Thanks for dropping by and reading this post. As you may or may not know, I’ve just had a bouncing baby girl! While we were in the hospital, we picked up a leaflet by the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Women’s Health (ACPWH). It had some rather interesting information on exercise after childbirth.

The abdominal hollowing exercise or ‘core exercise’ as it’s sometimes known targets the transverse abdominus muscle. The transverse abdominus is a muscle found deep in the abdomen that holds in the abdominal contents and supports your core. You should start doing this exercise in the most comfortable position for you. Try lying on your back or side with your knees bent or sitting with your back well supported.

Place one or both of your hands on your abdomen below the level of your belly button. Breathe in through your nose, and as you breathe out, draw in your lower abdomen gently away from your hands towards your back and then relax. You should be able to breathe and talk at the same time and your lower back should stay still. Do the exercise three times if you can.

Once you have mastered this exercise you should be able to practise it by standing up. To progress this further, repeat as above but keep your muscles drawn in for three seconds. You may feel the muscles working under your hand and you gradually be able to hold them for longer. Do this three times a day or as often as you can.

After you’ve read this page, you may want to read our articles on Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises and Essential Exercises After Childbirth.

Thanks for reading,

The pelvic floor muscles are at the bottom of your pelvis, supporting the pelvic organs. These muscles have been stretched in pregnancy and during delivery, which may cause problems. Pelvic floor muscle exercises are needed to:

• Improve muscle strength so you can control your bladder and bowel
• Help prevent prolapse of the pelvic organs
• Increase sexual enjoyment for you and your partner

Please remember:

• To start the pelvic floor muscle exercises as soon as possible after you’ve had your baby
• To do the exercise in various positions unless you are still sore from delivery
• To do gentle, rhythmic tightening and relaxing of the muscles, which may help with discomfort and pain

How to exercise your pelvic floor muscles
Try to imagine you are stopping yourself passing urine or wind. Try to ‘squeeze and lift’ the pelvic floor muscles. I found it difficult to feel much happening at first but keep trying. Hold the squeeze for a couple of seconds but do not hold your breath.

Gradually increase the hold time and the number of times until you can hold the squeeze for up to ten seconds and repeat up to ten times. You may find that Abdominal Hollowing takes place at the same time. Try exercising in different positions (standing, sitting and lying) and establish a routine, such as every time you’ve just fed your baby.

Please remember that it can take up to several months for the pelvic floor muscles to return to their previous strength. It is important that the pelvic floor muscles are able to react quickly to stop you leaking when you cough or sneeze. Always tighten your pelvic floor muscles before and during any activity requiring effort. For example, lifting your baby out of their moses basket.

To be effective you need to concentrate and persevere with these exercises. Pelvic floor muscle exercises are important for life and for all women.

Thanks for reading and please make sure you read our article on Essential Exercises After Childbirth.

Here are some simple instructions to perform head lifts. If you have neck pain, dont do this exercise. You should start all exercises by lying with your head on a pillow, knees bent and feet shoulder width apart and arms by your side.

1. Firstly, lie on your back with your head resting on two pillows.

2. Hollow your abdomen and tighten the pelvic floor muscles.

3. Gently lift your head and shoulders a little bit off your pillows.

4. Hold for three seconds, lower and then relax.

5. Repeat this exercise up to ten times for three times a day if you can.

6. You can develop this exercise by removing one of your pillows.

7. Please make sure you don’t strain your neck muscles as you do this exercise.

All the best,

Here are some simple instructions to perform knee rolling. You should start all exercises by lying with your head on a pillow, knees bent and feet shoulder width apart and arms by your side.

1. Firstly, hollow your abdomen and gently lower both your knees to the right and as far as is comfortable.

2. Bring both your legs back to the middle and relax.

3. Now repeat the exercise to your left.

4. Do this exercise three times each side if you can.

All the best,

Here are some simple instructions to perform knee bends. You should start all exercises by lying with your head on a pillow, knees bent and feet shoulder width apart and arms by your side.

1. The first thing you need to do is hollow your abdomen and keep your back flat on the bed.

2. Now bend one hip and knee up as far as it’s comfortable.

3. Hold the position for around ten seconds and then bring your leg back down so that your foot is back on the bed.

4. Repeat with the other side.

5. Try to do this three times with each leg and repeat it three times a day.

All the best,

Here are some simple instructions to perform the pelvic tilt. You should start all exercises by lying with your head on a pillow, knees bent and feet shoulder width apart and arms by your side.

1. The first thing you should do is hollow your abdomen, tighten your pelvic floor muscles and flatten your lower back in the bed as your pelvis tilts.

2. You should breathe normally and hold position for about three seconds before releasing gently.

3. Repeat this up to ten times and for three times a day.

4. The pelvic tilt exercise is brilliant for maintaining your abdominal muscle strength. It’s also great for easing back pain and correcting posture. You can develop this exercise by performing it in the sitting, standing or kneeling position.

All the best,

Sorry I haven’t blogged for a while but I’ve been away having a baby! Well, my wife actually had the baby but I was there holding her hand. I’m now the proud Daddy of little baby Emma! I’m so happy right now and being a parent of both Adam and Emma is one of the most magical things I’ve ever been blessed with.

While I was in the hospital, I picked up a leaflet by the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Women’s Health (ACPWH). It had some rather interesting information on exercise after childbirth.

The following information applies to all new mothers no matter how you gave birth. They includes safe and practical advice to aid your recovery. After you’ve given birth, the natural thing to do is to give your baby lots of attention. This is great but it’s also important to take a little time for yourself. You can’t expect to return to full pre-pregnancy fitness immediately but there are things you can do now to help get yourself back into shape. Regaining your fitness, will give you more energy and possibly avoid problems later.

Posture

Regaining good posture after you have had a baby is important, this will help the way you look and feel. Standing, sitting, lying or being active with good posture may help to avoid future aches and pains.

Before reading on, I suggest you have a quick look at my article on Pelvic Floor Muscles Exercises. Also read my article on The Abdominal Hollowing Exercise before performing any of the exercises below.

Exercising your abdominal muscles

The abdominal muscles form a natural corset supporting your back and internal organs. During your pregnancy, these have been stretched and become weakened. Exercises will help you regain your body shape and prevent or relieve back pain. The deeper abdominal muscles may work at the same time as the pelvic floor muscles.

You should start all exercises by lying with your head on a pillow, knees bent and feet shoulder width apart and arms by your side. My wife (Mutha Fitness) will now take you through 4 simple exercises, which are also useful in helping to relieve wind and nausea following a caesarean delivery.

1. Pelvic Tilt
2. Knee Bends
3. Knee Rolling
4. Head Lift

All the best,

My wife is currently pregnant with our second child and we were discussing the other night about a possible fitness routine to help her get back into shape. She only has three weeks left to go and so far so good. A big thanks to Amy aka Mutha Fitness too for helping me write this article!

Exercising while pregnant may be the last thing on your mind if you find just getting out of bed on a morning a challenge. The one thing I would recommend though is to just stay active. If you didn’t go in the gym before you fell pregnant then you shouldn’t really consider going in now but everybody walks and so should you. A walk every day will be so beneficial to you and your baby and I’ll explain why in a minute. The most important thing is this though, safety. Safety for you and your bump so I’ve got a few exercise tips for you in this article.

Benefits

Everyone knows that when you exercise it helps you stay fit and healthy so staying active before, during and after your pregnancy can only be a good thing. Here’s a short list:

• It will help you prepare for when you are carrying the baby around with you. I can remember putting on a front baby carrier for the first time and saying to my wife, it was really heavy. She replied, that’s what I’ve been carrying around with me for the last few months!
• It will help you prepare for the physical elements during labour
• It gives you an energy boost
• It can reduce the risk of you getting some illnesses
• Constipation and back ache are a common problem with pregnancy and exercise will help keep these at bay
• It will help you sleep better. I’m currently writing another article about sleep and exercise so make sure you check it out
• It will also help you get back into shape quicker after giving birth

Safety

This is the number one priority and I can’t stress this enough. Plus, I don’t want to be writing anything that may put you and your baby in danger as I’m no Doctor. It’s common sense to not try anything that could make you slip or fall, so you shouldn’t be considering things like running! If you feel great throughout your pregnancy, then you should consider staying active by trying the following:

• Walking
• Yoga
• Swimming
• Pilates

Other tips include, making sure you’re wearing a comfortable maternity bra. This goes without saying but you should always make sure you warm-up correctly too. Take care with awkward positions, so things like sit-ups shouldn’t really be considered. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water, you should be doing this anyway! The last tip is making sure you cool down, this will give your heart a chance to return to its normal rate gradually.

If you experience dizziness, short of breath, difficulty walking or any other type of joint pain then you should stop exercising immediately.

So there you go and I really hope this helps. I’m hoping to be back soon with some exercise tips once you’ve given birth so stay tuned. If Amy agrees, we may even use her as a case study but I’ll need to twist her arm to get some photos!

Stay fit, heathy and happy folks. One last thing, being a parent is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done but without doubt the most rewarding.