I came across an article today in cosmopolitan discussing Danae Mercer Ricci postpartum journey with exercise. Danae had her daughter in January this year and has since been documenting her journey on her socials. As a women’s health and fitness coach and specialist in pre and postpartum fitness, I think this is great and very inspiring for many mothers. Despite the majority supporting her with her postpartum journey, she has received a small number of upsetting comments regarding postpartum fitness expressing that she was training too early and that she was desperate to lose weight.

Unfortunately, still exercise is strongly associated with diet culture and losing weight. However, for many mothers exercise is a way they can decompress and benefits their mental health massively. Since covid we have seen less and less support for mothers in the postpartum period, now more than ever mothers need support with their maternal mental health. Exercise is proven to have massive benefits for mental health. We should be celebrating mothers for investing in their health and fitness, what a great role model for their children. Of course, as a specialist in postnatal fitness, we need to be mindful of the exercise program we embark on, taking into account the changes our bodies have gone through to support our pelvic floor and core function.

There still is a huge amount of pressure for mothers to bounce back post-baby due to the toxic diet culture which still exists today. Still, we are a long way off from educating new mothers about the benefits of exercise for their postpartum body and maternal mental health. We need to be educating women on the benefits of gentle exercise after a baby to improve the pelvic floor, and the deep core and perhaps in turn this would reduce physiological problems some women face later on in their postpartum journey. Working on the deep core as early as 2-3 weeks postpartum can help heal Diastasis Recti, improve core stability and build strength back.

So how do we change this opinion of exercise for superficial reasons, whether you are postpartum or not? As an expert in the pre and postnatal fitness industry, it is about educating the benefits of exercise for mental and physical health, with less emphasis on aesthetics. When we build a strong functional core and body it benefits our day-to-day life in many ways as busy mothers, this is SO life-changing! We do not exercise to make up for what we have eaten in a day or as punishment. Instead lets us celebrate what our bodies can do and how strong we are as mothers for making the commitment to move. It is very simple but it changes exercises from ‘bad’ to ‘good’.

If you are in the early postpartum stages and not sure where to start; firstly focus on building a strong foundation with deep core and pelvic floor activation exercises. Then find something you enjoy, if you do not enjoy running then don’t run. Movement can be anything; if you enjoy walking then walk. You do your thing, Mama.

Check out my 6-week postnatal program on my FIT MAMA Powered By Mari Carmen Fitness, available to download on the App Store and google play with a 7-day free trial.