As featured on the Bellies Inc. Blog July 5, 2017.
You yawn as you stroll across the room to meet your trainer.
“Good morning!” she says with enthusiasm.
It’s 9am, she’s 2 clients into her day and full of energy. After 7 hours of sleep, only one short night waking with her son, a solid breakfast and a little self-care morning practice, she is feeling pretty good!
You, the new mom, on the other hand, are having a very different experience. Your night consisted of something like 6 hours of broken sleep, limited food and you feel pretty freakin’ sluggish.
“Good morning”, you reply. “I don’t know what you have for me today but my low back is nagging me again” you say, trying to muster up some enthusiasm.
“Oh you know, squats, dead lifts, planks and burpees” she replies with a laugh. You pick up on her humour and head to the treadmill to warm-up.
15 minutes in.
“What was for breakfast today, or should I ask?” she inquires.
“You really want to know? ¼ of a mashed banana my son didn’t finish” you say, knowing full well this is not the answer she was hoping to hear.
25 minutes in.
“I’ll be right back, gotta pee” you say as you scoot off to the restroom.
“Sure thing” she replies and waits patiently, a routine she has become accustomed to.
Is any of this sounding familiar?
Carrying and birthing a baby takes its toll on the body physically, emotionally and mentally. I have my own child, so I understand what being a parent entails. As a Strength Trainer and Core Confidence Specialist I understand and appreciate the importance of safely and effectively retraining my mom clients.
Training new moms is like no other clientele I have ever worked with. Your needs and array of unique situations be it within the first few years postpartum or many years after giving birth requires a deeper level of compassion, understanding, professionalism and sense of humor. Luckily for me, these are my strong points!
In this blog I share three things that make your body different from both a psychological and physical perspective, and how I structure my programs (and why it is important your trainer does too) to ensure you are set up for success.
New parents, even with kids up to age 3, do not get a solid night’s sleep most of the time. This makes it more challenging to learn and repeat new exercises. Sleep deprivation means you are not able to process instructions and new motor patterns as quickly, and are therefore more prone to accidents.
How I remedy this as a trainer:
Moms are notorious, myself included at times, for packing more than enough food and snacks for the kids but not bringing enough for themselves. By the time many of my mom clients reach the gym for an early morning training session they very well may have changed 2 poopy diapers, packed their spouse’s lunch and got them out the door, thrown in a load of laundry and swept up the spilled cereal covering the kitchen floor. They then finally had a moment to themselves to throw on some clothes before the babysitter arrived and they headed off to meet me at the gym.
How I remedy this as a trainer:
I know the challenges having a young baby or toddler creates (or possibly even after that). In the midst of sheer overwhelm, you are often doing your best to stay afloat with all the changes in your body and life overall. I know how hard on yourself you are and any little thing you do to better care for yourself goes a long way!
How I remedy this as a trainer:
When training new moms, there are 3 main things I look for before setting anyone up with an exercise routine:
1 in 4 births end in some form of pelvic floor dysfunction and DRA is one of the more common concerns. If a client has DRA it can be functional or dysfunctional meaning that they may have a separation of their rectus abdominis and linea alba but their pelvic floor is still functioning OR they have a separation and their pelvic floor is not functioning. Note: Men and children can get DRA but it is much less common. Training a client with a functioning pelvic floor is key.
How I remedy this as a trainer:
As shocking as it may be, organs can prolapse (drop and bulge out of the vagina) causing a great deal of discomfort and/or pain. You may experience a heavy feeling in the pelvic region, low back pain and overall discomfort when performing certain exercises, these would all be cues I am watching for to rule out POP.
How I remedy this as a trainer:
If you are peeing when you do not want to pee (you are not sitting on a toilet), this is not normal. Urinary Stress incontinence (USI) is the most common form seen in moms and it happens when pelvic floor muscles become stretched and weak due to childbearing and birth. Most women think that this is a normal part of having kids but the truth is, it is not. It is the body’s way of telling you that your pelvic floor needs to be retrained.
How I remedy this as a trainer:
The main takeaway here is that if you are feeling ready to get back into exercise after having a baby (even if you were fit and strong pre-pregnancy), understanding the magnitude of what your body has been through is important. Your body is forever changed and learning to love it for the amazing things it has done are one of the first steps to regaining your confidence.
Seeing a Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist within a few weeks of birth (provided you are well healed) and connecting with a fitness professional qualified to work with postpartum clients is your next step. You want to be sure to connect with a trainer and physiotherapist that you feel comfortable and confident working with as sharing details like peeing and pelvic pain can be an uncomfortable subject but does not need to be.
By recognizing that sleep, meal planning and personal overwhelm are likely some of your biggest challenges as a new parent (before even heading to the gym for a Personal Training session) finding a trainer who is well educated and can create fun, safe, effective and achievable training plans will make all the difference.
So, before you jump into exercise postpartum, I hope you will listen to your body and ease into your health and fitness journey with confidence and knowledge by choosing your Fitness Trainer wisely!
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