Research: Exercising after giving birth? Be flexible!

Exercising after childbirth? Mothers who want to become active again after giving birth should best approach it flexibly. Perhaps more importantly: You do not have to feel guilty about the time you spend on your own health. That is the outcome of a new study by Kansas State University.

Exercising after childbirth: Flexi mama

You gave birth a few weeks ago and want to start exercising after childbirth. According to new research, recently published in Journal of Health Psychology, it is better to adopt a flexible approach than to stick to a fixed training schedule. A fixed training schedule would pose too high a threshold. To become active again, it would be better to seize every available form of activity to get back into the rhythm. Moreover, it is important to learn to deal with practical and mental barriers, such as the often mentioned guilt of spending time on yourself. Even people who were really active before having kids tend to decrease their physical activity after having kids because they prioritize the baby's needs first... In the workshops, we talked specifically about guilt and the idea that doing something for yourself is not selfish -- it actually might help you be more patient or have more energy for your kids.

• Emily Mailey, Kansas State University

As part of the research, Emily Mailey organized workshops for women who had given birth 6 weeks to 12 months prior. One group received general advice on increasing activity and dealing with barriers. Here, the mothers could use any form of activity, including exercises with the baby. A second group received the same general advice but was also given a running program designed to get inactive people gradually running (half an hour, three times a week). All mothers wore accelerometers to measure activity. They also indicated after the study to what extent they could deal with barriers that hindered activity. Mailey expected the running program to be particularly successful because it provides a clear guideline for success. The opposite turned out to be true. Mothers in the flexible group had increased their activity to a greater extent than the runners, although the difference was small. All mothers reported being better able to deal with potential barriers.

Keep it fun

The study found that some simply disliked running. Of course, you can avoid this by creating a schedule that more closely matches your own preferences regarding training. Another important factor was the fixed half-hour training block. This often proved difficult to schedule for many mothers. For the 'flexible' mothers, this was easier. They could decide for themselves when, how, and how long to fill their daily movement. In the workshops, the possibilities of choosing especially fun activities were discussed with the mothers in the flexible group, possibly dividing them into three blocks of 10 minutes instead of a half-hour block. But you don't have to stick to those times either. Mailey also refers to the 10,000 steps (or 15,000 steps?) that are put forward as a daily goal. While that may be a nice goal, it is especially important to have realistic goals and to gradually increase your activity. If you want more information about training after childbirth? We already wrote an extensive article on this topic before.

Reference

1. Emily L Mailey, Wei-Wen Hsu. Is a general or specific exercise recommendation more effective for promoting physical activity among postpartum mothers? Journal of Health Psychology, 2017; 135910531668762 DOI: 10.1177/1359105316687627