Things to do in the gym...

when you're 3 weeks post partum...

Eliptical/Cross Trainer machines. These put very little stress on the post-pregnancy joints and are great for getting the legs and hips tightened up again.

Upper body weights... avoid going too heavy too quickly. Again with loose ligature its dangerous and apt to cause injury. Lighter weights and higher reps are your best bet.

Lower body lifting of your body weight... one nice thing about pregnancy weight gain is that it keeps your legs strong. As long as you've been upright and active thru your pregnancy your legs have been working to compensate for the extra weight and the odd angles your belly's new center of gravity created. When you first head back to the gym tho, your knees, ankles and hips are bound to be especially loose and so if you want to squat, DO SO... but do so unweighted for a few weeks first and then slowly start adding weight as your overall stability returns.

Physio Ball work. Your core is bound to be looser than at any other time in your life and hefting a growin infant around is bound to cause back pain, so anything you can do to re-stabilize your core is a "very good thing(tm)."

STRETCH. No one can emphasize the importance of stretching in an exercise routine enough... but in the first few months post-partum this one little thing takes on a whole new significance. With the hormone relaxin working its way out of your body, and joints and connective tissues doing their best to realign themselves there is nothing better you can do for your body than to thoroughly and gently stretch all of your major joints and muscles every single day. Proper stretching allows for slow returns to allignment and keeps your joints from getting sore and tight.

I'm REALLY enjoying being back in the gym... my mental/emotional state is definitely improving daily... energy is returning, and I'm seriously excited to see how my weight changes in these first few months. I've already taken some "before" pictures for my new progress page, but I won't be revealing them until I have at least one set of updates to compare them to. I'll do my best to take the pictures every 30 days...

Tomorrow I'll post my first 4 SMART goals for the summer of 2006... cause hey... I have to start somewhere, right?

Posted by Lexy at May 23, 2006 09:18 PM