Expert Advice on Navigating Postpartum Exercise

For many fitness-minded new moms, getting back on track with a workout plan is a sure sign that things are (slowly) returning to normal. But just because your doctor gives you the all clear at your six-week follow-up appointment doesn’t mean you should rush back to the gym full tilt. A post-birth body has, as they say, seen some things. And navigating postpartum exercise can be challenging, both physically and mentally.

Lindsey Vestal, owner of The Functional Pelvis, a practice specializing in pelvic floor therapy house calls for moms-to-be and new moms, knows how to help. Our friends at WellRounded NY tapped her expertise—both as an occupational therapist and as a mother of two—to clue us in on what we should focus on when it comes to fitness during those first few weeks after giving birth. “I felt disconnected from my body, specifically my abs, low back and pelvic floor,” Vestal writes of her own experience. “When your insides feel like Jell-O, where do you start?”

It is a fair question—and one that Vestal helps to answer, with advice that includes learning to perform pelvic floor exercises, getting reacquainted with your abdominals and knowing when to pull back and rest a bit more.

To read the full story on how to ease into a postpartum exercise routine, click here.

To check out more from WellRounded NY, visit wellroundedny.com.

Photo: Justin Borucki