Postpartum Fitness Blog

Are You Missing This Crucial Step to Help Heal Your Diastasis?

Are you working on healing your diastasis recti?

Did you know that there’s a key part of the diastasis healing journey that often gets forgotten (or isn’t even mentioned)?

The truth is that healing diastasis isn’t just about strengthening your muscles and doing certain exercises to help your body recover.

Yes – you do want to do key exercises that’ll help your core heal.

But you also want to focus on another essential part of core rehab…

28 Snack Ideas to Help You Keep Up With #MomLife

Life as Mom can feel chaotic and crazy which is why it’s so easy to grab junky-ish food for a snack when you’re hangry and don’t even want to think about calories and carbs and macros and whatever else you’re supposed to be worrying about when you’re working on being healthy.

(This can be especially true when you’re breastfeeding and could just eat all the things, all the time!)

In my own life I don’t follow a strict meal plan or diet. I just embrace a simple nutrition mantra:

Eat lots of veggies (especially greens), go for the good fats and proteins, and dodge the refined sugar and processed stuff as much as possible.

This means that, sure I have sweet treats now and then, and sometimes I eat grains, gluten and dairy, but most of the time I focus on a non-fussy whole foods approach.

Why?

Because I want to feel good and full of energy, but I also don’t want to deprive myself of treats and yummy things that I love and will eat from time to time.

This, to me, is my balance. It works for me (and can probably work for you, too). Here’s why.

14 Minute Full Body Mini Band Workout

Mini bands are one of my favourite tools to have on hand.

Not only are they great for new moms to regain some strength, they’re also awesome months or even years postpartum to keep your workout routine fresh and add some extra challenge into your usual moves.

You can add them to squats, bridges, hip thrusts, pushups, planks, mountain climbers, rows…

There are so many different ways that you can use them. And they’re tiny so it’s easy to take them with you if you’re travelling and want to get some movement in, or you’re at work and you need a quick energy-boosting break.

If you don’t have a set of bands, these are the ones I use (and love). I also give them to my clients and so far haven’t had any complaints about them breaking or wearing down.

Grab your mini bands and give this 14 minute circuit a try.

An Essential Step to Rebuild Your Core & Pelvic Floor Post-Baby (That Many Moms Forget)

There’s a lot of chatter about how important it is to strengthen your core and pelvic floor after giving birth.

And I agree. Recovering strength, flexibility and function throughout your core and floor is essential to living a happy leak-free, pain-free life post-baby.

But there’s a key piece of the equation that a lot of new moms miss when they’re working on this stuff.

If you’ve missed it, it’s not your fault because it’s not something a lot of trainers and other pros talk about.

7 Habits of Highly Successful Moms (Who Workout)

I’m fascinated by success.

What makes one person more successful than another?

Why are some moms so successful in the gym while other moms struggle to reach their goals?

So when I came across the “9 Habits of Highly Successful Athletes” in Louise Green’s book Big Fit Girl, I was inspired to share my own take on this idea.

As I was reading her book, I found myself literally nodding my head and – if it weren’t for my sleeping toddler in the next room – there probably would have been a few excited exclamations of “Ooooooh! Yes! So true!”

(I’m especially in love with #7).

Now you may be thinking, “I’m not an athlete, Jen. So this doesn’t apply to me.”

But you are. I consider any woman (or person) who wants to move her body for a specific purpose or reach a specific goal, an athlete.

And the Merriam-Webster dictionary agrees with me. They define an athlete as, “a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.”

That means that any mom who exercises is an athlete. Including you.

Heck, just being a mom and all the physical demands that taking care of kiddos requires makes you an athlete!

You don’t need to be gunning for the Olympic games to embrace an Olympic-like mindset. (I feel like that needs to be on a motivational poster somewhere 😉 ).

So try these habits on for size and tap into your inner athlete so you can reach your goals faster and easier.

8 Restorative Exercises & Stretches to Do In the First 6 Weeks Postpartum

Do you really have to wait 6 weeks to dive back into exercise after having a baby?

The short answer is: nope.

The long answer is that you don’t have to wait to start moving. You can start moving sooner.

The truth is you’re already doing a ton of moving, lifting, and carrying simply by being a mom.

So the best thing you can do is focus on moving in a way that’ll support your recovery process.

And there are some essential foundational strategies and movements that you can use to help your body heal, feel stronger, and deal with any pain or discomfort you might be having from all the demands of caring for a newborn.

As well as ensure that – when you are truly ready to dive back into your pre-baby workouts – you (hopefully) aren’t going to have to deal with any negative side effects (like leaking, pain or other uncomfortable issues).

As you go through these strategies, it’s important to remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to recovering from pregnancy, labour and delivery.

There isn’t one exercise program that’ll work for every mom – especially since every mom has different preferences and goals and no two MomBods are the same.

But there are some essential strategies that all moms can benefit from.

And that’s what we’ll focus on today.