Fitness Getting Started Again
Body conditioning and toning should be started in bed, the day of delivery. The sooner you start, the sooner your body will respond with firm, toned muscles, especially pelvic floor and abdominal muscles. Follow the exercises as shown in “Exercises for immediately After a Vaginal Birth” or “Exercises for Immediately after a Cesarean Delivery,” depending on the type of delivery you had. Unless you experienced multiple complications and find yourself extremely fatigued, you can begin performing these movements as suggested.
Once you get home, don’t wait to exercise until the baby is asleep. Just lay out two blankets-one for each of you-and begin. The baby will enjoy the movement, the music and your smiles. If baby tires, she’ll drop off to sleep, whether there is music on or not. Get moving-don’t wait or waste precious hours or days!
If your physician says not to exercise for six weeks or more after delivery, show her the list of exercises you want to do. Do not just ask to “exercise”-be specific. These exercises are so gentle and safe that she will probably give her consent. If, however, your physician feels that even these exercises are inappropriate for you just yet, of course follow her advice.
The Pelvic Floor
When thinking of exercise after delivery, most new mothers think of a flat abdomen as a first priority. Actually, the pelvic floor should receive prime attention, with the abdominal muscles coming in second. Strong pelvic floor muscles ensure good support of internal organs and sphincter control [urethra, rectum, and vagina]. They also ensure pleasurable sensations during sexual intercourse for the both the woman and her partner.
After vaginal delivery, the pelvic floor may be bruised, swollen and tender. After a cesarean section, it may be lax, with loss of tone or elasticity from the weight of the baby and months of sluggish circulation. Initial attempts of tightening or “lifting up” the muscles of the pelvic floor immediately after delivery are often accompanied by surprise-you feel little or nothing! Many times, muscles have been torn or cut and nerves have been damaged. It’s no wonder there is little sensation. Perhaps too, the structure of the pelvic floor was surgically repaired. Exercise can improve all these situations by [1] alleviating discomfort [although it is uncomfortable at first to even gently squeeze those muscles] and [2] improving circulation to the area which will increase the oxygen supply, remove waste products, decrease swelling, and promote the prompt return of urine control.
If you neglect this important area, the muscles will remain stretched and loose. They will become further weakened as you resume your usual schedule. The sooner you start after delivery, the faster the muscles will respond. Waiting will only result in more time and effort being necessary than would have been required if you had started immediately after delivery. You have only benefits to gain.
The Abdominal Wall
Right after delivery, you may wonder if your stomach will ever be flat again. If you begin an exercise program early [within twenty-four hours of giving birth] and are fiercely persistent with frequent repetitions of the appropriate exercises, your stomach will indeed be flat once more.
The abdominal muscles that we feel and notice the most often are the rectus muscles. They are long, slender muscles located along the center of the abdominal wall. They run vertically from the end of the sternum [breastbone] and the lower ribs to the pubic bone. There are right and left rectus muscles, which are separated by a band of fibrous connective tissue about half an inch wide that is called the linea alba.
The internal and external oblique muscles lie on the sides of the rectus muscles. They cover the waist-a hard area to tighten even when you haven’t had a baby. The external obliques cover the front and the sides of the abdomen from the rectus muscle to the back muscles. The external obliques are attached to the ribs at the top edges and have a wide area of attachment, running from the lower eight ribs to the front surface of the pelvis and on down to the pubic bone.
The internal obliques are located directly below the external obliques. Their muscle fibers run at almost a ninety degree angle to those of the external obliques, most of them nearly horizontal. The internal obliques run from approximately the waist area down to the pubic bone.
All this may sound unnecessarily technical when you just want to have a flat belly again, but getting to know how your body is put together will enable you to understand how the exercises work and what kinds of exercises are needed to “renovate” those muscles after delivery. Getting in touch with your body and learning to listen to it are primary steps in getting started.
The lower ends of the rectus muscles go through a slit in the deep abdominal muscles before they become attached to the pubic bone. When the rectus muscles are relaxed as they are when you walk and move around, they follow a curved line; they become straight only when they contract [when you consciously and tightly hold your stomach in].
Hereditary factors come into play in the deposition of fat in the lower abdomen, even when weight is lost and body fat is at the ideal level [twenty-two to twenty-four percent for women]. Even then, because the rectus muscles are curved and become small deposits of fat are stubbornly held in that area, most women find that their “stomach” is slightly rounded.