You just had a baby? Oh, just do kegels, right?
You just had a baby…So, just do kegels and you’ll be fine! Huh?!
New moms and their babies building strong mom communities in Postpartum Recovery Fitness
I am pretty sure you clicked on this blog because you just had a baby and maybe you are wondering about getting back to exercise (or even just back to your non-maternity clothes…). Or you want to “close” your Diastasis Recti (DR) and not pee in your pants. Or you really need to make mom-friends and want to get out of the house. Or you just want to feel better.
Probably, it’s all of the above, right?
There’s a lot of fear around the 4th Trimester, isn’t there? A lot of misconceptions of what you can do and “can’t” do. How come nobody talks about this BEFORE you had your baby? Well, at 4TFM do talk about ALL of it. We want you to know that you not only survive, but can THRIVE through your 4th Trimester.
So where do you start?
At 4TFM, our mission is simply to “Help the Moms”. And in the postpartum period, you can start with Postpartum Recovery® Fitness - or, as our 4TFM moms call it… PPR. This evidence based class is specifically designed for the EARLY postpartum mom, and we feel pretty proud that our care providers recommend it to their patients. In fact, you can attend this class as early as 10 days after vaginal birth or 6 weeks after cesarean birth. It’s open to all moms and their babies (some as young as 10 days old) and meets every week for 6 weeks in a row.
We love when care providers have taken our classes and love them so much that they recommend them to their patients!
“This class should be a prerequisite to an exercise regime ”
What if you are thinking… “But I don’t DO exercise!”
You’re in the perfect place!
It’s not a kick-butt fitness class and, most likely, your brain will sweat more than your body.
What if you’re thinking…” Will I ever get back to CrossFit?”
You’re in the perfect place, too!
One of the goals is to get you ready for the next step so that you CAN kick your butt!
So, Cross-Fit Moms…This is the class to get you ready for your Kick-Butt WODs!
Every week, the movement patterns and the loading possibilities progress and the information builds on the foundation set the week before. By the 6 week mark, you leave class with a full body workout using your baby or simple exercise tools like an exercise band or weights.
Fun Fact: Did you know that a gallon of milk weighs 8.6 pounds?
You don’t need a whole gym to do this! There are plenty of weighted items in your home… including that sweet baby! And since your baby continues to get heavier as the weeks go by, your baby is the perfect way to increase the load as you grow in your strength. Cool design of nature, don’t you agree?
The first weeks of the class series are all about gentle movement, breathing, reconnecting with your core and pelvic floor
“It’s NOT about doing Kegels. It’s about Recovery.”
And what about that Diastasis Recti?
Headline: You don’t CLOSE a Diastasis Recti. You SUPPORT a Diastasis Recti.
Don’t let this freak you out but that Diastasis Recti (or DR) may NOT actually “close”, in fact for some people, when the deep core is activated to support the core, the DR may actually widen!
A DR is not an illness or injury, it’s a NORMAL progression of pregnancy.
Yup! Its purpose is to make room for the growing uterus. That space is caused by the stretching of the Linea Alba during pregnancy. The goal in recovery is to structurally support that area between the two sides of the Rectus Muscle so that in the moments of everyday activities (and, let’s face it - as moms we are moving ALL. OF. THE. TIME!) we feel strong and stable. We show you HOW to do that starting in week 1 because you are already walking, standing, squatting - yes, squatting a million times a day when you sit on the toilet, sit on the sofa, pick up the diaper you dropped, get up and down off of the floor - you get the idea. This is why we start PPR so early. You are ALREADY moving your body. So let’s do it in a way that helps you feel better!! You do this through breathing and connecting your breath with movement. Reconnecting with your body so that you are able to structurally support the diastasis and your pelvic floor.
Week 6: Finishing the series with a full body workout using exercise bands or your baby - they both can load any movement!
The goal?
You feel strong in movement and that you don’t feel like your “belly is pooching out uncontrollably” or your “bottom is falling out” or “my ankles feel like they will roll over” or “my neck and shoulders are killing me” or “I pee in my pants when I stand up”…These are all REAL QUOTES from moms.
And guess what? You can do something about all of that. You really can. You do this through education and exercise!! Yep. Every single week has an educational component to it that is relevant to the early postpartum period. Topics like urinary incontinence, prolapse, queefing, scar massage, de Quervain’s thumb, and more. Every week, we cover a common experience and give you resources in the community to get further help if needed. And you will get stronger and feel better. The moms who do the gentle weekly exercises, feel better and get stronger. And, most of all, it’s fun!!
“I felt safe when I came to class. The other moms were so encouraging and we spent a lot of time laughing and sometimes, crying, and most of all having fun as we recovered from our births”
And those Kegels?
The truth is that Kegel is just the NAME of an exercise. And, like any muscle group, it’s important to work all muscles in balance. You wouldn’t only contract you bicep or hamstring and never release it fully. And this is true of the pelvic floor, too. So, be assured, you will also learn how to release and lengthen that pelvic floor.
I hope that you will check out Postpartum Recovery Fitness. We offer the class in person and virtually. Check out the class offerings here