Early Postpartum Recovery + Exercises to Start Today
The first few months postpartum require a lot of patience and grace. While you may feel ready to jump back into intense exercise and pre-pregnancy activities, rushing the process often leads to a longer recovery. Slow is fast in our return to higher level activity and sport.
When you do feel ready to move and re-introduce movement, where can you start? Let’s break down a few areas to focus on after baby to recover, honor your healing, and introduce foundational strength work and movement.
Be sure to check out these two posts as well:
Bonus: keep scrolling for four exercises to add to your early postpartum recovery routine.
Early Postpartum Priorities
Rest & Recovery: this may seem obvious, but sometimes a busy mama needs a reminder :) The first few weeks postpartum should primarily be spent resting and in positions like side lying, reclined, or supine (on your back) to take pressure off the pelvic floor. Birth a huge deal and requires necessary healing time. You can introduce breathing and gentle mobility in bed while you bond with baby. If possible, ask for help from friends and family to help with miscellaneous items around the house, like folding laundry.
Breathing: You can start breathing drills from day one! Diaphragmatic breathing is a way for us to reconnect with our core. Re-learning this breathing pattern is a core exercise itself, activating and strengthening the inner/deep core. Diaphragmatic breathing is how we best stabilize are spine, so starting here will also support progressing to higher level activity.
How to perform a Connection Breath:
On the inhale, focus on expanding your ribcage 360 degrees (like an umbrella opening), feeling movement and expansion as your belly, glutes, and pelvic floor lengthen and let go. Inhales are down and out, feeling a gentle increase in pressure in the abdomen and pelvic floor.
On the exhale, breathe the air "out" of your ribcage, belly, and base of your pelvis. As you blow out with pursed lips (or a "haaa" breath) gently contract the pelvic floor. The transverse abdominals should follow as well.
We can focus on incorporating the breathing in different positions, first starting with side lying and supine, and then progressing to all fours, half kneeling, seated, tall kneeling, and standing.
3. Focused Breathing: The goal here is to use position to drive expansion into different parts of the ribcage and pelvis. The mid-and-lower back, pelvic floor, and glutes can get pretty tight during pregnancy, so early postpartum I love to put moms in positions to help find expansion in these areas of the body.
4. Glute length and pelvic floor release: The glutes an the pelvic floor are BFFs, and hugely connected in postpartum healing. Due to postural shifts during pregnancy, it’s common to have tight glutes. When we are gripped on the backside and dumped forward at the pelvis, this also impacts our pelvic floor.
Breathing can be a great way to release tension in the pelvic floor. Tension in the pelvic floor can lead to pelvic floor symptoms like leaking, painful sex, heaviness, and make it difficult to perform an exercise like a hinge. We need length in order to strengthen.
I love focusing on exercises to breathe into the backside and help mamas learn how to hinge. Play with position to see what feels best in your body.
5. Core Stabilization: Initially, many movements are ground based, and heavily focused on stabilization and breath. We want to build a solid foundation before adding layers/complexity. The goal with these exercises is to maintain torso position and build strength at center as extremities move. The exhalation drives core engagement, so we can focus on the breath and position here to wake up the abdominals and start building strength. Move slow, coordinating breath to movement.
6. Short Walks
Walking is a great way to get some fresh air and get out with baby. As you begin walking, tune in for any pelvic floor symptoms or an increase in bleeding. This can be a sign you pushed too much.
Below are a few recommendations:
1-2 weeks postpartum: 1-2 short walks / day (10 minutes)
3-4 weeks postpartum: same time/distance or add 5 minutes
5-6 weeks postpartum: same/time distance or add 10 minutes (15-20 minutes/day)
Walks should be leisurely. I recommend more frequent shorter walks versus longer walks to start. Better to be five minutes from home if baby starts crying or you need to use the restroom versus a 30 minute walk.
7. Gentle Mobility
I love incorporating some gentle mobility early postpartum, as we can get quite tight from feeding positions and holding baby. A special focus on chest and thoracic mobility and the hips can make a big difference, and be done as baby plays on the floor.
4 Postpartum Recovery Exercises
Below are some gentle breathing and mobility exercises you can do in the early weeks postpartum that can feel amazing and help speed up your recovery.
Our bodies go through SO much during pregnancy and birth. Taking the time to reconnect and gently move your body early postpartum can make a huge difference in the recovery process and mental health.
1.Crocodile Breathing: Postpartum the pressure often wants to go out the front side (belly). The pillow blocks off the belly to help you breathe into the backside. If crocodile doesn’t feel too comfy, you can try rockback breathing.
Option 2: Rockback breathing: Inhale through your nose sending the air to your bra line, exhale out of your mouth slowly with a “haaaa” exhalation. Focus on breathing with very little tension in your body.
2. 90-90 Breathing with Chest Wall Expansion: an opportunity to bring in the proximal hamstrings to help with pelvis position and using the breath to expand the front side of the ribcage. Watch for glute clenching and overly flaring the front of the ribcage!
3. Rockback
Focusing on sitting back slowly while maintaining a neutral spine (stop if you overly tuck or arch) and feeling my glutes lengthen. Inhale as you rockback, exhale as you come back.
4. Side Lying Breathing with Core Activation
Pressing gently into the ball with my “ha” exhale (like I’m trying to fog up a mirror) helps gently turn on my deep abs without sending too much pressure down into my pelvic floor.
These exercises and more are featured in my FREE Early Postpartum Recovery Guide. Explore 10 Exercises you can start today, as well as a ton of information around early postpartum recovery, breathing, and advocating for YOU during the recovery process.
You can also explore 1:1 training and DIY Programs focused on core and glute strength, and progressing to dynamic activity and sport.
Feel good mama.
xoxo,
Erica
***These exercises / this post does is not medical advice. Please consult your provider for medical clearance and if you experience dizziness, increased bleeding, or discomfort.