Week 6

Postnatal Foundations Online Exercise

 

Hello There!

Are you wondering when you can start jogging or return to playing netball? Or whatever activities you were doing pre-pregnancy? These are normal questions and ones that lots of women ask. There are so many factors to consider, such as how your pregnancy went, what type of birth you had, if you sustained any injuries and how your postnatal recovery is going.

As you increase the intensity of your exercise, it’s really important that you protect your pelvic floor muscles, to avoid incontinence or prolapse. The best way to do this is to have a consultation  with a women’s health physiotherapist to have a full assessment including checking your pelvic floor muscles.

Have a read of Natalie’s blog on Return to running after having a baby.

To generalise (keeping in mind the things mentioned above)

  • By 4-6 months postnatally, you can start to increase the intensity of your exercise 

  • Return to running usually is recommended around 6 months but definitely no earlier than 3 months postnatally

Before you start any high-impact exercises, try jogging for 30 seconds, doing 5 star jumps and 2 coughs with a full bladder. If you get any heaviness or dragging in the vagina, or any leaking of urine, you aren’t ready.

 
 

Standing Class

Equipment required: Resistance band, chair, towel, mat

Mat Class

Equipment required: Resistance band, towel/cushion, mat

This Week’s Spotlight

Get the lowdown.

 
 

Crab Walks

This exercise will challenge your glute, deep abdominal and pelvic floor strength, while improving your overall coordination and stability. Choose whether or not you would like to use a resistance band around your knees to increase the difficulty of the exercise.

Abdominal Activations

Abdominal activation is necessary to stabilise through the midline when performing a challenging core exercise, however, it can feel tricky to just turn on the deep abdominals without bracing all your abdominals. We go through different cues that can help turn those muscles on.

Spikey Ball Release

Are you wondering what to do with your spikey ball? Millie talks you through some great muscle releases that you can perform with a spikey ball (or even with a tennis ball) to reduce back and pelvic pain, release tension in the feet and more.

 

Return to Exercise

Returning to exercise after having a baby is usually a big question on most women’s minds and something that we get asked about as clinicians a lot. Watch along with Natalie as she discusses returning to exercise in the postnatal education class. Remember to always consult your women’s health physiotherapist who can provide you with an individualised plan. Watch on from 57:56 to learn more.

 

We’ve got A’s for your Q’s

Have a question about this week’s class?

Not sure how to perform one of the exercises?

Or just want a good casserole recipe?

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