includes a Sample Postpartum Workout Timeline with suggested programming and postpartum exercise milestones, and a Suns Out Guns Out Mamas Edition.

As time goes on and your body is feeling good and functioning properly, you can continue to add intensity and eventually impact and incorporate more complex/dynamic barbell and gymnastics movements.  

Remember, this work is all done over the course of many months with support and guidance from myself and the SP Moms community. If you’re interested in any of the SP Postpartum programs, you can find them each in the SP Mamas Shop or you can purchase them together in our SP Fourth Trimester Bundle. If you have questions, email mamas@streetparking.com. 

Postpartum is an exciting time and offers great opportunities to learn so much about your body as you heal and strengthen it, and we’re honored to help you in any way throughout the process!