Mum's The Word! The Parenting Podcast - Pregnancy is a Marathon - How Can We Train For It? With Hollie Grant

Episode Date: October 8, 2023

How can we train whilst pregnant? How much exercise should we really do in the lead up to birth, and how can we ease ourselves back into fitness after birth? Award winning personal trainer and expert in pre and postnatal fitness Hollie Grant joins us this week to answer all our questions on movement before, during and after pregnancy - we talk about fitness with prolapse, what the suggested amount of training is and how we can ease back into these routines after birth. Do you have a question for us? Get in touch on our whatsapp, thats 07599927537.---A Create Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome back to Mums, the Word, the Parenting Podcast. I'm Kelsey Parker and I'm your host for this week. This episode, we are focusing on fitness. Now, I absolutely love my fitness, but I find it so hard to actually get to the gym. I'm really struggling now that Aralee has started school. It's fitting in the time to actually take Ray to school and take Bodhi to school, then try and work and fit the gym in. I'm literally finding it a mammoth task. I haven't been, I'm paying a gym membership and I don't think I've been for like the last three months. Like I'm honestly so bad. The bit of fitness I've actually managed to do over the last three months is trek the Alps. I actually had to go on a Copperfield trek and

raise money for charity to get my fitness in because honestly, those that are struggling, I'm struggling too. I have that amazing idea that I'm going to lay at home and do some Pilates on the floor and get my mat out, but it just never seems to happen. Is anyone else struggling with this? Today's guest is Holly Grump. She's an award-winning personal trainer, advanced reformer and mat Pilates instructor, pre- and postnatal fitness specialist with over a decade of experience and a mum of two. She's trained household names such as Jordan Dunn, Ella Mills, Melissa Hemsley and International Royals. Holly is the founder of The Bump Plan, a first of its

kind fitness plan that supports those trying to conceive, pregnant and postnatal, filmed in real time with her own journey and used by over 40,000 women globally. She's the author of two books, The Bunt Plan and The Model Method, and is host of the Strong Woman podcast and Bun in the Oven. She currently lives in Dorset with her husband, four-year-old Freya and eight-month-old son Kit. Welcome to the show, Holly Grant. Right, so let's jump straight in. Why did you create the Bump Plan and what's it all about? Wow, there's a question. So the Bump Plan is kind of a first of its kind fitness plan that's split into three plans. One is to support people while they're trying

to get pregnant which was filmed whilst i was trying to get pregnant i mean not literally doing the deed but during that period of time then uh there's the pregnancy plan which was also filmed during my own pregnancy so um the workouts that you're receiving at home i'm following along you know with the same amount of pregnant uh it's terrible english but we are i get more pregnant as you get more pregnant at home and then there's a postnatal plan as well which was also filmed in my postnatal period um and so it's uh it's kind of you're living together we're friends we're moving through this journey together um and it's really heavily based on basically whilst i was pregnant i've worked in the fitness industry for 12 years, mainly with women, all different stages of their lives.

And I've done multiple qualifications in all different areas, PT, Pilates, pre and postnatal. And then when I was pregnant, I suddenly realized that actually a lot of the fitness that's out there for people who are pregnant or postnatal felt really dry and really uninspiring and unempowering it would be very gentle and you know lots of pictures of white women sat there cross-legged you know breathing and actually I wanted women to feel go into labor and feel really powerful and strong and you know you're about to do one of the hardest things you'll ever do um and so yeah i just felt like that needed fixing yeah my mom has had four kids and that was her advice to me she was like you need to go to the gym because they them legs need to be strong because you need to push a baby out of you and i was like you're so right yeah so i did actually train through my whole pregnancy um and i was like lifting heavy weights and everything.

I was like full on gym in it. Yeah. But I actually got preeclampsia and I just got so big and I couldn't do anything. Like I literally couldn't even fit my shoes on anymore to go to the gym. And I remember that. So we all used to go together, me and my friends. I think it was like on a Wednesday and I had to meet them outside because they'd been to the gym and they came out and I was there and one of my friends laughed at me. She was like, I think she was so shocked to see me looking so big that she was like, don't laugh at me.

I was like, I want to be in the gym with you and I can't even train and look at me because obviously the training wasn't doing anything for me. I was just getting what I had to do I was like just so swollen but I think training is empowering as well my friend my best friend's called Kelsey she trained her whole pregnancy she was doing 6am going to the gym like I think it's incredible and it does give you that fitness for labor and when we're not taught these things no and how amazing that your mum did give you that advice because there's absolutely casting no shade but the generation above us do tend to treat pregnant women like they are fragile and very gentle and put your feet up you know don't do anything don't move yeah my nan's like that should you be going to the gym oh you shouldn't be lifting that it's like nan i can do

it whereas actually what we say is that pregnancy is the longest marathon that you will ever run labor however you give birth is probably going to be the hardest toughest marathon you'll ever run and you know parenting is also incredibly hard mentally and physically so you wouldn't ever enter a marathon without training and so yeah we say that's why ideally it's great if whilst you're thinking about starting a family or trying to conceive you're thinking about building a body that's going to get you through the marathon but i think fitness helps to conceive as well so there's a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of myths and actually one of the we work with the Active Pregnancy Foundation, which is an amazing charity trying to get more people to be active during pregnancy.

And the problem at the moment is there's a bit of a grey area when it comes to research for those who are trying to conceive. And so often, you know, we get told when we're at school, like, don't touch a boy, you'll get pregnant, you know. Then you start trying to get pregnant. Don't look at them. Yeah. Oh, don't get too close to them. It might jump onto you. And so you, I think often we go into trying to conceive thinking it will happen quite quickly. Not everybody, but lots of people will think that way. And then actually you realize the miracle of actually conceiving and how difficult it can be.

And so what we hear a lot about from our members is that one of the first things they do get rid of if they're struggling to conceive is exercise because they're worried that they're maybe overdoing it, maybe it's affecting their fertility. But actually what the research suggests is that those who take part in moderate intensity physical activity during the week, you know, are more likely to get pregnant quicker and to go on to have a healthier pregnancy so actually it's it's really the research that is out there i think that gets uh miscommunicated is that you know if you're a very high level athlete and you are training so so hard and then you're not nourishing your body as well sometimes there might be an issue with fertility there but actually the general population let's be honest we're struggling to meet those 150 minutes of just moderate activity

per week well i'm really struggling at the moment but but going back i'll come back to that but i to so i had like a window and i know you should never give yourself a window but before i got married i was like oh if we're gonna have a, we could have a baby right now. So I gave myself that window. It didn't happen. Got married. And then I actually detoxed. So I cut sugar, cut everything, really like drunk loads of water, was really healthy, was training like three, four times a week. Then literally did it for eight weeks.

And I fell pregnant at the end of my eight weeks. I went to Vegas and had a blowout. And what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas it comes back and it's it's a baby and her name's Aurelia um but that massively helped me to get pregnant and I've I sort of said to my friends like do the if you're struggling like try the detox do the fitness it it does help and I think it it's a distraction like mentally it's it's you know feeding your soul it's really difficult because there are so many reasons why somebody might not get pregnant and so it's also very difficult to say if you do x you will get pregnant as well but what we can say is that look you if you're planning

to get pregnant you're going to want to go into that pregnancy strong because pregnancy is very taxing on the body, you know, it is hard work. And so we want to make sure that you're going into pregnancy as strong and as fit and as healthy as possible. And, you know, do not worry, as long as you are not, you know, it's like anything, isn't it? Extremes are never great, you know, and so actually, instead it extremes are never great you know and so actually instead if it there's a whole generation of women you know who really like to exercise because of how it makes them feel maybe it's part of their mental health um you know plan and how they stay sane um or it's a big part of their identity and it's such a shame to cut that out when you're trying to conceive when actually the research does not support that yeah see at the moment i'm really struggling to go to the gym i just can't find the time my little one's just

started school i'm like the person that phones in here i need help and i've got you yeah i it's just actually finding that time and in my head i'm like i really want to work out at home but i know it's never going to happen and i know like I need to prioritize my time better, but I'm really struggling because I've got Aurelia who's four and then Bodie's two and one goes to one school. The other one goes to preschool. So I'm in the morning doing all these trips then by the time and then I have to work. It's just, it's a lot.

And I'm really, I know that, you know, for me, fitness is really good for me mentally and I need to do it. But it is finding that time. Yeah, so difficult. And I mean, you know, it's often what we'll hear from members. It's actually, especially during your first pregnancy, it's a bit of a luxury because you have usually got the time, you know, unless your work life balance is really skewed. But, you know, in general, most of us probably have more time whilst we're doing that first pregnancy than we do postnatally, because all of a sudden mums just move down the list of priorities, you know, and there's always something else that we could be doing. So I get it. It is really difficult. And, you know, I've gotten an eight month old, my second. And, you know, for work, I need to be strong and fit and I needed to get back to teaching. And I feel the same pressures as everyone else yeah so I had to just really really uh prioritize walking so Kit goes in the baby carrier he goes absolutely everywhere with me in there bless him um you know walking is such an underrated form of physical activity I

think people often say oh I barely I don't do any exercise but actually if you counted how many steps you've done you know it might be well I was really happy I did 10,000. So I'm happy with 10,000 steps. Even if you just gave that as like, you know what, every day at first I'm just going to try and do 10,000 steps. And then eventually, hopefully, you might get back to the gym. But yeah, it is very difficult. And I think it's, you know, even when we have these babies and we're not, we're not prepared for afterwards. So with Aurelia, I think I may have prolapsed,

but I didn't know because I didn't know what feeling I should have been feeling down there. Then I had Bodie. So mine have only got 15 month age gap. And with Bodie, I actually now do have a prolapse. So when I go to the gym, I also find that quite embarrassing too yeah because I fanny fart yeah yeah and it's so embarrassing yeah you know what I'm sat here

thinking this is amazing guys I am flushing right now because there'll be lots of listeners who actually maybe have never heard of a prolapse yeah so prolapse is essentially where one or more of your pelvic organs drops down into the vaginal canal and it's usually because the pelvic floor is not able to support those organs and so some of the symptoms that you might have is kind of a feeling of heaviness down there or not being able to kind of keep a tampon in or like you said you know fanny farts you know we've all been there haven't we? It's so embarrassing when you're doing yoga and you're like downward jump extend your leg then i'm thinking oh my god i've really got to bring this back slowly but i could just go on the way down and it is embarrassing but then i think we're all women you know we need to yeah embrace the prolapse it's actually really quite common as

well and obviously it's more common in those who've had a vaginal birth um but in jet and and also how do i wear this like older ladies, you know, once we might reach kind of menopause onwards, it's more common as well. And, you know, and it is common. It's not normal, you know, but it is common. So I think that's what we need to say, that there will be lots of other people out there who have it. And there's varying degrees of prolapse as well. But the good thing is, is that you can exercise with it you know working with a pelvic health physio is really important you might be able to use like a pessary or just find out which types

of exercise work for you but it is yeah it is quite common do you think i should have an operation to get it back or do you think i should just do exercise to get it back i think i think you need to see a pelvic health physio as much as possible. They are the absolute experts. I wouldn't have even known this. This is not common knowledge. They should teach this in school. They should teach this in school. And then you don't feel like, oh, this has happened to just me.

Yeah, yeah. And yeah, pelvic health physios, if you are worried about anything down there, to be honest, if I could gift every person who's had a baby anything, it would be an appointment with the pelvic health physio. We call them at the Bumplan Fanny Magicians because they are just amazing. And, you know, it's so likely that we will have something after we've had a baby that might need a little bit of support or a little bit of help or education to get us back to feeling amazing again, which is what we deserve. But actually, we just end up putting it to one side, you know, I'll book an appointment next week. I'm so like that.

I'll do it next week. I'll do it next week. And now it's like, well, Bodhi's, oh my God, he's three. He's going to be three this month. And I still haven't seen anyone really. And how do you find it juggling your two? So you've got Kit, who's eight months yep yeah and then freya who's four yep yeah i don't know i'm very driven i mean the bump plan is has been the most incredible

project i've ever worked on and i've got a studio in london as well that takes up a lot of time so from a business point of view you know i am pulled in lots of different directions and i'm needed but i absolutely love my job i I mean, I, I just, I feel the luckiest person for the last 12 years. I've just absolutely, I've never had that Sunday night dread. So I love my job. Yeah. I just love it. And then obviously I love my kids as well. So I think that's sometimes the hard bit, you know, you, I love both. The business was my first baby. Um, but I'm really lucky that actually about seven years ago my husband gave up his job to come and work with me um so how's that it's you know how do you work

together live together and raise babies together yes yeah alcohol wine um you know what it's actually it's really great in lots of ways because I'm quite a feminist and my husband is also the first person when someone says what, you know, what do you, what, they'll always ask him. You know, we just moved to Dorset, right? Everyone presumes that we must have come straight from London and that he is the money. Do they have like a code for you down there?

Grockles. Yeah. A lot of areas, like people that move out from London, they call, they call us something. Yeah, Grockles. Wow. And I don't people that move out from london they call me they call that they called us something just like oh and i don't know how long i've got to be there before i can start being seen as like a local um but often people will say to my husband oh what do you do and he'll go i work for her and point to me and they'll go huh and he'll go yeah she's my boss and he's the first person who will say like that it was my it's my business and he works for me um which is i it's such a small thing but it's

actually really important to me and it's and it does shock people we've had all sorts of comments you know i could write a list of all the things that people have said oh god give me one give me a comment one of my a male i don't he won't listen to this um yeah when i said oh my what he said what does your husband do I said oh he works for he works for the bump plan he works for me and he was like oh he's under the thumb oh how could oh I couldn't do that and I just thought like well yeah actually I'm really lucky that my husband is the type of man who can do that and he and he loves saying that he works he's so proud and it must be easier to work together because even like child care a hundred

percent yep if I yeah if I'm if I'm filming a podcast for example you know he I know that And it must be easier to work together because even like childcare. A hundred percent. Yep. If I, yeah, if I'm, if I'm filming a podcast, for example, you know, he, I know that, I know there is that other person that is always going to be able to do the other share. So we share childcare 50-50 and business-wise, work-wise, we work 50-50 as well. We've got our own roles. He knows you the boss. Yeah, he knows I've got the final say. But actually, no no it's where it's worked really well for a long time but we do have to be really careful that like in the evening

when we're having dinner with the kids that one of us isn't going like oh my gosh did you see the vat returns come in blah blah blah you know you've got you got to be like nip it in the bud let's talk about this at work when you're there yeah nine to five yeah in theory yeah yeah still creeps into the bedroom you know like you'll be just going to bed you'll be like did you email that person back and then they'll be like no and then you tell each other so do you ever argue oh yeah yeah discussions do it calls them yeah they're discussions um i'd call them arguments but yeah you know it's it's it's obvious when you spend that much time with each other and how long did you say you'd been doing it before about seven seven years oh so

i've been so i've been run the business for 12 years and he joined seven years ago. So, yeah, the business was there and then he sort of came on. Yeah. The other things people will say is like, oh, does he do all the finances? Or they'll say, oh, is he the money? He's like the money and you're the face. And actually, I do all the finances. He's invested all the money.

I just look this good. I do all the fitness. And he is the finances. He's invested all the money. I just look this good. I do all the fitness. And he is the man. But it is such a man's world, isn't it? Oh, it's so kind of, yeah, internalized misogyny, I guess, isn't it? But go on a rant about that. But I'm very lucky. And I realize I'm very lucky.

And yeah, I wouldn't be able to do that, I don't think, while the kids are this small, if I didn't have. No one else is going to work as hard on the business as literally your husband. No, he cares about it because, obviously, you both need to care about it for your... Mortgage. Mortgage, future, kids doing what they want to do.

Yeah, so I'm very lucky. That's how I juggle it. Otherwise, I don't know how I would do it, yeah. Oh, it's incredible. Do you have an insatiable fascination with the paranormal? Brace yourself for the supernatural world is about to reveal all of its secrets on the Paranormal Activity podcast. And who better to guide you through this hair raising journey than myself, Yvette Fielding, renowned paranormal investigator. raising journey than myself, Yvette Fielding, renowned paranormal investigator. Every episode of Paranormal Activity takes you on an unforgettable adventure into the unknown. But that's not all.

The true heart of this podcast lies in the stories, evidence and questions shared by our devoted listeners. Will you dare to join me? Listen to Paranormal Activity with me, Yvette Fielding, wherever you get your podcasts from so what exercise would you recommend for people that are pregnant so I think it's really important so as a business we are really evidence-based we are not about whether it's our studio the bump plan we're um all about empowering people to exercise for for how the performance side of things you know um how it makes your body perform rather than how it makes your body look so we are not about weight loss or aesthetic goals so for

that reason i'm really against when someone says i did this whilst i was pregnant and look how strong and fit i am and i didn't have a cesarean I had an emergency cesarean first time. I had an elective cesarean second time. I did everything by the book and things can still go wrong. So we're all about the evidence. And so what you have to look at are the chief medical officers guidelines, the chief medical officers for the UK, they get all the research together about what's safe to do whilst you're pregnant and shows, you together about what's safe to do whilst you're pregnant and shows what the benefits are. And they pull together these guidelines. So we're really lucky in the UK that we have set guidelines for during pregnancy as to what exercise or what

physical activity you should do. And those guidelines are that we should aim to do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week which is really wordy and essentially moderate intensity means that it's got your heart rate up and it's got your breath rate up but you're able to have a conversation okay and physical activity means anything that gets your heart rate up so that could be sex if that's what you're up for you know not during my pregnancy but um it could be sex could be house cleaning it could be walking the dog it could be pilates it could be running it could be anything um that's that you can still talk whilst you're doing and there's some obvious things that you can't do like bumping your bump so things like rugby or horse riding where you're more likely to

bump your bump might not be great but in, what you were doing before you got pregnant, you can continue with. If it feels good, you know, you're not leaking urine. As long as you can, you know, talk and you feel good, then in theory, you can pretty much carry on as you did before. And we want you to. And I just think it goes down to that. Everybody's body's different and you have to do what's right for you. So if you're not, if it doesn't feel right, like for me, I got to the point where I'm like, I can't actually physically put my trainers on now. So I don't think gym's for me right now. It's just being smart, isn't it really? And listening to your body, which, you know, I know we're all so busy that it's sometimes really hard to listen to your body.

Yeah, it's so difficult. And not comparing with like Tracy down the pub. I will always say, know paula we all compare though don't we it's so difficult especially as women because we are compared by other people but you know paula radcliffe was able to continue running at a really high level during her pregnancy but good for her that's because that's what she'd been doing before she got pregnant also if she drops from doing that that probably would have been a bit more dangerous for her because her body's used to imagine if she just sat on the sofa and was like no i'm just gonna watch friends box sets exactly but she will have also had lots of coaches that were helping her and she will have tapered down slightly compared to what she would normally do so so yeah it really is what's amazing

is over the last few years especially with people like the active pregnancy foundation really helping to get more information out there we now know that we can do a lot more than we than we thought we could and we should do more than we thought we could and so there's no reason for us to just stop doing stuff that we enjoy because we're pregnant so if you can get out get walking get running just move in some way yes exactly so you touched then on your um birth stories how how were your births yeah we like to we like to know about people's births yeah so well so the first one so with who with freya um it was a really great pregnancy you know i felt fantastic that's when i filmed the first pregnancy bump plan um and did everything by the book did hypnobirthing you know um and then at the last

minute i got gestational diabetes and it was really funny because every appointment you have your midwife will say like any itchy hands or feet and i go no no and then there was one towards the end i think i was 39 weeks and my husband stew was there as well and she said that question and he said and he introduced no i've had really itchy armpits recently and i said i've had really itchy armpits too and i showed the midwife and they were like red raw they'd been keeping me awake at night and so we were like i must just be like a new shower gel or something and anyway the midwife said look i'm gonna have to just take a blood anyway and test you um and then it came back that i had obstetric cholestasis where your liver's giving off um

toxins i think basically that are dangerous for the baby or they say that you know there's a higher risk of stillborn and so they kind of really encourage you uh to be induced and i managed to push to be induced much later i said can i have another week um but yeah so give me more time yeah please i tried everything but obviously nothing worked and i knew she wasn't ready to come out as well i had had no twinges, nothing. And so, yeah, so then it was an induction that then wore off because there was no space on the labour ward. So then I was induced again.

So then I was hyperstimulated, which is basically where you just have constant contractions and they're really, really painful. And then, yeah, three days of that, emergency cesarean, sepsis in hospital. So after that, I was like, I don't want any more children. I genuinely like the thought of having another baby just actually just made me just so anxious. And I guess it worried your husband as well, because I think, you know, we do love our women on here.

But it's so hard for them to watch. Yeah, yeah. And especially you going through all that. And they're scared for the baby as well, you know. And the sepsis. Yeah, yeah. Not nice. And actually, in hindsight, you know, you then go into being a mum.

I think especially when you go from zero to one, I think that's the biggest shock anyway. No one can prepare you, actually, for, like, how mind-blowing becoming a parent is. But I think when i look back in hindsight i was very anxious like i would constantly think about oh my gosh what if stew like slips down the stairs with her and she dies when you walk around you think what if what if they hit their head off the wall yeah i just get rational thoughts but everyone does have them irrational thoughts i don't think that's spoken about enough because when you're having them irrational thoughts you're thinking is everyone else thinking like this?

But it is normal. And you don't want other people to think you're crazy. But yeah, in hindsight, it meant I went into parenting probably quite anxious and I'd like wouldn't nap. I wouldn't let anyone else take her. I would never let her leave the house without me. And so, yeah, so then I really wanted a V-back with Kit. I was desperate to have a vaginal birth. And then, yeah, you know, it wasinal birth and then um yeah you know it was

getting later and later and later and he was due on christmas day he stayed in for christmas day and then i had a an exam like i pushed right till the end and then they gave me a vaginal exam and i and they said look that baby's not coming anytime soon like you you should you should probably just have these you know in france there's no, and in other countries, there's no like 40 weeks. There's like, they say in seasons, like in Somalia, they go, you'll have the baby, you know, in the, yeah. It's like, there's no like weeks.

And I feel like the baby will come when the baby wants to come. And you probably weren't ready. It's like, I'm having a lovely time in here. It's tricky, isn't it? Because especially with the bump plan, you've got so many experts involved in it and we're all about you know um advocating for yourself and not allowing your you to be like pushed into induction things like that so I was

very much like no I'm going to make the choice here but it got to I think I think he was 41 weeks I think um and because I've had a previous cesarean and it had gone so wrong you know then there's other complications that are mentioned and in in the end, I was getting more and more anxious. And so the elective cesarean was honestly healing. I almost before I'd even got the feeling back in my legs, I was saying to Stuart, I really want another baby. Like, this is amazing. During the surgery, I was thinking, oh my gosh, this is absolutely beautiful so honestly it completely healed everything in that respect i was um birthing partner to my friend rosie and when we went in it was either a birth a natural birth or the c-section i think they were so like shocked but they say don't they for the trauma of

the child that actually a c-section is better so either vaginal birth or c-section she didn't want to be induced she was like don't induce me and and i think they were quite shocked that we went in with that but you know when i did hypnobirthing i remember um uh my teacher saying to me if you went to buy a house you ask questions questions, don't you? You don't just go, oh. Yeah. So you sort of have to go in there and say, what are the options? Or this is what I want to do. This is my birth. This is what I want to do. And it had got to the point where I'd said, you know, I'm going to push to 41 weeks.

And if he's not in here, then we'll, you know, have another conversation. And actually, in hindsight, I'm really glad that I did have the elective because during surgery, they suddenly went a bit quiet and we could tell something. And I actually had a really bad reaction to the beginning of the cesarean again, but then they managed to get that under control. But they suddenly went a bit quiet and then they realised he was breech and that had never come up in any of the scans. And his head was, I'd broken my rib. I'd probably just done it before. And he'd got his head stuck in my rib cage. And so that's why I'd broken a rib.

But we thought it was because I had a chest infection. But anyway, so he was stuck and he was breached. So actually the chances of me ending up having like an easy vaginal birth. It wasn't going to happen. Probably wouldn't have happened. So in the end, it was. What's Kit's personality like? He's just so chilled.

Is he? He's so cute. He's so chilled. I thought you were going to say, oh, he's up all night. Like he's. Oh, I'm not sleeping. But yeah, that's babies. But no, he's really chilled night like he's oh i'm not sleeping but yeah that's babies but no he's really chilled he's gorgeous right should we go through our question that's been sent in they've said hey

i'm wanting to get back into a routine of exercise it's been about two months since i had my little boy and i want to ease myself back in could you speak to someone who specializes in postnatal fitness with some tips on how I can ease myself back into fitness again? Loving the podcast, keep doing what you're doing. I agree. Yeah, so I think that actually during pregnancy, we are worried that we might harm our babies. So that's why we get a little bit nervous

and we probably stop doing some of the exercise that we probably could keep doing. Postnatally, I think all of a sudden we feel quite broken. And I can't speak for everybody, but I can speak for the thousands and thousands of women I've trained who will say like, I feel really nervous, I'm going to hurt myself, or I'm going to start things too early. And so actually what tends to happen is, yeah, either people start too early, too much, and they do end up injuring themselves or developing a prolapse, or they do nothing for a very long time. And actually, they probably should have done something. So what in an ideal world, but I do want to caveat that you also have

a baby and you're tired, and you might not have much childcare or support at home. And so, you know, this is not the you must do this, but in an ideal world, often people think they need to wait till their six week checkup before they do anything. And anyone who's had a six week checkup with a GP knows that it's quite short. And actually they might not even look at you. They didn't even look at my scar first time round and I'd had sepsis. And so actually we don't use that six week marker as like the gold standard for when you can start moving your body again and then start running. Actually, you can start moving your body as soon as you feel comfortable, even if you've had a cesarean. So what I would say in those first kind of six to

12 weeks, I would focus on things like gentle stretching, because you're in this position all the time, no matter how you feed your baby. So gentle stretching that feels good, that's not hurting any of your scars. Breath work, which sounds really kind of hippie-ish, but actually when we breathe, we naturally move and tone our pelvic floor. So breathwork, where you're taking big, deep breaths in and then exhaling out and cleaning out your lungs. Deep core activation. So that's things like almost imagining like hugging your tummy in or gently drawing your belly button towards your spine. So activating your transverse, your deep core and pelvic floor exercises you can do them as soon as you've had a catheter taken out if you've got one in you can do it the day you give birth if you wanted to um and you can do those sorts of things and get up and start walking around as soon as you

feel comfortable too so there's no cut off and then yeah by two months you know your body has started to kind of get back to um i don't want to say get back to where it was before because it takes a long long time for that um but what i mean is that you're sort of getting a little bit safer your scars will in theory be healing if you have any scars or tears and that's when you can sort of start to increase things but i would always just start off really gradually and the aim is to build back up to those 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity in that first year after you've had a baby yeah how long would you say it actually takes to get back to you again it's so difficult isn't it because I mean kit's eight months and I work in this industry and you know I still I'm not maybe as strong as I was before but in between having

Freya and kit, so even after an emergency cesarean, I was definitely the strongest I'd ever been even before having Freya. And so you can definitely, definitely like, I hate the phrase, get your body back, but I mean, get your strength back. And you can be as strong and as fit as you were pre-babies, if that's what you want to, it it takes a long time and it depends how your labor went or if you have a prolapse or if you have diastasis um so it really varies again don't compare yourself with anyone else so i think give yourself a good year to try and build back up to those 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity um per week and then you can

start thinking about kind of increasing it on top of that if you want to. If you love it, if you love exercise. Yeah, but equally, we've also got lives, so it has to be sustainable. Yeah, and that's what I find hard at the moment. I'm not sustaining anything. I've had to go to the Alps to walk and raise money for charity, but also get my exercise in. I mean, that's how bad my life is. But do you know what I mean?

It's two kids. It's just a lot, isn't it? And I think it's realising as well that that's okay. Like there will be periods of your time. Take winter, for example, where actually your physical activity levels might go down because it's darker earlier and it's darker later or it's cold and you just can't be bothered. And you don't really go out and walk as much, do you? summer you're like oh it's beautiful let's go out for an evening stroll

exactly so it's being okay with the fact that yeah you know my activity levels might be lower right now but i also know that they will go back up again in the future the kids will start school and i'll have a bit more free time or you know yeah just being kind to yourself because this is about life like being active it needs to be a long term plan. It needs to be that way. And we enjoy it. The last thing I would ever want anybody to do is do a form of exercise that they absolutely bloody hate. So if you're sat on a spin bike for half an hour, just thinking, God, I hate this. Get off the bike and there'll be something that you do enjoy doing for half an hour that's probably just as active for you.

Again, whether that's having sex, cleaning your house, it doesn't matter. It's all good for your body. Amazing. Thank you so much. You're welcome. I've gone off on a rant. No, I love it. I love it.

I'm like literally so invested. I'm like, this has spurred me on to be like, get some time, get to the gym, sort my life out. But thank you so, so much. You're welcome. Do you have a question you want me and my guests to answer? Get in touch by emailing askmumsthewordpod at gmail.com or leave us a voicemail on WhatsApp. Our number is 07599927537 or leave it as a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps others find us. And talking of spreading the news, please tell another person about the podcast and help us reach more people. We'll be back with another episode, same time, same place, next week. I've been Kelsey Parker.

You can find me on being underscore Kelsey on Instagram, where I'm just being me. Thanks for listening.