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Post-Natal Fitness: The Marvelous Mid-Section

You’ve spent the better part of a year watching your belly grow and expand. You’ve loosened the waistband on your pants, invested in new clothes and finally, the momentous day arrived and you have your baby. As we discussed in Post-Natal Fitness: So You Just Had a Baby…. it’s important for you to make sure you see your physician for your check-up after the baby is born and to consult with your doctor before you get started on a fitness program.

That being said, here are a few exercises for you to use to tackle getting yourself back to some pre-pregnancy tone in your midsection. Understand, that these are exercises that you tackle on average 9 to 10 weeks after the baby is born. If you had a c-section, this may be even longer – so don’t attempt these exercises without getting the all clear from your gynecologist and if you experience anything resembling sharp pain or discomfort, cease immediately.

That being said, here are 4 great tummy-tightening exercises to help you get back into those pre-mommy pants:

  • Chair Crunches – Lay on the floor with your knees bent and your lower legs on a chair. Put your hands behind your head and crunch upwards, tightening your abdominals and being sure to lift your shoulders up, but don’t pull on your neck with your hands, hold for a 1-2 count and then relax, repeat 10 to 12 times
  • Power Crunch – Repeat the steps as above, only this time your feet are also on the floor and as you crunch upwards, draw your knees up as well – imagine a string pulling your elbows and knees towards each other and hold for a 1-2 count and then repeat 10 to 12 times
  • Bicycle Crunches – This last set of crunches is repeated as above, only instead of both knees you alternate and twist so that your right knee and left elbow point to each other and on the next crunch it’s your left knee and right elbow, be patient and deliberate, you don’t want a lot of bouncing motion

Crunches such as these described are best performed in a deliberate fashion. It should never be a race and you want to perform them deliberately in order to achieve the maximum effect by performing them properly. If you aren’t comfortable beyond 6 repetitions at first, that’s fine, work yourself up to the 10 to 12 repetitions.

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Measuring Your Strength – Abdominals

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About Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago. They have a beautiful daughter who just turned five years old. She is learning to read and preparing for kindergarten in the fall. An author of more than 300 articles and 500+ web copy pieces, Heather has also written three books as a ghostwriter. Empty Canoe Publishing accepted a novel of her own. A former horse breeder, Heather used to get most of her exercise outside. In late 2004, early 2005 Heather started studying fitness full time in order to get herself back into shape. Heather worked with a personal trainer for six months and works out regularly. She enjoys shaking up her routine and checking out new exercises. Her current favorites are the treadmill (she walks up to 90 minutes daily) and doing yoga for stretching. She also performs strength training two to three times a week. Her goals include performing in a marathon such as the Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness or Team in Training for Lymphoma research. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience through the fitness and marriage blogs.