Shaping Up

It's worth waiting for your post-natal check-up with your doctor before you start doing any structured exercise classes. If you've had a Caesarian section you may want to wait until eight to ten weeks.

• Start any exercise programme gradually, allowing yourself time to build up over a number of weeks.
• Remember to have some water handy to drink, especially if you're breastfeeding. If you're out and about, carry a water bottle in your baby’s changing bag to remind yourself to replace those fluids during the day.
• Add up what exercise you do in a day, since little and often is good. You’ll be amazed how many times you can go up and down stairs if you leave the nappy changing kit up there.
• Pain is a warning signal that should never be ignored. Make adaptations or stop altogether (always stop exercising when you feel your body has had enough).
• Try and keep the body in good alignment – hips and shoulders kept square, and when doing knee bends allow the knees to follow the line of the toes.
• When it comes to the abdominal work, ensure your rectus abdominal muscles have come back together before going on to more advanced exercises. (You can ask your midwife, physiotherapist or your postnatal exercise teacher to show you how to check on these muscles.)
• Remember to keep the abdominal muscles as ‘flat’ as possible (drawing them towards the spine as you work). Try to do this in everyday life but especially when working the abdominals in a class situation or at home with a video.

It’s a good idea to leave anything that creates ‘impact’ on your body until at least five months after the birth. Impact can be defined as taking both feet off the floor at the same time and includes activities like jogging. This is to allow the effects of the hormone relaxin to lessen. This hormone loosens the ligaments to allow the baby to come through the pelvis and birth canal more easily. But relaxin affects every joint in the body (even the little finger) and although it is no longer secreted in the same way following the birth, the effect on the joints lingers on and may aggravate back and knee pain.

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