Nurturing Movement: A Guided Recovery & Exercise Plan for Early Postpartum
You’re getting closer to your baby’s due date and realizing there’s a lot more to figure out than just navigating pregnancy and birth — now you need to recover from this monumental event and take care of your baby 24/7.
Perhaps you’ve heard that short walks are a good idea. Or maybe you’re just going to wait it out until your 6 week postpartum check in and see what your doctor recommends.
Or maybe you hate everything about working out but know that movement is a good idea for your recovery. But what does that kind of movement even look like? How do you get started?
Here’s the thing. The demands of parenting begin immediately postpartum. Your body has gone through something so incredible and now you’ll begin healing while simultaneously caring for your precious little one. This is no small feat.
Exercise can be a small way for you to take care of yourself during a time that is so focused on the baby. Exercise can be a tool to help your achy and sore body feel some relief. Exercise can provide you with the strength to rock your baby for hours.
I’d love to show you a simple, accessible plan to do just that.
I help birthing people prepare for and recover from birth with short strength workouts done at home.
I created this postpartum recovery and exercise program during my second postpartum because I wanted a plan to follow that was easily accessible — because as you’re about to find out, early postpartum leaves little time for anything else besides feeding your baby, changing diapers and sleeping in tiny intervals.
I also knew that the status quo around postpartum exercise — do nothing until your 6 week check in and then resume regular exercise — wasn’t cutting it, for me or my clients.
There’s a way to integrate movement into our postpartum healing from day one (or months down the road) that is sustainable, safe and effective. I’d love to guide you through this time, whether you had a vaginal or cesarean delivery.
"The movements felt like medicine to my breastfeeding back pain. I also had way less pelvic floor symptoms this time around postpartum! This program has given me the tools to know how to strengthen and move my body in all the right ways for the demands of being a postpartum mother of two littles." — Angela W.
Angela was a beta-tester of the c-section program after her 2nd birth. She received the program at no cost in exchange for feedback and this testimonial.
A great postpartum recovery program should do three things:
Soothe an achy body
Support the demands of parenting
Restore a sense of self for the birthing person
Bouncing back or finding your pre-baby body will never be on this list, as I don’t think those are the keys to a successful postpartum recovery.
"The initial workouts, which were focused on breathing, were extremely helpful for me physically and mentally so early on after giving birth. That kind of set the tone for the rest of the program. Being that I had a cesarean, my abdominal muscles and lower back were in shambles. The flow of the program and different workouts helped my ab muscles and lower back tremendously. I really do believe that the program helped me and encouraged the parts of my body that went through so much during birth to recover much more efficiently." — Taryn R
Taryn was a beta-tester of the c-section program after her 1st birth. She received the program at no cost in exchange for feedback and this testimonial.
This 46 page PDF includes:
16 guided weeks of movements and exercises — 12 different programs — for early postpartum with video demonstrations of every single exercise to help you feel confident and able, as if I'm in the room coaching you.
Plus helpful information specific to postpartum recovery on the core, pelvic floor, breathing with exercise, how to reintroduce exercise safely and more!
Everything is easily accessible from your phone or computer for quick viewing of the programs and exercise demonstration videos. You can also print out the workouts if you enjoy crossing off your completed exercises.
And of course, everything is designed to help you have a more enjoyable postpartum experience — there’s plenty of new areas to navigate already, exercise doesn’t need to be one more thing for you to figure out!
"The program was very easy to use! I loved having the option to watch videos of the movements along with the description, so I knew exactly what it should look like. The movements felt very comfortable to do during postpartum. I appreciated how the exercises were short and to the point, when I was trying to fit them between nap times." — Jana E.
Jana was a beta-tester of the vaginal birth program after her first birth. She received the program at no cost in exchange for feedback and this testimonial.
Looking for a shorter program?
Looking for the perfect baby shower gift?
I have another option for you!
You can start with just PART ONE of the program — the recovery portion — and do the first 8 weeks of daily movements.
Then if you decide you’d like to continue on, you’re more than welcome to purchase part two, the biweekly workout portion of the program.
Part One also makes a fantastic gift for a baby shower!
FAQs
Q: So how does this guide work?!
A: This recovery & exercise program is a downloadable PDF guide that has helpful information on exercise in postpartum, core and pelvic floor facts and then of course, the workouts! You can use your phone, computer or even print out the PDFs if you’re a paper and a pen kinda person.
The first half of the program includes daily movements that will progress every week and should take 5-10 minutes to complete each day. Then the second half of the program will have two weekly workouts that you can do in under 30 minutes. Each movement is linked to a video demonstration of me teaching you how to do the exercise with both visual and audio cues.
Q: What do the daily movements and workouts look like?!
A: The daily movements will slowly progress from the floor to standing and will help connect you to your body again after the intensity of pregnancy and birth while also soothing your early postpartum body. Using your breath and being intentional with your movements are paramount.
Then, the weekly workouts will build on top of these movements with strength training and mobility focused work. You'll need just a few pieces of equipment – a couple bands, maybe a dumbbell, but otherwise you'll use things around your house like pillows, a chair and stairs for the rest.
Each workout has 3 warm up movements, 4-6 strength training exercises and 1 cool down movement. You’ll repeat these weekly workouts for 4 weeks before moving on to the next progression of movements.
Q: What if I'm new to strength training… will this be way too advanced for me?!
A: Absolutely not. The beauty of strength training is you can take very basic, fundamental movements and make them easier or harder with small tweaks, like how slow or quickly you move and how much weight or tension you use.
Postpartum is a time to nourish the body with movement, not deprive the body of any more energy, so this program is generally going to be a bit more “back to basics” and rooted in overall wellness rather than complicated movements that will deplete you.
If you are someone looking to keep up a high intensity of exercise during your postpartum recovery, this may not be the guide for you.
Q: What if I'm already way past the early postpartum stage – can I still benefit from this program?!
A: Absolutely. Whether you’re day 1 or day 1,000 postpartum, you can benefit from this recovery and exercise guide. I’ll walk you through where to start based on your stage of postpartum. The movements and exercises in this guide are all about building a strong foundation, which most of us can benefit from at any time, not just postpartum!
