About Me

ALWAYS ASK DOCTOR BEFORE STARTING ANY SORT OF EXERCISE PLAN!!

Pregnancy, labor, delivery, postpartum and all of the dang ups and downs is draining not only physically on our bodies but emotionally. And then you add on that first weeks of being a new mom, no sleep, and having a kid in your life that you have to take care of 24/7!! It’s dang HARD!! But mamas we can’t forget about taking care of ourselves as well. Especially when every single day or moment we feel like crying for no reason whether it’s because the baby won’t stop crying, won’t go to sleep, our boobs are leaking milk, we feel like we are changing a million diapers not only on the baby but ourselves as well haha or we are just so exhausted all we can do is cry. And guess what!? It’s OK to feel this way. It’s ok to cry for no reason. We all feel like this.
People don’t tell you how hard being a mom is they only tell you the good parts and how amazing it is. Don’t get me wrong it’s amazing but making sure we take care of ourselves and well being is so so important to help us be able to be that strong woman and mom we need to be for not only our baby and husband but being strong for ourselves. Don’t let the postpartum blues keep you down. Find your support system, communicate with your spouse, significant other, mom, and family and let them know you need them so you can still take time for yourself. I think the main reason I am writing this postpartum program is because that first week of bringing my baby home after laboring naturally for 21 hours and only reaching an 8, then trying an epidural that actually made me digress/not change, and then ending up in a C section the thing I wanted to avoid the very most I was devastated. Obviously whatever could get my perfect boy Banks here is all that mattered but having my labor/end result be something I totally didn’t plan on or expect was so hard for me. That first week I cried so much over nothing or thinking I couldn’t do this mom thing. It was so hard for me not to just bounce right back to exercising. So I knew I had to find time for myself and start doing little things to help me heal emotionally and physically while still taking the time to let my body heal from the C section. It seriously saved me to start doing little things here and there. The endorphins and taking that little time for me to exercise my brain and mental state was exactly what I needed. Even though it was short 10-20 min walks, stationary bike or elliptical and my 360/TVA breathing exercises it was exactly what my body needed at the time and what helped me get out of that “postpartum funk”.
Long story short I hope my program can give you something more than just getting that body back. I hope it can give you that encouragement and support that all of us mamas need right after birth. We CAN do this even through all of the tears, sleepless nights, and figuring this whole mom thing out while trying to adjust to our new bodies haha we GOT THIS STRONG MAMAS! We are in this together!

Core Activation

Maintaining a strong core, good core activation, and a well functioning deep core during/after pregnancy has many benefits such as reducing pains/injuries, facilitates easier labor and helps with a better postpartum recovery.

The body’s primary respiratory muscle and breathing is the body’s master regulator. The DF turns on parasympathetic nervous activities of growth, immunity, digestion, and repair as well as reduces stress and improves focus. Also creates a healthier growth environment for the fetus.

The body’ s inner girdle that supports and stabilizes the spine to help resist the anterior pelvic tilt caused by the growing belly. Also the muscles that help push the baby out.

A series of muscles that form a sling at the bottom of the core, known as the “floor of the core “. They support the pelvic organs, stabilize the pelvis, control continence, aid in sexual response and assist in guiding the baby out properly during delivery.

Each of these play an important role in the Core Canister but the  “magic ” happens when they work together to help with stability, transferring forces through our bodies, and managing intra abdominal pressure. Very critical in preventing and recovering from Diastasis Recti and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction.

360 Breathing

Now that we have learned which muscles create our Core Canister, let’s learn how to activate all of these muscles to create that core canister pump, known as 360 breathing.

Once mastered in the laying and seated positions, we incorporate our breathing into movement and exercise. Main points to focus on (EXHALE on the effort)

EXAMPLES:

Standing squats:

Inhale as you lower down, exhale as you stand back up.

Reverse lunge with bicep curl:

Inhale as you lunge back & extend arms, exhale as you stand up and perform bicep curl.

Bent over rows:

Inhale as you extend the arms, exhale as you pull.

For cardio movements, or static holds:

Cue steady comfortable breathing.

Sample Workout Schedule

Monday

Leg Workout

Tuesday

Back and Shoulders Workout

Wednesday

Bicep and Triceps Workout

Thursday

HIIT/Low Impact Cardio Workout

Friday

Shoulder Workout

Saturday

Leg Workout

Sample Workout: Leg Workout

This is just an example of how a one day workout would be to show you how you can plan your workouts everyday. In my opinion I like choosing two exercises to alternate/superset back and forth from and repeating for a certain amount of sets but you can do it whatever way works for you.

WARM UP

3×5 of 360 breathing (refer to Youtube video)

10-20 min on any cardio equipment to get body warm and moving. Try and keep HR around 150.

SUPERSET 1

10-12 reps each exercise, Repeat 3-4x

Banded Hip Thrusts

Banded Hip Thrusts

SUPERSET 2

10-15 reps each leg/each exercise, Repeat 3-4x

Banded Hip Thrusts

Banded Hip Thrusts

SUPERSET 3

12 reps each leg/each exercise, Repeat 3-4x

Banded Hip Thrusts

Banded Hip Thrusts

6 Week Recovery

Banded Hip Thrusts

Laying Hamstring Curls

Kneeling Glute Kickbacks

Prowler Back Pedal

Glute Focused Back Ext.

Bosu Pistol Squats

Banded Reverse Hack Squats

Heel Lifted Deadlifts

Alt. Lateral Lunges

TRX Split Squat Hops

Shoulder Exercises

Single Arm 180 Lateral

Rear Delt Negatives

Bent Over Rear Delt Lifts

Seated Front Raises

Decline Up Up Down Downs

Laying Rear Delt Lifts

Single Arm Cable Rear Delt Lift

Single Arm Med Ball Press

Kneeling 180 Laterals

Smith Machine Front Press

Bicep Exercises

Hammer/Regular Curl

Laying Bicep Curls

TRX Curls

Cable Drag Curls

Concentration Curls

Cable Bar Curls

Wide Machine Curls

Barbell Curls

Overhead Cable Curl

Circle Curls

Tricep Exercises

Weighted Tricep Dips

TRX Tricep Extensions

Laying DB Tricep Kickbacks

Overhead Machine Ext.

Barbell Skull Crushers

Tricep Circuit

Bent Over Barbell Kickbacks

Tricep Push Ups

Single Arm Skull Crush

DB Skull Crush

Back Exercises

Smith Machine Back Rows

Laying T-Bar Rows

Plank DB Rows

TRX Curl/Wide Back Fly

Alt. Wide Lat Pull Downs

Single Arm Barbell Row

Machine High Pull Downs

Incline Bench Back Flys

Single Arm Alt. Assisted Pull Ups

Single Arm Cable Lat Pull Downs

Chest Exercises

Laying DB Chest Flys

DB Push Up/Tricep Dip

Overhead DB Lift

Single Arm Cable Cross

DB Push Ups

Alt. Wide Chest Flys/Close Press

Bench Press

Bent Over Cable Chest Cross

Core Exercises

Ski Abs

Cable Ab Tuck Ins

Weighted Oblique Twists

Hip Lifts

Plank To Side Plank Rolls

Sit Up, Twist, Twist

Side Plank Knee Lifts

Banded Hip Thrusts

Reverse Crunch/Leg Drop

Cable Crunch Twists

Cardio/HIIT Exercises

Alt. Lateral Lunge/Close Squat

Front To Back Lunge

Modified Burpees

Sumo Squat Heel Lift, Heel Lift, Calf Raise

Hip Lifts

Lunge, Lunge To Kickback

Lateral Hops

Squat To Tuck Jump

Jump Rope

Squat, Jack, Tuck Jump