Baby steps to full fitness for new mothers

Doctors encourage post-partum women to gradually rebuild strength.

Jena Olson walked into a CrossFit studio about four weeks after giving birth. She’s pretty sure Instagram made her do it.

“I was scrolling through Instagram while breastfeeding my baby at 2am and someone posted an ad for a post-partum fitness class. I’d never done CrossFit in my life, but I figured, why not try it?” says the 31-year-old accountant.

The 4th Trimester Fit class she signed up for in the US state of Maryland is one of a growing number of fitness programs targeting new mums in the first 12 weeks after giving birth. The classes reflect changing attitudes about maternal exercise and body image

As doctors gain a better understanding of maternal health they are encouraging post-partum women to start moving and rebuilding strength, as long as the activity is gradual, comfortable and safe. But many women also are feeling pressure to “bounce back” quickly, doctors say, amid a barrage of images on social media that can encourage unhealthy comparisons to Instagram-perfect mums.

“I see patients at two to four weeks post-partum, and a lot more of them are wanting to start exercise as soon as possible,” says Carolyn Swenson, a urogynecologist at the University of Michigan medical school.

The shift started a few years ago, she says: “I think part of it is this unrealistic image on social media of what a new mum should look like.”

Celebrity mums and Instagram influencers have embraced the trend of post-baby selfies, sharing photos of their spandex-clad post-partum fitness journeys.

Hilaria Baldwin, a yoga instructor and fitness author who has four children with actor Alec Baldwin, documents her pregnancies for more than 700,000 Instagram followers. She says she hopes to inspire other new mothers.

“Someone might look at pictures of me exercising and get stressed out. I look at it as me taking care of myself. Hopefully someone else will get inspired to do the same,” she says.

Yoga instructor, fitness author and mother Hilaria Baldwin. Picture: Instagram

She makes a point of sharing a range of images, including full-body selfies taken the day after delivery showing her still-expanded belly. She also posts short videos of her post-baby exercises.

She views it as a way to challenge outdated notions.

“I want to show women that our bodies are not broken. Before, people were very much afraid of women who were healing from pregnancy. We were looked at like we were sick or somehow not OK. Now we know our body is capable of healing faster than we think, and you don’t have to go hide in a muu-muu,” she says.

Women are exercising more during pregnancy, filling prenatal yoga, Pilates or cardio classes.

“This is a much more active population than we’ve ever had before. There’s the assumption that (after giving birth) they’ll be able to continue but they don’t know how,” says Carrie Pagliano, president of the US Academy of Pelvic Health Physical Therapy.

During the past few years, Pag­liano says, she and her colleagues have been fielding more inquiries from women in the first four weeks post-partum: “They’re upset because they still look nine months pregnant and they don’t realise that’s perfectly normal. They see pictures of the flat-tummy mum and say: ‘Why can’t that be me?’ ”

Gyms have long offered prenatal fitness classes for pregnant women, and many have mummy-and-me programs for women with babies, which usually start when the infant is about four months old.

The gap between has been largely ignored by the fitness industry, until recently.

The new classes generally take a gradual approach, avoiding terms such as “bounce back” and “beach body”.

CrossFit Cove in Maryland launched its post-natal class in 2018 after a wave of members had babies. Trainer Maria Alcoke created the six-week program as a gentle transition back to exercise, she said, rebuilding core strength through moves such as squatting and lifting a weight off the floor.

In recent years Emily Wannenburg, a former nurse and midwife in Florida, has expanded a post-partum recovery program she calls 4th Trimester Fitness. She has accepted mothers with babies as young as 10 days old.

“This is not kick-your-butt fitness. It’s about reconnecting with your body,” she says. “And connecting with other mothers in the same stage.”

A few years ago wait lists were building for her six-week courses, so she expanded to other cities.

Workout apps are adding post-natal sessions. Last year San Francisco-based fitness personality Jaime McFaden joined with fitness app Aaptiv to create a fourth-trimester series that includes breathing, stretching, core and pelvic floor exercises.

“Every celebrity that’s had a baby in the past two years is posting their post-natal journey and there’s a lot of buzz from my clients,” she says.

The app Matriarch, launched last year by former Pilates instructor Laura Arndt, offers more than 100 pelvic floor and core exercises for post-partum women. She says the iOS app has been downloaded more than 17,000 times.

“Someone who’s had a healthy vaginal birth, free of complications, can start light exercise much sooner than six weeks. As soon as she feels up to it, really,” says Ilona Goldfarb, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Low-impact activities such as walking, the elliptical machine or the recumbent bike can be good options, she says, starting slow, short and gentle.

Post-partum women should still consult their doctors before starting a fitness program, particularly women who have had complications or who delivered their baby by C-section.

Still, for many mothers, an exercise class in the weeks right after birth just isn’t in the cards.

After Chanelle Lagace, a 34-year-old indoor-cycling instructor, had her third child last year, she didn’t have the time or energy to go to the gym.

“I used to think that was just an excuse women gave. I figured, wake up earlier or do it while the baby’s napping,” she says.

“But sometimes they wake up at 4am, and you’re exhausted because you’ve been up with the other kids. There’s just no way.”

She gained 27kg with the baby, she says.

Once home, she took walks but didn’t start exercising until after six weeks. Even at four months, she says, “the only class I’m taking is a 15-minute ride on my Peloton at home”.

Lagace is active on Instagram but tries to avoid accounts where the mothers are pictured looking perfect all the time.

“I connect a lot more with the girls who are being real,” she says.

“I didn’t have time to work out today. I’m leaking from my boobs. Life happens, you know?”

• By HILARY POTKEWITZ
• THE WALL STREET JOURNAL