Leading an active, healthy lifestyle is beneficial for everyone but particularly for new mums. To name a few of the numerous reasons, exercise helps to recover from pregnancy and giving birth, gives energy, lifts your mood, and gets you out of the house!
It’s easy to agree with the above (I think) but being a new mum myself I know there are challenges which may make exercising difficult no matter how motivated you may be. Even once your body has healed from giving birth and you are cleared by your doctor to start exercising again, the exhaustion and sleep deprivation from caring for your newborn can easily make the idea of even getting up from the sofa laughable, I know. Then there is the challenge of actually getting some time to yourself to go to the gym, especially if you are exclusively breastfeeding.
I’m not suggesting trying to hit the gym dead tired and you may not even want to leave your baby behind, but when you feel up for it, there are ways to stay active with the baby. And trust me, it actually helps to deal with the fatigue!
If you are in luck and you have access to different mum and baby classes – fitness, yoga, dance etc. – give them a try as they can be great! The instructors are (or should be!) trained to help you in postnatal recovery and you also get to meet other mums with babies so it’s a social event as well. Central London may not be the ideal environment for family life but it definitely offers numerous options for instructed mum and baby activities. I have been to Frame’s Mumhood HIIT class and Barre & Baby’s ballet class with Maia and we both enjoy them! 😊
During my nine weeks as a mum I’ve adopted the attitude of “something is better than nothing” when it comes to exercise. On the days when the weather is poor or I can’t get to a class or my baby is being clingy, simple exercises and stretches on my yoga mat help to regain energy. I often have to include Maia (see below pictures) because she doesn’t like being left on her own. On the days when she enjoys her rocker or her play mat even for 5-10 minutes I do some full body exercises with dumbbells and ankle weights. Baby-led training at its best, ha!
Ever since Maia was five days old I’ve been going out for pram walks with her almost every day. With a friend when I’m lucky but often just by myself. Even without company it’s nice to get some fresh air and Maia loves to sleep in the pram. I gradually added to the challenge by wearing 1kg ankle weights which make walking ever so slightly more effective. More recently I’ve added lunges and knee lifts to my walks which work the legs and bum. When the baby is asleep and I can stop without her starting to cry, I have utilised park benches to get some body weight exercises in. For example step-ups, tricep dips, and press-ups as illustrated below. 😊
It may not be a full blown workout but it all counts – baby steps! 😊 Working out doesn’t have to happen at the gym to be good for you and effective.
As a parent I no longer have the luxury of planning my own training based on what I feel like doing but rather doing what’s feasible in my current life situation. And I truly believe my baby enjoys getting out of the house and doing activities with me, even if she is still a bit young to understand what’s going on. I would also like my daughter to grow up to view active lifestyle as something fun and enjoyable!
Worth to note that I’m writing from a perspective of a mum to one and I’m not even pretending to know what life is like with multiple children. Honestly, I don’t know how you mums do it but hats off!
xoxoxo,
Sini