Unlock Your Postpartum Fitness Journey: A Guide to Rebuilding Your Core and Rediscovering Strength

I was 3 weeks postpartum and finally starting to emerge from the new mom haze. My soreness was starting to subside, and despite my engorged and leaky breasts, I felt the motivation to resume my standard and familiar workout routine which was corroborated at my 6 week postpartum visit when I was given a greenlight to resume the exercises I was doing before. As a Women’s Health Physical Therapist, I knew I couldn’t just jump back into regular workouts, but I really didn’t know where to start. My husband was in a P-90X phase (this was 17 years ago, people) and so I decided I would join him just during the Yoga portion. Big mistake. Those long hold stretches were harder than they looked, and I could tell my body was not ready for this level of fitness after birthing a baby. I decided maybe a light jog was a better idea, looking to soothe my anxious mind and wake up my muscles. Big mistake. My hips felt off, my inner groin throbbed, and either I was sweating from my vagina or I was leaking a decent amount of urine.

What made this all the more frustrating was the fact that my career was in Women’s Health and even I was struggling to figure out how to safely get back to exercise. I had been a Pilates instructor, but I knew that the regular exercises that I was teaching clients to do were not appropriate for a recently postpartum body. That’s when I made the decision to fly from Chicago to New York to become a Prenatal and Postnatal Pilates Specialist through the Center for Women’s Fitness. And here’s what I learned. Designing a Postnatal Pilates fitness routine requires you to start at the end and work your way backwards. I began to develop the vision for my 6 week Postnatal Pilates program. When it came to the exercise portion of my class, I knew the first few weeks needed to wake up all the tiny, whispering muscles of the deep inner core, even if the sequences didn’t resemble Pilates at first. I always fall back on the famous Bruce Lee quote: “Obey the principles without being bound by them.” The 6 principles of a Pilates sequence are Centering, Control, Concentration, Breath, Precision, Flow. When designing a Postnatal Pilates practice for myself and others, I always start here and build my program with these principles as my foundation.

I used myself as a guinea pig, and my body immediately embraced this form of exercise. I knew it was time to test my exercise progression on a larger sample size, and lucky for me, at least 50% of my patients were postpartum women. The response was staggering, and this gave me the confidence to introduce my Postnatal Pilates exercise program to a larger audience in the community. My first ever Postnatal Pilates class consisted of 6 women. We circled up every Wednesday evening from 7-8:30 (when I had finished seeing the patients for the day). I was fully prepared to impart my exercise wisdom on them, but even more valuable was the discussion time we spent at the top of every class. I learned how they felt abandoned by the medical community, how they questioned everything about their postpartum journey from how to recover to whether they were being good moms, and how much value they received from being in community with one another and learning how to respect their postpartum recovery journey.

Nikki’s Story and Testimonial

Nikki participated in my Prenatal Pilates program and was eager to make a plan for her postpartum recovery. What she didn’t plan on was having a C-section. We adjusted our plan to account for the extra healing required with a C-section delivery*. When she reached out after receiving clearance from her provider, she shared that she felt disconnected to her body. She felt weak and for the first time didn’t trust her body as she held her baby up and down the stairs of her multi-level home. We started small, literally exercising in a chair on the first session so she could restore her rib mobility and coordinate her thoracic and pelvic diaphragms. We gently nudged her deep abdominals and pelvic floor from their post surgery hibernation. Her body immediately responded, and by Week 2 we were able to get onto the mat to advance exercises while respecting her body. By Week 3 she felt ready to advance further, and the rest is history.

Carrie’s postnatal classes weren’t just an exercise program or a generic Pilates class, they were a coming home to my body after 9 months of pregnancy and an unexpected c-section. They were about feeling strong and centered in my body. They were about feeling confident holding my baby. They were about rediscovering confidence in myself. Her classes were an absolute foundation to my postnatal experience. I feel good about what comes next because I have laid such solid groundwork with Carrie. Aside from the physical wins, Carrie is such a nurturing energy that made me feel supported, understood and seen in such a delicate time in my life. I will return to her for every pre and postnatal journey in the future and I will happily send all of my friends to her knowing they’re in the best hands. --Nikki

Sidenote: Return to Exercise - When it comes to contraindications to returning to exercise, I recommend women that have had C-sections wait until their 6 week postpartum check up to get clearance to resume exercise. If you’ve had a vaginal delivery, you can start with gentle exercises sooner, but your healing is the priority. I also like to make sure women have finished bleeding before introducing positions of inversion (with your hips higher than the rest of your body like during a bridge) just to be sure the cervix has fully closed and there’s no risk of introducing air into that space.

Your Body Is A Fixer Upper (NOT a tear down)

If it’s one thing I’ve learned after being in the trenches with postpartum women for over 15 years (and being one myself 3 times), it’s that postpartum women are not patient. They’ve been bombarded with before and afters on the cover of magazines for years. They've been seduced into thinking that if they work hard enough, they can get their prenatal bodies “back.” The inspiration for the first Module of my Postnatal Pilates program came from this observation and, if I’m being honest, from my love for the HGTV show Fixer Upper.

Here’s how I look at it. The first part of every Fixer Upper show is Demo Day where they go in and clear out the old structures. I don’t want to be dramatic and say that pregnancy and birth are a demolition of your internal structures; however, there are some similarities.

Now the second phase of the Fixer Upper show is the rebuild phase. They go around and really look at the “bones” of the house. Maybe a roof needs to be replaced, or the flooring needs to be redone. Maybe the front facade needs a makeover or the backyard landscaping needs to be overhauled. Your core is almost like a “house” inside your body. And after birth, it needs its own rebuild phase before getting back to “regular” exercise.

The roof of your core is the diaphragm, so the way you breathe totally matters. And your breathing strategy requires that your ribs know how to expand and retract appropriately. The problem is, when you’re pregnant, the baby forces your organs upwards which usually pushes your ribs outwards where they sometimes learn to live. Step 1 is restoring your rib mobility. This can be done with proprioceptive cues like resistance bands or even something simple like the strap from your robe or a scarf to wrap around your rib cage. By doing this, you give your body the sense of expanding into something (instead of just space), and it can be a good way to restore that lateral rib breath. This can also be accomplished with targeted exercises that focus on unilateral rib cage movement and special movements designed to stretch the intercostal muscles between the ribs in case there is a soft tissue restriction that is prohibiting full range of motion.

The front door is your transversus abdominis, the deepest abdominal muscle that acts like a corset to compress your viscera and stabilize your spine. This muscle originates in the thoracolumbar fascia near the small of your back and the lower ribs and pelvis before wrapping around and inserting into the connective tissue between the 2 six pack (rectus abdominis) muscles and the pubic bone. To engage this muscle, you want to gently draw your belly button about halfway back towards your spine while you picture bringing your two front pelvic bones (anterior superior iliac spines) closer together. You can palpate a gentle contraction for most people just medial and inferior to those ASIS bones. The problem with traditional abdominal exercises is that they often emphasize the “louder” and more superficial muscles such as the rectus abdominis and obliques while ignoring these invaluable deep muscles that are often left as a whisper in your core system. Why don’t we work the transversus more? It’s not sexy. And if you engage these muscles properly, it can feel like you’re barely doing anything. We’ve mistakenly been taught that the only exercises worth doing are the ones that make us sweaty, and release a lactic-acid burn while causing a toned appearance without being educated about the benefits of starting on the inside (rebuilding) and then working our way out.

Sidenote: DRA - Diastasis rectus abdominis, or DRA, is the abnormal separation of the right and left rectus abdominis muscles through the connective tissue of the linea alba. It is caused by repetitive, forward pressure on this connective tissue and because of weight gain in pregnancy, the effect of pregnancy hormones, and the inability to manage intra abdominal pressures, this can be a common occurrence for pregnant and postpartum women. One research study showed that 100% of women had DRA by late in the third trimester. It is important to test yourself for DRA before resuming exercise. Ask your provider to test you at your 6 week check-up or learn how to test yourself here: https://www.carriekoziol.com/testing-for-dra. Signs that you may have DRA include a doming in your abdomen especially when going from laying down to sitting up and vice versa or doing a back extension when standing. A significant amount of people with DRA will present with other support-related issues such as pelvic organ prolapse and even lower back pain.

The foundation of your core or “house” is your pelvic floor muscles. These muscles form a diamond-shaped sling from the pubic bone to the tailbone and in between the 2 sitting bones (or ischial tuberosities). There are 3 layers of the pelvic floor, 2 muscle fiber types, and over 10 different exercises to target this region. Women are misled to think that doing a generic Kegel is the answer, and while there is a time and place for pelvic floor contractions, it is step 1 of like 5 other steps.

Sarah’s Story and a Testimonial

I’ll never forget working with Sarah. She was a private client of mine, and I always make them fill out a detailed intake form that includes their goals with my sessions. She ranked her pelvic floor as her last priority. When I questioned her further, she said that she had a C-section and therefore didn’t have any issues with her pelvic floor especially since she didn’t have urinary leakage or the other issues she heard about from friends that had vaginal deliveries. When I gave my “house” analogy, I pointed out that her pelvic floor was quite literally the foundation of the house we were going to rebuild and that it would be impossible to strengthen her entire core without addressing her pelvic floor. By the end of the 6 week class, she was a believer!

I have loved your class and it has been so helpful for me. I totally got what I wanted out of it and feel like I have such a better understanding of how to involve my pelvic floor and core in exercises and daily living. Thank you!!!! –Sarah
I think providers really do their clients a disservice when they tell them they have a green light to resume exercise at their 6 week postpartum visit. Plenty of these women leave those appointments and join CrossFit groups or attend Mommy Bootcamp classes or even Stroller Fitness programs. You cannot, I repeat CAN NOT, take a woman with a weak pelvic floor and send her into a class full of impact and jumping any more that you can take a “fixer upper” house with a leaky foundation and just spread an area rug out over it. Throwing crunches and planks at a woman with a disconnected core is like installing fancy light fixtures in a house without working electricity. It might look pretty but it will not be functional. All this to say, the first week of my Postnatal Pilates class, my students will learn the most important exercise they could ever learn, and it’s called the Core Breath. It teaches them how to engage each part of their core separately and then trains them to put it all together into one coordinated inhale and exhale. It doesn’t look like Pilates. It doesn’t feel like Pilates. But it is absolutely using all 6 Pilates principles of Centering, Control, Concentration, BREATH, Precision, and Flow. We do get onto the mats in the final minutes of Week 1 but I’m not looking to “decorate” your house with fancy and unnecessary clutter until I know we’ve got a strong framework.

Postpartum Posture

How much time do you have? Let me set the stage. These women have been catapulted out of a 9 month incubator where they got used to an anterior pelvic tilt, increased lumbar lordosis, short/tight hamstrings and hip flexors and calf muscles, and the rounded shoulders that accommodate the weight of growing breasts. And then, quite literally overnight, they’ve birthed a baby and EVERYTHING has changed. Their core, the part responsible for stabilizing everything else and holding them upright is lost, floundering, swollen, stretching out, and potentially busy harboring a lifetime of trauma (the center of the body is a very soulful area indeed). To make matters worse, they are exhausted, so the work of holding themselves upright feels like an Olympic event. And the cherry on top is that 90% of their waking hours include the forward shouldered posture required to nurse, feed, rock, soothe, bathe, and diaper those little nuggets.

The Week 2 Module of my 6 week Postnatal Pilates program is all about postpartum posture. When making tweaks to your posture and especially in the case of parents of a newborn, it’s important to point out that we are not talking about a complete overhaul in the way you move. That’s too overwhelming. It’s more about rearranging your environment to set you up for success without even thinking about it. For example, I recommend building a nursing throne. You’ll be feeding your baby 6-8 times a day in the beginning. Choose a space (or two) that has a comfortable chair with good back support. Be sure to select a nursing pillow that will help bring the baby to your breast (not your breast to the baby). If you will be using a Pack N Play or changing station, be sure it’s the right height for you so you can avoid straining. Bathe your baby in the sink for as long as you can because bathtubs can be a real backbreaker.

Sidenote: Sexy Slide - One of my favorite body mechanics tips after having a baby is to use the sexy slide when getting in and out of bed or up and down from the floor. Rather than jack-knifing out of bed and straining your already vulnerable abdominal muscles, slide onto your side first, then turn arms and legs together onto your back. Same thing when getting out of bed. Sexy slide (or log roll but seriously, sexy slide paints a more flattering picture) to your side, and then press yourself up to a sitting position. This is biomechanically a better way to move, plus it helps you manage your intra-abdominal pressure.

For the exercise portion of this week’s module, I build on the Core Breath concepts from Week 1 as I introduce some classic Pilates sequences. There are still quite a few modifications at this point because we are still in the rebuild phase of our “fixer uppers.” It is also this week that I introduce my favorite exercise of all time. It is a posture game changer. While true strengthening can take up to 6 weeks, I promise you will feel the difference with this one in just 5 minutes!

I’ll begin by saying THANK YOU for your amazing wisdom shared in your class. I so appreciated the reminder of nutritious movement and find myself so much more aware of how I move through my day, AND I’m more mindful than ever! The class has influenced my personal yoga practice, and also how I teach students. The ripple effect is big, so again, thank you!—Jill

“I cannot recommend Carrie highly enough. I took the Postpartum Pilates class, it has been over a year and I find myself repeating little instructions that Carrie gave as I go about my day. I learned so many ways of moving and holding myself, as well as strength exercises that have truly helped me to recover from a second emergency c-section.” –Courtney

Sex after Baby

“My OBGYN told me to just have a glass of wine and relax.”

“I was told it was normal to have pain with sex after having a baby so I just grit my teeth to get through it.”

“My doctor said I could get back to sex but didn’t tell me HOW to do this to minimize pain.”

“I had stitches down there and now I’m petrified to try to have sex.”

“I’m so afraid my vagina is wrecked after birth…I can’t even bring myself to look down there!”

I could go on (and on and on). You deserve better. We can do better. We NEED to do better.

And that’s exactly what I try to do in Week 3 of this program. I explain the 3 reasons women either don’t want to have sex or don’t enjoy sex after the birth of a baby. Now allow me to clarify. I always strive to stay in my lane, and I certainly am not a sex therapist. I address pain and body issues that create roadblocks, but I would be remiss to not mention the emotional factors that play into the return to intimacy, and so I do mention those. I have spent over 15 years in the trenches with postpartum women, and they have graciously shared their struggles with me so I do feel I have a certain authority to share common issues I hear.

If I could sum up all my advice on this topic in one paragraph, I would remind women that it is not unusual for penetrative intercourse to be uncomfortable the first few times, but that it should get better and if it doesn’t (and the following tips don’t help) that you should see a Women’s Health Physical Therapist or Sex Therapist depending on the issue. I would tell them that with the normal decline in estrogen after birth (combined with breastfeeding) that they will probably have to use a lubricant. I would show them why the standard missionary position with the woman on the bottom can aggravate the tender tissue near the introitus and implicate tissues that may have been involved in tearing or episiotomies, plus that position does not allow them to control the rate and depth of penetration, so the postpartum one being the partner on top might help. I would encourage them to figure out their own personal turn-ons and turn-offs (and these may have changed since giving birth) and that they need to be connecting with their partner in all areas of the house, not just the bedroom. I would invite them to see sex as an opportunity vs an obligation and a choice to connect vs a chore. Communication is essential and scheduling sex in the postpartum period is the best thing you can do to take the pressure off the person who wants it more while giving the other partner time to prepare physically and mentally. And finally I would remind them that sex is not a spectator sport; hovering above the bed as a third person and critiquing your new body is a mood killer and picking one of your senses and lingering there (the smell of their soap, the sound of the music, the feel of their skin on yours, the way the candle light dances on the ceiling) can help bring you back home to your body again.

For the exercise portion of this class we bring a spotlight onto the pelvic floor muscles, giving them a moment to shine in each of the exercise sequences. Kegels are great to start out, but they only teach your pelvic floor to clench and hold when in reality these muscles work in total harmony with all the other muscles of the hips and pelvis and deserve to be used in concert with them throughout your exercise and daily routine.

"I cannot express how grateful I am for you & your class! I am aware of my body in a way I didn't know I needed to be! Sex is better….and my core has come a looong way. So thank you ;-) More women need someone like you with your big smile telling them they're not broken!" --Mary
Postpartum Periods

After I spend a large chunk of Module 3 encouraging you to get back in the sack in a pain-free and enjoyable way, I feel the only responsible thing to do is to remind you of your choices when it comes to birth control. And you can’t talk about birth control without first re-visiting the phases of your menstrual cycle.

When it comes to periods after pregnancy, there is a lot of variability. If you’re not breastfeeding or if you’re combining bottle feeding with breastfeeding, your periods return on average between 6 and 12 weeks postpartum and most return by 6 months. If you’re breastfeeding exclusively, your periods might not return until you stop breastfeeding or introduce solid foods, formula, or other milk. Then again they can return in 3-6 months (which I think it’s totally unfair) so it really varies. There is really no predictable pattern when it comes to how your period will change in the postpartum time. Some are heavier with more clots. Cramps can be lighter or heavier. Periods can be regular or irregular. Most importantly, don’t lose sight of the fact that ovulation comes before your first bleed, so waiting until your first period after giving birth to think about birth control is risky business. On that note, let’s take a brief pause to talk about the 4 phases that make up your menstrual cycle.

The follicular phase of your cycle lasts 7-21 days and this is when ovarian follicles enter the final leg of their 100 day race to see which is going to be the lucky one to release an egg. Estrogen rises making you feel more outgoing, motivated, and ready to train.

Ovulation lasts just 1 day with the release of an egg and hormones at this phase make you primed for new activities or ready to reach your personal best. While most people give menstruation the most glory, ovulation is honestly the grand finale of a well-orchestrated series of events leading to the eventual release of an egg.

The luteal phase lasts 10-16 days. The follicle that released the egg blooms on the outside of your ovary and is called the corpus luteum. It secretes your superpower hormone, progesterone. Towards the end of this phase you will experience a drop in progesterone and estrogen (which brings your other feel-good hormones down with it) so you may experience premenstrual signs like sore breasts, bloating, anxiety, and fatigue. Along with a general tiredness (this is hard work), you might also feel less social.

Menstruation itself lasts 2-7 days and you will lose a total of 3-5 TBS of blood. Prostaglandins increase at this phase which can cause cramps that help the uterus contract and shed its lining, but due to the proximity of the intestines, you can also experience gastrointestinal symptoms like loose stools and diarrhea. Your energy starts out low and will slowly ramp up towards the end of menstruation.

Why is it important to know all this? Several reasons. When you know the physiology and hormonal states, it can help you “hack” your cycle, planning harder workouts and more social endeavors for times when your body is primed to perform. You can build in more rest and recovery during low hormone times. And this can help you make better decisions about birth control that make the most sense for you.

Birth Control

Jaqueline shared that at her 6 week postpartum visit she was not only given a greenlight for sex but also a prescription for the birth control pill. Her OBGYN was in a hurry and said she would print off a prescription before flying out the door. When the nurse came back in with the prescription, Jaqueline had a lot of questions about her options when it came to birth control but the nurse assured her that most of their patients liked this brand.

Here’s the thing, you deserve to know the pros and cons of the various methods so you can make a choice that’s best for you. There are hormonal and non hormonal options. There are permanent forms of sterilization, methods that last 5 years or 10 years, and then some that have to be taken on a daily basis which can be tricky for a busy mom trapped under a newborn with other toddlers in tow. If you are prone to baby blues or depression, you may want to choose a method that still allows you to ovulate so you’re getting that healthy bump of progesterone. If you’re nursing, you may want to avoid forms of birth control with estrogen as it may affect your milk supply. If you don’t want to alter your natural hormones, you might decide on a copper IUD or the fertility awareness method. You deserve to hear your options and choose a plan customized to your lifestyle and specific needs.

I get really excited about the exercises that are part of Week 4 of my Postnatal Pilates program. In the first 3 weeks we are rebuilding your inner core. But weeks 4, 5, and 6 feel more like decorating your fixer upper, and the exercises are finally starting to resemble a classical Pilates flow. For those women without diastasis rectus abdominis (DRA), I introduce some headlifting sequences. I also incorporate some twisting in an exercise called The Saw, spend time on all 4s, and even roll up to transition between positions instead of using the “sexy slide.” You will definitely feel the increased intensity of this week’s exercises, but there are always ways to modify the moves if you don’t feel ready. It’s essential to listen to your body every step of the way. It worked so hard to grow and birth your baby, so we owe it the respect it deserves.

I knew Roberta was going to be a real firecracker. After the first class she told me she thought she may have signed up for the wrong class. “You see, I was looking to do Pilates, and this was not Pilates.” As a Pilates instructor who was also seduced into returning to exercise too quickly after my births, I could totally relate. I tried to remind her that her body had just given birth and we had to slowly ramp back up, but she told me she had a wedding in 2 months and was in a hurry to get her body back. (Oh boy). “Tell you what,” I said, “if you still feel this way after the 4th class, I will give you a full refund.” Roberta came up to me after that 4th class and I could see she would be sticking around for the last 2 classes. “Had you not taught us all those simple little exercises in the beginning, I’m sure I could have still done today’s class, but I’m also sure I would not have been using the right muscles.” Yes, Roberta, I know.

“I feel so much better after just six weeks and I really feel like I can keep the momentum going. Your teaching style and way of explaining not only how to do each exercise, but the why, was so awesome. I am so much more aware of my form and confident I can avoid future injury. Thank you!!! I will definitely be spreading the word about your awesome class." -Jessica
Postpartum Nutrition

I am not a nutritional scientist. But I am a Women’s Health Physical Therapist who knew I couldn’t develop a comprehensive 6 week Postnatal Pilates program without also addressing the WHOLE client in front of me, including the value of healing her body through fuel choices.

There’s so much to discuss here, but the important points are making sure you have enough Omega 3 Fatty Acids, Protein, and Liquids in your daily profile. Studies have found that women in countries where large amounts of fish are consumed have decreased incidences of postpartum depression. Another big hitter is protein which helps the brain make the neurotransmitter serotonin, leading to a calming effect on the brain. While it might be tempting to guzzle coffee and diet cokes to counteract those sleepless nights, your body (and your bladder) LOVE water, plus caffeine is public enemy number one for anxiety.

It’s also important to do your best to steer clear of inflammation. Food sources of inflammation can include too many Omega 6 fatty acids (refined, processed vegetable oils), sugar, dairy and gluten for some, red meat for some, and then the following: alcohol, refined and processed grains and foods, wheat, high carb/low protein diets, trans fats, caffeine, additives and colorings, and genetically modified organisms.

Listen, we all want to feed our families organic meals from our gardens out back, but that’s just not realistic for most of us all of the time. Instead, let’s aim for the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time striving for healthy, home cooked meals and 20% of the time letting ourselves off the hook for leaning on convenience foods.

Eating healthy on the go can be tricky and while some women argue that they do not have time for all that is required, it’s more about doing more with the time you do have. Waiting until that magical baby witching hour at 4 PM to figure out what to make for dinner that night probably won’t work well, especially if you’ve inadvertently skipped a meal and now are HANGRY. Cooking a bigger batch of food on the weekend to warm up throughout the week or even cooking dinner in the morning to heat up later can be really helpful. Ask for help with food prep and have a support person be in charge of washing, cutting, and chopping fresh fruits and veggies you bring home from the store so they’re easy to grab on the fly. Rearrange your pantry and fridge so healthier items are at eye level and make some grab and go bags of healthy snacks like trail mix, nuts and seeds, jerky, or those cut up fruits and veggies.

During one of my many Week 5 classes,Valerie shared a tip that I thought was genius. She said that when she worked outside of the home she would plan and pack her lunch and snacks the night before. Maybe she would make a mason jar salad, and then put the dressing in a separate container, and then lay out a bag of almonds and dark chocolate for her mid morning snack and maybe a yogurt and granola for her afternoon snack. She’d never pack a king size Snickers or anything like that. But when she was on her maternity leave, she found herself standing in front of the pantry grabbing cookies, chips, and yes even a king size Snickers bar. That’s when she decided to pretend she was leaving the house for work each day. Before she went to bed, she would “pack” a healthy lunch and plan her snacks for the next day. So many moms have used this tip to help them stay on track in those hazy newborn days.

In the Week 5 module of my Postnatal Pilates 6 week program, I start to have a lot of fun with the exercise design. You increase your repetitions from last week, you keep your head lifted for longer, and I add in a few more advanced moves. This is the week where most women start finally feeling strong again, and it’s an honor to see their confidence improving.

"Carrie is an inspirational and knowledgeable instructor. She has a thorough knowledge of the recovery needs of a postnatal body, and teaches women how to protect, heal, and recover their bodies after childbirth. The structure of the class was lovely; I really enjoyed the discussion/education time before doing the Pilates. Carrie puts such an effort into helping women transition into motherhood with their whole lives, not just their physical recovery. This is a class (Postnatal Pilates) EVERY woman should take after giving birth and I'm so glad I found it."
-Katie, RN (Labor and Delivery), IBCLC (Lactation Consultant), CCE (Certified Childbirth Educator)

Keep the Momentum Going

Plenty of women reach Week 6 of my Postnatal Pilates program and get nervous about continuing on their own. Some even repeat the program, or sign up for the extended version of the program, or request private weekly sessions with me to keep their progress going. And of course, I’m always willing to accommodate them to help them meet their goals. But my inspiration in designing this 6 week program was to teach you all the things you needed to know to have a comprehensive and complete recovery while retaining access to all of the exercise modules for the life of the program, so you could revisit and repeat them whenever you wanted.

That’s why in Week 6 I think it’s important to think about setting the stage for continued improvement. And the best way to do that is to remind yourself that working out now will not look like it did before you had kids. You may not have 60 minutes of uninterrupted time. You may not have the perfectly matched workout outfit. Heck, with the price of diapers and food and childcare, you might not even have the funds to join a gym. The beauty of the exercises you have learned in this program is that you can stop and start as often as you need….everybody has just 5 minutes. You don’t need any special work out attire, and this program can be done without the price of a gym membership. The exercises in the Week 6 module are a true beginning level mat Pilates sequence that you can continue with forever. Plus you get the entire 6 week Extended version of the Postnatal Pilates program that includes short sequences of upper and lower body strengthening along with some light cardio, absolutely free of charge.

When I sat down to design my 6 week Postnatal Pilates class, I wanted it to be a combination of education and exercise. I wanted it to feel like a lighthouse, guiding women through the often treacherous waters of postpartum recovery. But most of all, I wanted it to be the program I was searching for myself all those years earlier. I hope you love taking this program as much as I loved designing it.