Alisha El-Machiah
Method Fitness Personal Trainer
After giving birth many of you may be eager to jump into fitness and get back into shape, especially if you were active before giving birth. For some of you, the prospect of keeping up with a new baby will be the inspiration to begin a fitness program for the first time. Unfortunately, what many women do not realize is that their body is very different than it was 9 months ago. This can be frustrating and dangerous when making the decision to get back into exercise. Starting off with good information and guidance is very important.
Before starting any exercise program make sure you have the okay from your doctor. Depending on your current health and condition, your doctor may have you wait until your 6-week postpartum check-up. If you had a C-section it may be longer. Once you have the okay to start, take it slow. It is very common to have an achy body, poor posture, weakened pelvic floor muscles and fatigue. Some women also suffer from diastasis recti. This condition is the separation of your outer most abdominal muscles (aka “the 6-pack”) and needs to be handled with the correct training and care. While many think that exercises like crunches will help this condition and strengthen these muscles, they can actually further the damage and worsen the condition. Start with exercises that are low weight, low intensity and low impact—it’s best to let a qualified trainer teach you what to do as these movements are not as intuitive as typical ab exercises. Listen to your body and work within your capabilities.
During pregnancy your body produces a hormone called relaxin. Relaxin helps open your pelvic floor in preparation for giving birth. It also can loosen up tendons and ligaments making your joints feel wobbly and unstable. This hormone can stay in your body for months after pregnancy and puts you at a higher risk of injury. If you feel like you may be pushing yourself too much, take a break. The road to being in the best shape of your life requires you to pace yourself, celebrate every small victory along the way, and forgive and forget your occasional shortcomings (we all have them!). And remember, you can do this--as fitness professionals we see people make remarkable changes every day.
Here at Method Fitness we want to help the patients at Healthy Babies, Happy Moms Inc. get started the right way. So please join us for a free “New Moms Fitness Workshop” at our beautiful, private fitness studio, taught by master trainer Alisha El-Machiah. This workshop will take place on April 12th at 2 pm and will focus on correct and supportive abdominal and core work. Class size will be limited to 10 women but we will be offering future free workshops to help as many new moms as possible. Please reserve your space right away by emailing info.prov@methodfit.com. Method Fitness is Rhode Island’s longest-running personal training studio, with the state’s top trainers, here to serve you. We’re located at 1 Richmond Square, Providence, RI 02906. Map and directions are at www.methodfit.com. We hope to see you!