You can continue doing sports after 2 weeks, but only on a low intensity. Think of laying exercises for the pelvic floor. Sports like swimming, yoga, or light gym exercises can be picked up after 6 weeks. After 16 weeks you can continue with increased intensity sports, think of sports like running, fitness, tennis and cycling. You can sport with full intensity after 28 weeks after a vaginal birth. Think of physical contact sports like football, hockey, karate and basketball. Let’s take a look at every question regarding continuing sports after giving birth. I will answer them all. I have researched everything to be able to give you the answers you’re looking for. Have fun reading! And if you still have any other questions, feel free to take a look at my website.
Take a look at my pelvic floor exercises as well, or take a look at the pelvic items in the Pelvic Store.
One person sees sporting as an obstacle, the other person is ready to go. Doing sports is good for you, you remain in good shape and strong. You will also have a faster physical recovery from a variety of events once you’re in good shape. So starting with sports beforehand, or doing sports during your pregnancy, will help you immensely to recover from a vaginal birth. Let’s have a proper read before you’re mindlessly going to lift some weights.
The body after a vaginal birth
Of course you want to start as soon as possible. You want to go back to having your old, fit body. But be careful, beginning with sports too soon after giving birth could cause damage. Your body has had quite the hit. Give yourself first some proper time to rest. You probably won’t even be thinking about working out at first. Give yourself and your newborn enough time. You’re in quite the unique situation. You have created a miracle and if it’s your firstborn, I’m sure you have over 100 questions. Dedicate the first week to your own recovery and to your baby. Take enough time in bed and don’t do too much, leave the chores and groceries be. This benefits your recovery in the first week.
You’ll still be pretty fragile during the first 6 months after giving birth, mainly in the pelvic area. The pelvic floor has been quite stretched out after a vaginal birth, or maybe you’ve been torn which means you needed stitches. This wound needs to heal properly because you should even consider to do sports. Maintain the wound and start with light exercises once it’s been healed up.
The pelvic ligaments also need to relax and settle back into their previous spot and the pelvic floor muscles need to shrink again. The stretched abs need to return in place as well. Recovering properly is crucial for your body after having had a vaginal birth. If you additionally tax the affected muscles, you could damage them even more.
But it is possible to exercise these pelvic floor muscles on a very low intensity. Try to first get control over your pelvic floor muscles and the abdominal pressure. You can already train the abs when you have the right control over your abdominal pressure. It’s a win-win!
No go’s for sporting after a vaginal birth
Your pelvic floor muscles, abs and pelvic ligaments need to receive proper rest after a vaginal birth. You can start doing some pelvic floor exercises after 2 weeks. Take a look at my pelvic floor exercises for after giving birth.
There are a few exercises that you really should NOT perform during the recovery period.
4 forbidden exercises after giving birth:
- Training the straight abs or performing the well-known sit-ups.
- Heavy physical exercises. Especially if you aren’t breathing properly. This increases the abdominal pressure.
- Holding your breath during exercises is a big no go!
- Lifting exercises without being able to catch up the abdominal pressure. You’re additionally taxing your pelvis with the increased abdominal pressure again.
An increased abdominal pressure is far from beneficial for your pelvic floor muscles. Your abs aren’t ready for doing heavy exercises either. These abs still need to return to their original place. This can take up to 6 months before the abs are fully back where they’re supposed to be, the tendon space in the middle of the abs need to be a fingertip wide.
When are you allowed to do sports again after a vaginal birth?
Are you allowed to immediately start with sports after you have had a vaginal birth? Certainly not immediately, no. Women who gave birth most recently wouldn’t be able to either. Let’s say that it will take about 6 weeks before you can pick up moderate sports again, excluding the potential extreme cases that might prolong this recovery period. Think of yoga, light fitness exercises and swimming. Take a look at the table below to see exactly when you can pick up your favorite sports after giving birth.
Time table of continuing sports after a vaginal birth
| Sporting after a vaginal birth | Week 2 | Week 4 | Week 6 | Week 8 | Week 10 | Week 12 | Week 14 | Week 16 | Weak 18 | Week 20 | Week 22 | Week 24 | Week 26 | Week 28 | Week 30 | Week 32 | Week 34 | Week 36 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category 1: Extremely low intensity sports. Pelvicfloor exercises on a mat, in bed, seated or standing, or small walks if you feel good enough. | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Category 2: Low intensity sports. Yoga, light gym exercises, golfing, swimming, light intensity dancing or cycling. | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Category 3: Higher intensity sports like fitness, running, tennis, squash, or cycling on a higher intensity level. | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| Category 4: Physical contact sports. Football, winter sports, hockey, fighting sports, basketball, etc. | X | X | X | X | X |
The prime subject during the first week after giving birth is rest. Don’t leave your bed too often. You can try to walk a few times, but know your limits. If you didn’t have an easy birth, it’s logical that some things will need more time. If you’ve been torn or cut, for example. Your wounds really need some time to heal from these events. I’m sure that you don’t want your stitches to prematurely open. It’s okay to take 2 weeks of bedrest for this.
The physical recovery period aside, you shouldn’t downplay the mental recovery period. Give yourself some time to mentally recover as well. Make sure that you rest the first 2 weeks. Try not to rush anything because that can cause even more damage. You can try to go out for a walk or get on a bicycle once you feel mobile enough, but only if this feels comfortable to you.
You need to ask yourself: “Am I able to function normally without any pain?” If the answer is no, doing sports isn’t smart to do yet. Start with some low intensity pelvic floor exercises on a mat. If you didn’t get any injuries, like tearing, a cut, or other issues, then this is fine to do. Otherwise your recovery period will be extended. Do you have other pelvic issues or pelvic pain? Seek out professional help first. Visiting your doctor is a perfect start. You can also read my advice if you’re experiencing pelvic issues otherwise.
Going fully back to doing sports after a vaginal birth
You can think about going back to sports on a full term after 4 months or so, but don’t start with physical contact sports yet! Think of running or tennis for example. These sports already deliver some pressure and shocks on your pelvic floor muscles, and these have been severely stretched out and weakened during childbirth. Your pelvic floor muscles need to be back in shape before they can catch those hits. Even if you aren’t experiencing direct issues around the pelvis, it is an important piece of advice for you! Make sure that you’re properly getting started with the pelvic floor exercises before you’re going back to tennis for example.
Starter exercises after a vaginal birth
After you have taken enough bedrest, you can start to pick up some things, but extremely light. Think of my pelvic floor exercises, for example. These can prevent a variety of pelvic issues. Feel free to take a look at the pelvic floor exercises after giving birth that I’ve prepared for you, then you have everything at the ready and you’ll be sure that you’re doing the right pelvic floor exercises.
You can also do light abdominal exercises next to the pelvic floor exercises. Retracting the belly button for a few seconds already is a good abs exercise to perform after giving birth. But you can also lightly tense up the stomach and move your neck upwards, this often is enough already. This improves the recovery of the stomach after childbirth by a lot. But know your limits and don’t do anything excessive. This can only wreck you more than get you to recover. You’re already training your muscles by getting out of bed sometimes and by doing light, easy chores.
Building up sports after a vaginal birth
You can do light sports after you’ve given birth, but the most important thing is the buildup. Where do you begin after you’ve just given birth? You wouldn’t want to immediately exceed your limits during your recovery period. Everyone will be at another level when it comes to muscular strength and shape. Mostly listen to your body. Start off with light exercises and feel what it does to your body. Don’t exceed any boundaries, and pain is one noticeable boundary. Hold on to the table above and keep the forbidden exercises in mind. You will notice that it goes better with every passing week. Do light exercises after 2 weeks. Plan in your breaks and keep track of what happens.
The first week after giving birth is all about resting. Don’t leave your bed too often. Start with exercises that you can do while laying down, that way you’re also able to catch some rest. Think of adding an extra exercise with every passing week. Start with some short tense up exercises. Try to retract the vagina and anus one by one. Hold that tension briefly and then let go again. Repeat this for 20 times, for 3 sets, having a small break in between every set. You can add an exercise with each passing week, but you’re only able to pick up some heavier pelvic floor exercises starting from week 7-8.
Unfortunately, do you need to have some patience. Your body needs rest, after all. But you can still do a thing or two if you have to wait until you can work out again. Keep the pelvic floor exercises in mind, the ones where you’re retracting your vagina and anus. You can expand these by adding transversal abdominal muscle exercises or belly button abdominal exercises. And no, I don’t mean sit-ups with these. Retract the belly button, retracting is what your abs are doing as well. You’re activating your abs this way, which improves the recovery of your abdomen. Retract the belly button and hold it for 10 seconds. You can repeat this in one go for 3 or 4 times. Repeat the whole set at least 3 or 4 times a day.
It’s perfectly fine to work on your shape first. You’ll be able to take on more taxing activities after 6 weeks. Activities like swimming or cycling, for example. But maybe cycling isn’t too comfortable for you yet. Try to calmly swim a few laps. Before you enter the swimming pool, it’s important that you don’t have any injuries that could get infected. Do make sure that any injuries or wounds have been healed before you go out for a swim.
Moving is a sport after a vaginal birth too
There’s a lot when it comes to being a new mother. This will physically ask a lot from you. Even though you aren’t optimally fit yet, you will be active a lot. Think of lifting or dressing your baby, for example. You do need to have a pair of good biceps for that. Your shape is important, but your muscle strength is as well. You’re lifting, walking, flying around, bending over and what not. Cardio but also strength training will be recommended to pick up again once you’re able to.
Now what we know some more about what you can and can’t do, we shouldn’t forget that it’s also a matter of the right balance. The balance between efforts and rest. You may have risks of being overtaxed at first. Your muscles have been weakened or maybe even damaged. You can’t do what you’re used to. Don’t immediately pick up your old habits. Start slow and take your moments of rest. Next to taking breaks, it’s also important that you have the right breathing pattern. Breathe in through the abdomen and make sure that the abdominal pressure stays low. Like that you’re avoiding additional pressure on your pelvic floor. Your pelvic floor should be able to recover as well.
Your posture is very important as well. Stay active while keeping your back straight. You’ve still been quite weakened, don’t forget that. Don’t rush yourself and don’t try to over-exceed. If you do, you will notice that this will only cause even more complications.
Sports and breastfeeding
Your recovery can take longer if you’re breastfeeding. Your pregnancy hormones are present for a longer period of time. Now that doesn’t mean that you should stop breastfeeding, but do keep in mind that your body will have a slower recovery rate. The pelvic ligaments and the pelvic instability could need some more time to recover as well. Make sure that you’re consuming enough calories. Your little sucker will swallow away quite a lot of them. Keep an eye on your nutrition if necessary, primarily the amount of protein and carbs. How much is your intake of that? You also need to stay hydrated. Keep an eye on your nutrition and intensity.
It’s recommended to wait with expressing or breastfeeding for about an hour after you have been doing sports. Your body needs some time to recover. Schedule your trainings accordingly so that it isn’t in the way of your physical processes.
When do you need to wait longer with doing sports after a vaginal birth?
There are some situations where it’s recommended to wait longer than what has been mentioned here. Think of needing a longer recovery period if you sport after a vaginal birth. You should expect a longer recovery period in the following situations:
- When you have been torn and stitched. + 2-3 months recovery time.
- When you have been cut and stitched. + 2-3 months recovery time.
- When you have received a C-section. Consider doing sports once your abs have been fully healed. + 6 months recovery time.
- When you’re experiencing too many incontinence issues. You can start with the laying exercises, but it will take longer before you can properly do sports again.
And lastly, are you looking for more information?
Long story short, the pelvis is a complicated part of your body. Hopefully this information was useful to you! If you’re still looking for some more information, feel free to take another look around on the website. It’s filled with in-depth information, tips, a web shop and also exercises. Take your time and keep your recovery in mind. I have made a handy table in another blog so that you can see which sports you can do starting from which week after giving birth. Feel free to read through my blog about “Sports after giving birth. An overview per sport.”
