If you’re only looking to get flat abs post-pregnancy, I’m not your trainer.
I’m just not your girl because I care more about your abs functioning well, than how flat they are.
I care more about whether your core muscles support your body, keep you from leaking during exercise (and in life), that you recover well from a C-section, and help you to exercise safely and without injury, than what your stomach used to look like.
I joke that I’m not going to spend my life hoping to get my stomach of Oct 2014 back (when I got pregnant), but I’m not joking at all.
I’m 100% not willing to sacrifice your functioning body because you want to do super intense exercise to change your body composition RIGHT. NOW.
There are plenty of other trainers out there who will do that for you.
This is what my belly looks like when I’m sitting on the floor playing with my 7-month old. My belly hangs over my pants.
This was a post-30-min-workout, where I challenged myself, but didn’t kill myself. Where I felt better after I exercised, than I had before.
I had more energy, felt more awake, more focused instead of run down and needing a nap (what are naps?!).
This was a great workout that had nothing to do with making my belly smaller. Nothing.
I refuse to go to that place. I lived there for too long.
The place I like to be now?
Healthy + strong + nourished + hanging with my baby on the floor and giving zero f*cks about whether my belly is hanging over my pants.
Postpartum exercise is not about getting flat abs.
WHAT? Serious.
It’s not about getting your “abs back”. It’s about restoring your body’s function so that you can do more intense exercise again, when your body is truly ready, if you want.
This is my 7-months postpartum belly, including C-section scar.
Approaching postpartum exercise with the sole focus of making your body smaller, tighter, less “fat”, etc has the potential for danger. I’ve rarely seen it make any mama feel more powerful, more relaxed, more…herself again.
What I have seen?
It makes women more neurotic about food, more fatigued, less in tune with their hunger, cravings get out of whack, they become injured, they dread exercise, they become LESS comfortable in their skin.
NONE of that is stuff I like. There’s a different way and I’m giving you permission to go down the other path. Please give yourself permission, too.
Jess
Is your body’s worth about more than flat abs, too? Here’s how I workout for a strong core, that functions well, and helps me live my life and be a mom in a happy, healthy, active way.
