Thursday, March 18, 2010

10 Tips to Help New Moms Get Their Bodies Back

Dickie Lake 003Well, you have had a baby and need to get your body back. It's natural you are going to feel a bit out of sorts, look at what you have just been through. Gaining 30-50lb, a complete body overhaul, exhaustion all to get your beautiful bundle of joy that you spend most of your time appeasing. When you feel ready to get your body back, regain your composure follow these simple tips to save you time and frustration.

Losing that Muffin-top

1. Make sure you are ready for regular exercise- this means at least 3 times per week 15-20 minutes per session. If you are not physically and mentally ready for this commitment you may be better to hold off. I see many women try to jump into exercise before being able to make a commitment- they end up frustrated from not getting the result they deserve and this leads to a negative exercise experience. Exercise integration is the key, you can regain your posture with some small exercises and learn how to permanently make exercise a part of your weekly routine, even as a mother. This is exactly what phase 1, the first 6 weeks of the Baby Bump Busy Mom Fitness program teaches. Not Addressing muscular imbalances/instability from pregnancy posture before starting an intense program- new or old muscular imbalance and instability can lead to injury. Frustration and drop out is just around the corner. The truth is many of these nagging little aches and pains can be avoided with the correct exercise, progression and stretches. Set yourself up for success and start at the right place for your body, work methodically-this will still be very intense.

2. When ready for regular exercise and losing those last 10 lbs Avoid Performing Single Joint Exercises. They are a waist of a busy moms time. The time it takes to do 10 single joint biceps curls, you could have performed at least 5 full body burpies to get you heart rate flying and get the metabolic boost you need.

3. Too Much Traditional Cardio and Not enough Strength Training. I say traditional cardio meaning running, elliptical, biking- this type of repetitive movement at a moderately elevated heart rate takes much longer to burn calories and can set you up for overuse injury. Take the faster road less travelled- high intensity interval training. This means you can use sets of sprints instead of jogging for a greater calorie burn, but the best form of calorie burn involves resistance (strength) interval training. You can use a group of full body resistance training exercises in succession to gain strength and get a high heart rate for cardiovascular training- all at once. This is what phase 2 of the baby Bump Busy Mom Fitness program focuses on- fat loss.

A few other Simple Rules to follow when time to Loses that Muffin-top

4. Lifting heavy enough, you want to reach failure between 8-12 reps, meaning you cannot physically perform another lift

5. Eating- it is easy to skip or even forget about eating as a busy mom

6. Work out of your comfort zone- losing fat efficiently is uncomfortable, if something becomes easy it is time to progress the exercise or move to the next phase of your program. a good program will have progression built in.

7. Know what muscle you are flexing- you will enjoy exercise more when you understand it

8. Working through full range of motion

9. When is Exercise Good and When is exercise bad? If you have a virus, injured or are severely sleep deprived exercise is bad. If you are healthy, tired, have some general muscle soreness - not an injury, then exercise is good.

10. Making your program progressive- this is needed for intensity and to avoid plateaus

5 comments:

Bonnie Wayne said...

Hi - I enjoyed your post. I am a prenatal/postnatal personal trainer with Diastasis Rehab (Julie Tupler's co.) and thought we could do a blog swap sometime - www.beautifulafterthebelly.blogspot.com

I love the new mom stuff you post - great. Also I would love for you to describe what burpies are when you blog post if possible - great info.

THANKS!
Bonnie

Jacqueline said...

Bonnie, thanks. I have an older post explaining a burpie with photos and have a demo of a burpie pullup on my youtube link.

Jacqueline

mikemilan10 said...

back exercises

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personal trainer san antonio said...

Effective tips to help new moms getting their bodies back and like to add yoga in the fitness plan also as yoga helps in losing weight and soothing stress. Bookmarked the link and will share with my friends and family.

 
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