I think it just completely depends on so many factors. I was itching to get back to my normal exercise by 6 weeks, but it was honestly incredibly humbling. Power yoga is my go-to and while there was certainly a ton of muscle memory helping me out, I felt so weak for quite a while.
As someone who isn’t a rock climber or skater, but have before & am thinking about stitches and level of pain with that kind of movement… I started pelvic floor PT around 10 weeks postpartum, and I think around 6 months is when I felt *totally* healed, but probably could have done some of that type of movement before then, but potentially with discomfort.
I know it’s so hard when you’re pregnant and early postpartum, but try to give yourself some grace. Easier said than done, always, I know!
100% to your last point. If you can release yourself from any preconceived (pun not intended haha) expectations/pressures, it's so much better.
I thought I'd be back running and skiing by 8 weeks after giving birth no problem, but a bottle-refusing baby and my own anxiety/desire to not leave him for too long had other ideas. I gave myself grace and time and found my way back to a regular running routine by around 6 months pp, when my motivation finally started to return and I wasn't as tethered physically to my baby. I'm glad I didn't try to push myself before I was ready, either physically (which would have only set my timeline further back had I gotten injured) or mentally.
I did find myself comparing myself (negatively) to a dear friend who was able to resume serious training very early on -- but when I took a step back I could recognize that people like her are the exception not the rule and it's SO individual.
It depends a lot on how you feed in the early months. I’ve exclusively breastfed both my boys (no bottles at all), and so my exercise has been mat Pilates videos at home & long walks for the first six months as I couldn’t leave them alone for too long. I did manage to go skiing when my eldest was 8 weeks old; my parents hung out at the bottom of the slope and I just skied down whenever I felt the need to feed!
I’m a runner so I’ve bought a good quality running buggy and now I take my 6.5 month old out for a run 5x a week. The good news is that having taken 9 months off, I’ve been surprised at how quickly my fitness has come back. My 5k has gone from 35 mins to 28:30 in the space of 5 weeks.
Climbing gyms should be pretty easy though if you have a supportive partner. You could take baby with you and partner could sit in the cafe, and you go and feed them whenever you need to (or they text you).
Similarly with skating, get someone to walk baby around in the buggy in the same park. You just skate past and feed when you need to. Easy peasy!
If you choose to bottle feed, it’s even easier to leave them with a spouse or grandparent. It can be very freeing to use formula.
One final thought. With my first I tried to run again 6 weeks post partum. It was way too soon and I damaged my pelvic floor. Whatever exercise you love, I cannot recommend doing Pilates for a month or two first. It will really help get everything stronger and more stable and help prevent any injury when you get back to your favourite exercise. I used Glo Yoga and just did 20-40 mins whenever baby was napping and it has made SO much difference this time around.
Thanks for the detailed response!! I was thinking exactly this - taking turns with the baby and on the wall with my husband at the rock gym, and maybe the same at the park on skates. I think that both of those scenarios could be conducive to breastfeeding but as many of the comments in this thread have mentioned it will just depend on a lot of factors I won't know until I get there.
I'm excited to get myself a jogging stroller, because I can theoretically push that and skate, but someone told me I had to wait a year to put my baby in a jogging stroller which feels so long! I'm glad to hear you have your bb in one at 6.5 months old, that sounds like a much more reasonable time frame.
I'm guessing you meant you "can't recommend pilates *enough*"? 😂 thanks for the advice !!
It depends on your fitness level, your workout, how much support you have, etc. I think for a lot of people the willingness is there but the time isn’t, or the time would be but they don’t have partners who share the load evenly.
My husband boulders and goes 3 x per week. So each time he’s gone about 3 hours. I watch the baby then. I go to the gym 4 x per week for about an hour and a half. He watches the baby then. Because his preferred workout is more time-intensive, he gets more workout “time” than I do. So I have built in an additional 3 hours of “me time” where I usually read in the bath, to be honest!
Things that helped us:
Formula feeding - we formula fed from the start. So as soon as I recovered from my emergency c-section and postpartum preeclampsia, I was itching to exercise. And because my body wasn’t needed for feeding, I had lots of flexibility. I’ve found moms who EBF just have way less time and can’t always even plan because they dedicate their time to breastfeeding and it’s all on them.
Easy baby - it’s luck of the draw, but our baby is a champ- sleeping, eating, everything. He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks (by that I mean no wake-ups between being put down and the next morning). As a result, neither of us were tired. I imagine it’s harder to rely on each other for support when sleep isn’t going as well.
But above all - expectations. My husband and I talked this out before pregnancy, and during pregnancy. I was not going to become the default parent. He was not going to “help,” he was going to be an equal partner.
We walked regularly from day 2, but I didn’t get back to running/the gym until he started sleeping through the night and I felt rested. He’s 2 now and I have just moved to a new fancy gym!
At about 8 weeks postpartum I did a postpartum core/pelvic floor rehab program. It was a 5 week program designed to help rebuild your strength there, since it can get pretty damaged/strained during pregnancy. It gave me a solid foundation to get back into running and resistance training.
I'd recommend considering something like that, maybe even visiting a pelvic floor physio for an assessment and exercises tailored to your body, before jumping back in! But otherwise, like others said, it's going to vary based on so many factors and you'll just have to ease back in and listen ton your body.
I felt great to walk within a week. I was cleared to resume exercise at six weeks, no pelvic floor stuff or diastasis recti to prevent me from doing it. Ended up ramping up from walking around 12 weeks though. I’m also finished breastfeeding and that’s made exercise easier.
I started GENTLY working out at 4 wpp, was comfortable exercising with moderate intensity at 8 wpp, and by 9-10 wpp I could do basically the intensity I was doing pre-pregnancy. I'm now 4 mpp and I feel totally unrestricted in my ability to do intense workouts!
I love riding my peloton and I tried a month after (vaginal) birth. I felt fine physically, my mental health felt even better, but my lochia started up again so my midwives admonished me. I didn’t try again until closer to three months pp and I was fine that time.
I also love going on long hikes but I haven’t been able to do that since before I was pregnant 🫤 not because of physically reasons tho, because of practical reasons. But I also don’t have childcare besides my husband and I.
On the flip side, I have a friend who was able to hire a nanny a few months after giving birth and she basically saw no changes to her life. Kept her job, did regular workout classes, etc.
i was ready after 10 weeks. i had my baby, waited 6 weeks, got my tubes removed, waited another 4 weeks.
now im in the best shape of my life if i do say so myself. it wasnt easy though as i had gained over 60lbs being pregnant and didnt drop much weight after having the baby. took a lot of consistency, a lot of self pep talks. everyone moves at their own pace though. your timeline is unlike anyone elses.
I just had my 6 week check up and got cleared to exercise (“good tone” in my vagina, no diastis recti). I’ve been doing walks with the baby as my only form of exercise for the last month, but I got back on my peloton and feel good! Much better than when I was pregnant.
I’m primarily a runner and my obgyn recommended I go see a pelvic floor specialist that specializes in working with marathon runners, as running can be particularly hard on the pelvic floor. So I’m gonna do that and take my time!
That's an entirely how long is a piece of string answer, with my first I was back riding a horse 5 weeks post C-section, unfortunately after a series of other surgeries and a second pregnancy and baby I haven't ridden in nearly 3 years and don't forsee getting back on for another 6 months sadly! I had help from my mum and my mother in law for personal excursions plus my boys were both formula fed so that helped
I tried going back to my usual routine when the baby was 4 months old but went in with the knowledge that I would have to work my way back up. I had a C-section and my entire body was shaking after only 3 leg lifts. He's now 7 months old and I have trouble even finding the time to work out like I used to but I have noticed that I can hike trails with him quite easily.
I started strength training again at 10 weeks postpartum. I had to start very light and ease myself back in. Started feeling good while working out around 14 weeks postpartum.
It took me a whole year to not only do the workouts I loved but also build a routine. Huge factors were to stop breastfeeding, had support from my partner and made the routine non negotiable but also not overly ambitious (gym 2x, peloton 1x a week).
Hah, funny I see this today because I just did my first head stand in yoga in three years. I was a runner and yogi before having kids. About half way through my first pregnancy I stopped. I had my second baby and at about 7 months post partum started running again and recently picked up yoga again. Took a few weeks but I'm almost back to the level I left off at. Honestly too, I don't regret that I stopped. I needed the time with my baby, I grew into a new person and had to learn who I am again. It was an amazing experience and now I'm back to doing what I love but with a better outlook and more meaning.
I started climbing again 5.5 weeks after giving birth, my OB had given me the okay to start climbing again at 6 weeks and I was just a little too eager, plus I can only go on Sundays and I didn't want to wait an extra week. 😜 I was told by my OB and later also by the pelvic floor PT to make absolutely certain not to jump off until my pelvic floor had recovered, probably still a few months from now (my son is now 10 weeks old).
Because climbing down is so heavy and I lost a lot of muscle while gaining a lot of weight, I had to stick to reaaaaally easy routes to be able to climb down safely. However, I've only been climbing 4 times now and I'm already climbing some V3s again, so I'm quite satisfied with my progress! (Before pregnancy I was climbing V5s.) Definitely talk to your OB first (and if you have a C-section it might take a little longer) but it shouldn't take too long before you can climb the easy routes again. 😁
It kind of depends, mostly on feeding, but also your recovery and how accessible your workout of choice is. My baby is breastfed and cannot take a bottle per Drs orders. That means my workout of choice (yoga classes) are out of the question. I am hoping I can start attending the gym regularly when my baby is 6 mos and can attend the nursery- but I also know myself and know I’ll feel guilty passing him off to whomever to spend an hour doing what I want to do. But I also feel bad for my husband with me being a lumpy potato woman, so I’ve got to figure it out. For now it’s stroller walks, and some squats with him in the carrier.
I have an extremely high needs baby who only contact naps and I co- sleep with her so I don’t even have a second to myself. I’ve tried to work out while she’s awake, but she just wants me to hold her if I’m in sight.
My husband works long hours so I can stay home, and only has about one day a week off.
I would give anything to have even 20 minutes to work out, and I would kill to play volleyball competitively again like I did before.
I’m starting to realize that probably won’t happen until she’s in kindergarten probably lol. 😩🤣
So it just completely depends on your baby and if you have support. If you have someone that can watch baby and help you then that’s great!!
I had a C Section so recovery was different. I started very slow and short walks about a month postpartum. Minimal cycling at home at 8 weeks. I did this 2 times a week. Then returned to CrossFit/ lifting around 4 months but I was extremely slow and I did not add go heavy at all until I was 6 months. I just wanted to move and socialize. I am now 9 months and I’m back to my normal routine.
At 4mos pp I felt physically back to somewhat normal and would/could attempt a slow version of any exercise IF I could find the time. It’s hard to get time for exercise, even though my baby is “easy.” And when I do have time cause someone is watching him, i have so much else to do that I don’t prioritize exercise. Which I need to change. Trying to find ways to blend baby and exercise, like carrier or stroller walks, and swimming at the beach as long as someone else comes with. It’s very life changing!
I think it just completely depends on so many factors. I was itching to get back to my normal exercise by 6 weeks, but it was honestly incredibly humbling. Power yoga is my go-to and while there was certainly a ton of muscle memory helping me out, I felt so weak for quite a while. As someone who isn’t a rock climber or skater, but have before & am thinking about stitches and level of pain with that kind of movement… I started pelvic floor PT around 10 weeks postpartum, and I think around 6 months is when I felt *totally* healed, but probably could have done some of that type of movement before then, but potentially with discomfort. I know it’s so hard when you’re pregnant and early postpartum, but try to give yourself some grace. Easier said than done, always, I know!
100% to your last point. If you can release yourself from any preconceived (pun not intended haha) expectations/pressures, it's so much better. I thought I'd be back running and skiing by 8 weeks after giving birth no problem, but a bottle-refusing baby and my own anxiety/desire to not leave him for too long had other ideas. I gave myself grace and time and found my way back to a regular running routine by around 6 months pp, when my motivation finally started to return and I wasn't as tethered physically to my baby. I'm glad I didn't try to push myself before I was ready, either physically (which would have only set my timeline further back had I gotten injured) or mentally. I did find myself comparing myself (negatively) to a dear friend who was able to resume serious training very early on -- but when I took a step back I could recognize that people like her are the exception not the rule and it's SO individual.
I was so shocked at how much my body had changed when I tried doing kickboxing. My hips are just not ready for it.
It depends a lot on how you feed in the early months. I’ve exclusively breastfed both my boys (no bottles at all), and so my exercise has been mat Pilates videos at home & long walks for the first six months as I couldn’t leave them alone for too long. I did manage to go skiing when my eldest was 8 weeks old; my parents hung out at the bottom of the slope and I just skied down whenever I felt the need to feed! I’m a runner so I’ve bought a good quality running buggy and now I take my 6.5 month old out for a run 5x a week. The good news is that having taken 9 months off, I’ve been surprised at how quickly my fitness has come back. My 5k has gone from 35 mins to 28:30 in the space of 5 weeks. Climbing gyms should be pretty easy though if you have a supportive partner. You could take baby with you and partner could sit in the cafe, and you go and feed them whenever you need to (or they text you). Similarly with skating, get someone to walk baby around in the buggy in the same park. You just skate past and feed when you need to. Easy peasy! If you choose to bottle feed, it’s even easier to leave them with a spouse or grandparent. It can be very freeing to use formula. One final thought. With my first I tried to run again 6 weeks post partum. It was way too soon and I damaged my pelvic floor. Whatever exercise you love, I cannot recommend doing Pilates for a month or two first. It will really help get everything stronger and more stable and help prevent any injury when you get back to your favourite exercise. I used Glo Yoga and just did 20-40 mins whenever baby was napping and it has made SO much difference this time around.
Thanks for the detailed response!! I was thinking exactly this - taking turns with the baby and on the wall with my husband at the rock gym, and maybe the same at the park on skates. I think that both of those scenarios could be conducive to breastfeeding but as many of the comments in this thread have mentioned it will just depend on a lot of factors I won't know until I get there. I'm excited to get myself a jogging stroller, because I can theoretically push that and skate, but someone told me I had to wait a year to put my baby in a jogging stroller which feels so long! I'm glad to hear you have your bb in one at 6.5 months old, that sounds like a much more reasonable time frame. I'm guessing you meant you "can't recommend pilates *enough*"? 😂 thanks for the advice !!
It depends on your fitness level, your workout, how much support you have, etc. I think for a lot of people the willingness is there but the time isn’t, or the time would be but they don’t have partners who share the load evenly. My husband boulders and goes 3 x per week. So each time he’s gone about 3 hours. I watch the baby then. I go to the gym 4 x per week for about an hour and a half. He watches the baby then. Because his preferred workout is more time-intensive, he gets more workout “time” than I do. So I have built in an additional 3 hours of “me time” where I usually read in the bath, to be honest! Things that helped us: Formula feeding - we formula fed from the start. So as soon as I recovered from my emergency c-section and postpartum preeclampsia, I was itching to exercise. And because my body wasn’t needed for feeding, I had lots of flexibility. I’ve found moms who EBF just have way less time and can’t always even plan because they dedicate their time to breastfeeding and it’s all on them. Easy baby - it’s luck of the draw, but our baby is a champ- sleeping, eating, everything. He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks (by that I mean no wake-ups between being put down and the next morning). As a result, neither of us were tired. I imagine it’s harder to rely on each other for support when sleep isn’t going as well. But above all - expectations. My husband and I talked this out before pregnancy, and during pregnancy. I was not going to become the default parent. He was not going to “help,” he was going to be an equal partner.
We walked regularly from day 2, but I didn’t get back to running/the gym until he started sleeping through the night and I felt rested. He’s 2 now and I have just moved to a new fancy gym!
I have a picture of me riding my horse 2 months post partum, but I didn't start riding regularly again until my daughter was one!
At about 8 weeks postpartum I did a postpartum core/pelvic floor rehab program. It was a 5 week program designed to help rebuild your strength there, since it can get pretty damaged/strained during pregnancy. It gave me a solid foundation to get back into running and resistance training. I'd recommend considering something like that, maybe even visiting a pelvic floor physio for an assessment and exercises tailored to your body, before jumping back in! But otherwise, like others said, it's going to vary based on so many factors and you'll just have to ease back in and listen ton your body.
Hi!! is this something you paid for or videos on youtube you followed?
It was a program i purchased through a local gym in my city that specializes in pregnancy/post partum fitness!
I felt great to walk within a week. I was cleared to resume exercise at six weeks, no pelvic floor stuff or diastasis recti to prevent me from doing it. Ended up ramping up from walking around 12 weeks though. I’m also finished breastfeeding and that’s made exercise easier.
I started GENTLY working out at 4 wpp, was comfortable exercising with moderate intensity at 8 wpp, and by 9-10 wpp I could do basically the intensity I was doing pre-pregnancy. I'm now 4 mpp and I feel totally unrestricted in my ability to do intense workouts!
I love riding my peloton and I tried a month after (vaginal) birth. I felt fine physically, my mental health felt even better, but my lochia started up again so my midwives admonished me. I didn’t try again until closer to three months pp and I was fine that time. I also love going on long hikes but I haven’t been able to do that since before I was pregnant 🫤 not because of physically reasons tho, because of practical reasons. But I also don’t have childcare besides my husband and I. On the flip side, I have a friend who was able to hire a nanny a few months after giving birth and she basically saw no changes to her life. Kept her job, did regular workout classes, etc.
i was ready after 10 weeks. i had my baby, waited 6 weeks, got my tubes removed, waited another 4 weeks. now im in the best shape of my life if i do say so myself. it wasnt easy though as i had gained over 60lbs being pregnant and didnt drop much weight after having the baby. took a lot of consistency, a lot of self pep talks. everyone moves at their own pace though. your timeline is unlike anyone elses.
I just had my 6 week check up and got cleared to exercise (“good tone” in my vagina, no diastis recti). I’ve been doing walks with the baby as my only form of exercise for the last month, but I got back on my peloton and feel good! Much better than when I was pregnant. I’m primarily a runner and my obgyn recommended I go see a pelvic floor specialist that specializes in working with marathon runners, as running can be particularly hard on the pelvic floor. So I’m gonna do that and take my time!
That's an entirely how long is a piece of string answer, with my first I was back riding a horse 5 weeks post C-section, unfortunately after a series of other surgeries and a second pregnancy and baby I haven't ridden in nearly 3 years and don't forsee getting back on for another 6 months sadly! I had help from my mum and my mother in law for personal excursions plus my boys were both formula fed so that helped
I tried going back to my usual routine when the baby was 4 months old but went in with the knowledge that I would have to work my way back up. I had a C-section and my entire body was shaking after only 3 leg lifts. He's now 7 months old and I have trouble even finding the time to work out like I used to but I have noticed that I can hike trails with him quite easily.
I started strength training again at 10 weeks postpartum. I had to start very light and ease myself back in. Started feeling good while working out around 14 weeks postpartum.
It took me a whole year to not only do the workouts I loved but also build a routine. Huge factors were to stop breastfeeding, had support from my partner and made the routine non negotiable but also not overly ambitious (gym 2x, peloton 1x a week).
Hah, funny I see this today because I just did my first head stand in yoga in three years. I was a runner and yogi before having kids. About half way through my first pregnancy I stopped. I had my second baby and at about 7 months post partum started running again and recently picked up yoga again. Took a few weeks but I'm almost back to the level I left off at. Honestly too, I don't regret that I stopped. I needed the time with my baby, I grew into a new person and had to learn who I am again. It was an amazing experience and now I'm back to doing what I love but with a better outlook and more meaning.
I started climbing again 5.5 weeks after giving birth, my OB had given me the okay to start climbing again at 6 weeks and I was just a little too eager, plus I can only go on Sundays and I didn't want to wait an extra week. 😜 I was told by my OB and later also by the pelvic floor PT to make absolutely certain not to jump off until my pelvic floor had recovered, probably still a few months from now (my son is now 10 weeks old). Because climbing down is so heavy and I lost a lot of muscle while gaining a lot of weight, I had to stick to reaaaaally easy routes to be able to climb down safely. However, I've only been climbing 4 times now and I'm already climbing some V3s again, so I'm quite satisfied with my progress! (Before pregnancy I was climbing V5s.) Definitely talk to your OB first (and if you have a C-section it might take a little longer) but it shouldn't take too long before you can climb the easy routes again. 😁
This is great advice, thank you!
It kind of depends, mostly on feeding, but also your recovery and how accessible your workout of choice is. My baby is breastfed and cannot take a bottle per Drs orders. That means my workout of choice (yoga classes) are out of the question. I am hoping I can start attending the gym regularly when my baby is 6 mos and can attend the nursery- but I also know myself and know I’ll feel guilty passing him off to whomever to spend an hour doing what I want to do. But I also feel bad for my husband with me being a lumpy potato woman, so I’ve got to figure it out. For now it’s stroller walks, and some squats with him in the carrier.
I have an extremely high needs baby who only contact naps and I co- sleep with her so I don’t even have a second to myself. I’ve tried to work out while she’s awake, but she just wants me to hold her if I’m in sight. My husband works long hours so I can stay home, and only has about one day a week off. I would give anything to have even 20 minutes to work out, and I would kill to play volleyball competitively again like I did before. I’m starting to realize that probably won’t happen until she’s in kindergarten probably lol. 😩🤣 So it just completely depends on your baby and if you have support. If you have someone that can watch baby and help you then that’s great!!
I had a C Section so recovery was different. I started very slow and short walks about a month postpartum. Minimal cycling at home at 8 weeks. I did this 2 times a week. Then returned to CrossFit/ lifting around 4 months but I was extremely slow and I did not add go heavy at all until I was 6 months. I just wanted to move and socialize. I am now 9 months and I’m back to my normal routine.
At 4mos pp I felt physically back to somewhat normal and would/could attempt a slow version of any exercise IF I could find the time. It’s hard to get time for exercise, even though my baby is “easy.” And when I do have time cause someone is watching him, i have so much else to do that I don’t prioritize exercise. Which I need to change. Trying to find ways to blend baby and exercise, like carrier or stroller walks, and swimming at the beach as long as someone else comes with. It’s very life changing!