I’m just at the beginning of my fitness after pregnancy journey but already I can tell it’s not going to be particularly easy!
I don’t weigh myself so I’m not sure how much weight I put on during pregnancy but I do know that my clothes definitely don’t fit the way I want them to at the moment. I think my main goal is to just tone up all over and get rid of the post pregnancy mum tum!
I tried to keep active during pregnancy. I did pilates for the first few months and then as much swimming and walking that I could manage towards the end of pregnancy. Obviously straight after you give birth there is nothing further from your mind than exercising again. You already feel like your body has been through a marathon and you hurt all over! After a few weeks though I found myself raring to start exercising again (even with all the sleep deprivation!) but you are advised to wait until after your 6 month check with your GP before embarking on any fitness regime…
My hospital did give me information on exercises I should be doing for my back, abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles straight after birth so I tried to do them as much as possible in the first few weeks after pregnancy.
They included:
The good, old pelvic floor muscles that we should all (being women!) know how to do
An exercise where you lay on your back and squeeze your bum muscles together and hold in your tummy muscles
A very light version of sit ups
Check out these very bad photos of what I was given by the hospital. The flatulence part cracked me up!
I’ve now signed up to a gym that is within a leisure centre and got a great deal on a membership that includes use of the gym, unlimited exercise classes and swimming. I can also take Isla swimming as much as I want for free, bargains!
They set you up on a kinetica programme where you meet with personal trainers for 5 different appointments. They start with a consultation then move onto a tailor made fitness programme, a few motivational appointments and finally a results appointment where they measure you to see what results you’ve achieved.
In my consultation appointment I basically said I wanted to increase my fitness levels again, lose weight from my tummy and tone up all over. The fitness programme I’m on at the moment as a starting point is:
1. 15 mins rowing, set at a certain level and I have to do 400 metres at a time with a 30 second rest in-between. Each time I’m supposed to beat the time I did before
2. 20 reps on a leg press machine starting at 40kgs then 50kgs
3. 20 reps on chest press at 15kgs
4. 20 reps on a machine that works your back, chest and arm muscles (totally can’t remember it’s name!!)
5. 20 mins running at variable speeds
6. 15 mins on the cross trainer at variable speeds
7. 2x 30 second abdominal planks
8. Cool down!
I’m supposed to go three times a week and I’ve been told that I should be able to increase the times I’m doing and weights I’m using relatively quickly as my fitness levels increase again. The gym does have a creche facility but it’s only on certain days a week and at certain times so I’m usually having to go in the evening which I’m not used to. I used to go in the morning when I was at work. Much easier to get motivated to go then.
We shall see! I’ll keep you updated on my progress :)
