Snag This Realistic + Holistic Postpartum Fitness Timeline for a First-Time Mom
Hey —
I see you over there asking the search bar:
When can I return to weightlifting?
When can I run again postpartum?
Can I do crunches at 3 weeks postpartum?
When can I get back to the gym?
How do I lose the baby weight?
I know you planned on picking up right where you left off with your workouts — you pictured yourself running with the stroller and championing getting your abs right back.
You didn’t fully understand the realities of motherhood: the sleepless nights, the feeding demands, the time constraints, the physical challenges, the logistics.
To be in uncharted territory with your body and with your routine is uncomfortable — especially when so much of your identity is hinged upon being fit.
And this is where I want to intervene, this is where I want you to lean in and listen. Print this if you have to, keep it on your nightstand, and remind yourself daily:
You’re in one of the most transformative phases of your life. You’re being rearranged. You’re not the same person you were — you’re becoming the mother version of you.
You’ll get better results when you take this massive transition into account.
You’ll physically shape up faster (and better) when you drop into the important phase your body is in, instead of trying to override it, or steamroll forward.
Before I share the realistic postpartum fitness timeline for a first-time mother, I need you to know:
As a Holistic Lifestyle + Exercise Coach I stand firmly by the approach that each new mother should be treated as an individual.
The art and science of individual program design is always going to supersede any generic advice you’ll find on the internet.
The most effective fitness + health plans should be both realistic and highly tailored.
With this distinction in mind, let’s establish a realistic timeline for a first-time mom — one that’s safe, healthy, and allows you to get the fitness results you want with far less struggle.
A REALISTIC POSTPARTUM FITNESS TIMELINE FOR A FIRST-TIME MOM LOOKS LIKE THIS:
Months 1-3 (the 4th Trimester):
Focus on Quality Nutrition for Breastfeeding
Let’s start by taking the generic 6-week mark everyone looks to for their green light and push it back to the 3-month mark, which is considered the end of the 4th trimester.
During this time, establishing a breastfeeding rhythm, bonding with the baby, rest, and proper nutrition trump an exercise program. Making these the focus of your fourth trimester will help your body shed the “baby weight” faster.
In this phase: rest produces the best results.
Birth is physiologically taxing. You’re in recovery.
During this time you don’t want to work out in a way that leaves you depleted, stressed, or in a way that’s more advanced than your body is ready for.
Your core needs to be rehabilitated, yes, but right now you should focus on bonding, resting, eating well, and recovering.
Breastfeeding alone helps the uterus to contract, return to a smaller size and burn 500-700 calories a day. Breastfeeding, prepping your food, and eating alone takes hours. Instead of fighting this and stressing yourself out: surrender.
When you’re ready to add movement your first action should be to re-establish the connection between your breath and core.
The reactivation of your inner core unit is a foundational step in recovery postpartum, and yet it’s not widely known or talked about.
Movement during the 4th trimester could look like this: breathing, TVA (transverse abdominis) holds, walks, gentle floor work, restorative yoga, or tai chi.
Stay low to the ground, move slowly, and focus on breathing. Bring energy into your body and prioritize restorative work.
Your goal is to be in a parasympathetic state for your best rest, digestion, and recovery.
During this phase, ask yourself: what will replenish me nutritionally? How can I ensure I am hydrated enough for this work? Am I getting adequate protein, fats, carbs, and hydration to produce the best possible milk?
When you don’t consume enough of these macronutrients your body will compensate by pulling what it needs from your muscles and bones to support the baby.
If you’re a type-a go-getter who thrives on accomplishing 78+ things each day, it’s going to be mentally tough for you to go back to the basics. Use this time to practice self-awareness.
And please, please: resist the urge to blast through this slow initial period of time. You’ll never get it back.
When you drop into the fourth trimester, when you surrender to the slow pace, you are working in harmony with your body and will ultimately have an easier time watching your body return to the level of fitness you’re accustomed to.
High-performance athletes are not always in a perpetual state of high performance. They have periods of high performance followed by periods of rest and recovery. Take your fourth-trimester rest + recovery stage seriously.
Months 4-6:
At-Home Core Corrective Program + Walks
After the close of the fourth trimester, you’re likely finding your rhythm as a mother, establishing a sleep schedule, and slotting your exercise time during a nap.
An initial program at this stage should not be a fat loss program but rather a program with a focus on retraining your inner core unit and re-establishing stability in your lumbar pelvic region.
Focus on the inner core, the pelvic floor, the back, and the glutes to combat muscle imbalances from birth and breastfeeding.
⚠️ Do not skip your foundational inner core rehabilitation! ⚠️
Properly rehabilitating your core is required before you advance to the next phase or do any workout. And when I say any workout I mean any workout.
I personally skipped this phase, pushed forward, went back to doing my old workouts, and then had to come back to re-do the core rehab properly. Don’t make the mistake that I did.
Months 6-9:
Continue with Your At-Home Core Corrective Program + and Start Training Functional Movement Patterns
In months 6-9 postpartum you’ll typically start feeding solids to your baby. This takes time. You have to prepare the food, sit down to eat, clean up, and you’re likely still breastfeeding, too.
This is still not a good time to make it to the gym. Focus on feeding both you and your child well and on setting up an awesome at-home gym space that meets your needs.
When the logistics of getting to the gym are not practical, it makes sense to save time and energy whenever you can. Having a designated space at home reduces stress and maximizes your actual workout time.
Part of your day as a mom is navigating movements like lifting your growing child, moving the car seat, holding your child while you’re carrying groceries, and more. Train for these movements.
Think rows, lunges, band pull-downs, modified squats, and deadlift patterns.
You’re training for the sport of motherhood right now.
Months 9-12: Build Your Muscle Back
During the past few months, you’ve established your baby eating solids, great work!
Because you are no longer the primary food source for your baby you’re likely starting to feel like you’re in your own rhythm.
You might even feel like you’re beginning to emerge.
Typically the baby is on a two-nap schedule during this phase, so this is a great time to focus on muscle-building workouts during one of the naps a few days a week.
A muscle-building workout is also called a hypertrophy style workout and achieves the goal of increasing the size of your muscle fibers themselves.
These workouts usually focus on 4-8 different movement patterns. For each movement pattern or exercise, you’d accomplish 2-4 sets, for 8-15 reps, with typically 40-60 seconds of work time, followed by approximately 30-60 seconds of rest time between sets.
When you train your muscle fibers to grow you need quality time under tension but you also need quality rest time between sets. This is not a cardio workout.
It’s still so important to keep your hormones balanced and work out with your cycle if it has come back. I could go into more depth on this, but to keep it extremely simple you’ll want to rest with your bleed.
Months 12-15:
Level Up Your Muscle-Building Program
You’ve made it to the first-year mark. It’s huge!
If your foundations are good, you’ve done a core corrective program, and you’ve established at-home workouts based on functional movements, then it’s time to level up your muscle-building workouts.
Progressing your muscle-building workouts means increasing your sets, increasing the weight, and decreasing the reps. This will level up the intensity of the workout.
Start mapping out the direction you want to go or work with someone trained to design a program specifically for you.
Make sure you continue to build in the rest during your bleed and start to study what it’s like to work out in harmony with your menstrual cycle if you haven’t already.
Months: 15-18 (and Beyond)
Green Light if You Did the Work
By now the baby has most likely transitioned to only needing one nap. If you want to, it’s way easier to return to the gym at this stage, and this is a great time to get in some high-quality longer workouts.
If you followed a smart progression of recovery, properly rehabbed your core, re-established your stability, and focused on building muscle for the functional movements that motherhood requires, then it’s time to get to your favorite class, trainer, or get on a full lifting program at the gym.
During this time it's safe to progress to a fat loss program if desired.
When I work with my clients we focus on muscle-building first, then fat-loss. What happens is you will increase your muscle mass and then when you cycle onto a fat-loss program, you’ll look amazing.
That’s it! That’s a realistic postpartum fitness timeline. And yes, what I’m saying here differs greatly from what other leaders and trainers might be saying.
This might sound like a crazy-long timeline but that’s because this timeline factors in the massive physical, emotional, and psychological transition into becoming a mother.
Transitioning into motherhood itself is life-altering.
You’re in a seriously transformative time of your life. It’s time to acknowledge that, honor that, and tailor your fitness approach to centralize this sensitive phase.
There are different seasons of a woman’s life and working in harmony with these seasons is what leads a woman into true health and vitality.
The opposite is also true: when you attempt to override the season you’re in you’re choosing to set yourself up for the norm of chronic injury, hormonal issues, weight loss challenges, and poor health.
None of these should be the norm for mothers. Let’s set the bar higher.
And if you haven’t already, go download your copy of the 10 Ways Mainstream Fitness Advice Fails Mothers, here:
— Cynthia
Cynthia Spenla
is a Chek Certified Holistic Lifestyle and Exercise Coach who Specializes in Health and Performance for Women.
She designs fitness programs that centralize both the female hormonal cycle and the complexities of motherhood while supporting her clients to create the sculpted, strong, and attractive bodies they desire without destroying their health, increasing their risk of injury, or disrupting their hormones in the process.
Her prior experience serving women who’ve struggled with eating disorders, exercise addiction, and body image issues, in addition to her transition into motherhood, has helped her adopt an approach that addresses the mental, emotional, physical, and nutritional components of a woman’s life.
Cynthia accompanies the women who’re ready to go off the beaten path — women who’re beginning to recognize that mainstream health + fitness advice isn’t working for them. She lights up an alternative pathway for new mothers — a pathway that leads to restoration, vitality, and healing after the life-altering Rite of Passage that is pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood.
