Exercise - Palmer,MA

HI K., It may be too soon to see immediate results having a C-section. However, the body responds quickly to pilate based exercises. Comcast on demand has a good selection if you don't want to find dvd's. Good luck!

I also had a c-section (in March) and resulting complications that kept me unable to exercise for months. I started with walking with the stroller to ease back into it. Then I started walking with the baby in the front pack. Then I added simple crunches etc with the baby for fun for both of us. I lay down and put her on my shins (holding her of course) and bring my legs up in a cruching motion. We only do a few reps but she laughs and has a great time! I didn't gain a lot pregnancy weight but I am now well below pre-pregnancy weight and fit into my skinny jeans!

Had a relatively easy time coming back from my C-section by walking the baby in the stroller at first, and graduating to the jogger stroller. The stomach went pretty quickly. Seemed to take advantage of the weight training from 9-months of pregnancy, while not stressing the abdominal surgery. Even if you're not into running, the aerobic exercise is great for you, not to mention that the baby gets fresh air. Good luck! S.

Gentle curls and walking really should do it. Just go easy and be gentle with yourself!

I like to use one of those big exercise balls. Its great for working out your stomach, and on the other hand it makes it easy to really stretch out your back and stomach which helps with my back pain.

I agree with Paula and Sylvia F --- pilates-based exercises and particularly Mari Windsor Pilates are really effective if you do it right. (Believe me you can tell just by how you feel when you're doing it if you're doing it right or not!) I have the Mari Windsor DVD set, have had it for four years, and still use it three times a week. Sometimes I do the 20-minute session and sometimes I use the longer one. By now I have it memorized but I like to hear and follow the voice. It's almost like meditation me-time as well.

You can probably get the DVD set on Amazon.com.

Good luck!

Hi K.,
Congrats on your new addition!
I also ended up having a c-section back last October 9th, wow was I shocked to see how hard it was to even do a crunch once I got the dr's ok! What worked for me was lots & lots of walking (even in winter, bundle up yourself & baby and just get out), lots and lots of water & crunches and streches on the exercise ball -
- basic crunches (up & down, focusing on keeping elbows out), and crunches leaning side to side to really hit the obliques.
Once I built up a little muscle again I would add some floor excercise
- lay flat on back arms over head holding the excercise ball, legs out straight on ground, keeping head on ground slowly raise both arms and legs and pass the ball to your feet holding between your ankles and slowly lower to ground, repeat passing ball back to your hands.
You may only be able to do a few at first but just build up the reps.
This is the routine I did for my stomach and gradually worked up to running every morning; I'm now up to 3.5 miles 4 to 5 days a week w/ the above stomach routine and I'm now in great shape...4 pounds lighter then pre-baby w/ a nice flat stomach (still not hard but it is flat).
Good luck, take it slow and eat right!

I swear by Mari Windsor Pilates. I bought the VHS tape 7 years ago and still use it three times a week. I am pretty sure it's still available on DVD. It's a 20 minute work out that really, truly does work. It also has a short series for legs and butt that works great too.

I agree with the other post - exercise ball is great.
And try some pilates! If you have Comcast - you can get some pilates routines free from On Demand.