Top 5 Post Partum Exercise Goals
In this post, we’ll discuss the top 5 post partum exercise goals I recommend and why these goals are so important to support your body after giving birth.
1. Strengthen The Deep Core
“The Deep Core” refers to the transverse abdominus, multifidus, diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles.
These are postural muscles, which means they are primarily composed of involuntary muscle fibers that are controlled by our autonomic or subconscious nervous system. Studies have shown that 80% of postural muscles are involuntary muscle fibers. Which means that when you voluntarily contract them, you are only accessing 20% of their potential. When the muscles are activated though a reflex, you are able to access the other 80% of their potential. The deep core postural muscles are reflexively activated through breathing and spinal position. Crunches and kegels will do post partum moms no good, and in fact can cause harm. These exercises only access that 20% of voluntary muscle fibers, and actually worsen postural dysfunction and weaken the deep core muscles.
So how do we ensure post partum moms are strengthening and not weakening their deep core during exercise? Here are some suggestions:
- Focus on keeping a long spine and waist during all movements, this posture will draw the belly up and in.
- Perform as much of the exercise in exhale as you can. Exhale is when the deep core is most reflexively activated.
- Make breath control and spinal posture the main focus of every exercise.
- Keep the diaphragm in an elevated position for as much of the exercise as you can.
Besides the muscles, the fascia is a very important part of the deep core, especially in the post partum period. Fascia is the white connective tissue that supports all of your internal organs and surrounds your muscles and organs and bones. This fascia, particularly in the abdomen and pelvic floor, becomes quite elastic during pregnancy to allow for growth of the baby and delivery. Post partum exercise must focus on fascial tightening to close the abdominal muscles and recover the pelvic muscles.
Here are the secrets to fascial tightening:
- Use ‘opposing forces’ exercises styles like yoga that focus on prolonged stretching while maintaining good posture and breathing will create eccentric forces through the abdomen and pelvis and cause the internal fascia to tighten.
- Spinal elongation is the most powerful way to tighten internal fascia, elevate the organs and recover a post partum core. It is an absolute MUST. Incorporate spinal elongation into every exercise you do.
- Perform the exercise mostly in exhale. And exhale while you actively elongate the spine. Exhaling with spinal elongation creates the perfect eccentric opposing forces within your core to tighten the internal fascia and close the abs.
2. Postural Awareness
Posture is everything. How you hold your body throughout your day will determine the tension of your muscles (especially the deep core), how much oxygen and blood flow they get, and how well they are activated in response to a load or transition. Posture will also determine organ position, breathing mechanics, and blood flow to the brain and spinal cord. Without good posture, your body will always be functioning at a sub-optimal level.
Our bodies are constantly changing and adapting to what we are exposed to, especially during pregnancy. What you do most to your body is what it will turn into. During the post-partum period, we want to use posture to facilitate organ elevation, deep core muscle activation, facial tightening, and optimal breathing. So, whatever the exercise, maintaining good posture must be of primary focus; everything else comes second to good posture. Doing exercises for time or heavy weight can really damage the post partum body because the mother does not have the typical fascial and ligamentous tension due to hormonal changes surrounding pregnancy and can easily get injured – especially the abdominal and pelvic areas. Posture in the post partum period is one of the biggest determining factors in recovery and returning to pre-pregnancy fitness levels and aesthetics.
3. Optimize breathing mechanics
How we breathe impacts how well we oxygenate our blood, our heart rate, and the blood flow to our muscles and our brains. It is important for every human to have optimal breathing mechanics, but it is especially important for women during the post partum period in order to properly recover the abdominal and pelvic muscles.
The diaphragm, pelvic floor and abdominals are intimately related.
Neurologically, they reflexively activate with each other in response to blood oxygen and CO2 levels. Mechanically, the diaphragm and pelvic floor act like a piston inside the abdominal muscles to maintain intra-abdominal and intra-spinal pressure. Think of the ceiling, floor and walls of a house. The diaphragm is the ceiling, the abdominals are the walls, and the pelvic floor is the floor. If the ceiling moves down all the time, it will compress the contents inside and put pressure on the floor. Over time, if the ceiling (diaphragm) stays low, too much pressure will be put on the floor (pelvic floor) and walls (abdominals), and they will get injured. So ensuring that there is full range of motion and high functional strength in the diaphragm, pelvic floor and abdominals is critical for post partum recovery.
4. Restore Optimal Spinal Curves
Do you see the beautiful “S” shape the human spine has? This curve is the best shape for carrying a load, for walking, for breathing, for nerve flow and for muscle activation. During pregnancy, the spinal curve changes slightly due to the increased weight in the abdomen from the growing baby. This curve must change again after delivery in order to recover the core and avoid injury.
My favorite methods for correcting spinal curves are:
- Hypopressive training (abdominal organ elevation with spinal decompression)
- Back Breathing (focused breath into posterior rib cage to normalize thoracic kyphosis)
- Wall Exercises (to provide feedback for improving cervical lordorsis)
5. Strengthen the Glutes
The glutes are the strongest muscle in the body. They are so big and important that they are the muscle that most impacts our metabolism. Glute muscle contraction brings blood flow and oxygen to the pelvic floor muscles and pelvic organs. Weak, small glutes results in weak, small pelvic floor muscles and subsequent problems like incontinence, prolapse, pain, and sexual dysfunction. Strong, larger glutes result in a pelvic floor that is fed more blood and oxygen, has better structural support and can grow stronger.
While the deep core muscles are postural and primarily involuntary muscles, the glutes are known as global movers. They are primarily voluntary muscles with different types of muscle fibers. These muscles need our conscious thought to activate and to be strengthened. Postural muscles work closely with global movers in that the postural muscles always turn on before the global mover muscles, in order to stabilize the trunk and spine to prepare for extremity movement. A gluteal muscle contraction begins and ends with a pelvic floor muscle contraction. Meaning a deep core (pelvic floor and transverse abdominus) muscle contraction occurs before a glute muscle contraction does. And therefore, consciously activating your glutes will also involve subconsciously activating your pelvic floor, which is exactly how we want to train it: through reflex! Healthy glutes mean a Healthy Pelvic Floor, no ifs, ands or butts!
The glutes also support the spine and help stabilize a good lumbar curve during functional movement. Functional movements like squatting and lunges are an extremely effective post partum exercise for glute and pelvic strengthening.
