22/09/2013
Our featured martial arts teacher Peter Robertson blogs about Baby Belly and how to deal with it.
Losing that Baby Belly.
Congratulations on bringing your little bundle of joy into the world. Like my kids, I’m sure that you love your little tyke to bits. Unlike me, (I’m a Dad) your body had a lot to deal with during your pregnancy and now, chances are, you are not in the same shape as you were pre-baby. This can be very hard to deal with and upsetting.….. but don’t worry. You can lose that baby belly with some helpful advice and a little work. Try these suggestions from a Fitness Professional. Every week I will post different exercise and lifestyle tips to help you achieve your goal of getting your body back in the shape you want it in. Please remember to get the all-clear from your doctor before starting any exercise program - especially if you had a medical delivery or c-section. (Exercises specifically for mums who have had C-sections will be covered in a subsequent article.) It is important to remember that your abdominal, core and pelvic floor muscles have changed while you were pregnant to accommodate the growing baby. You need to start off slowly, and listen to your body.
First things first. The Bad News. Losing that Baby Belly won’t happen overnight and you are going to have to work at it. More Bad News. Crunches or sit ups won’t strip fat from your belly. You can’t lose weight from one target area. Trimming down and toning up your belly only happens if you trim down and tone up your WHOLE body at the same time. The Good News. You CAN do it. The Best News. It doesn’t have to be tedious hours on the tread mill, a million repetitions lifting weights in the gym or hiding at the back of an Aerobics Class full of skinny young supermodels and feeling awkward and self-conscious. So How? I won’t lie to you. It will take effort on your part and you will have to dig down deep at times to find the energy and the will to regain your pre-baby body. Let’s begin with some home truths. Cardio exercise like aerobics, jogging etc, burns fat. Cardio exercise takes a lot of time and stamina. You may not have a lot of time with a baby to look after, so aerobics classes, hours on the treadmill or in the gym can be boring as hell and difficult to commit to. The cornerstone of many Pro Athletes training system is the “Variation Principal.” I.E: Olympic sprinters don’t just run as fast as they can to improve performance, they vary their training, lift weights, do aerobics, swim, do all sorts of other things to continually challenge their bodies to adapt to new demands. We are going to use the Pro Athlete’s “Variation Principal” and adapt it to your needs.
This week, I will give you a general exercise program, that is not TOO demanding and focuses more on lifestyle, habits and mental attitude that will get you on the path to a healthier you. New Mums. If you have a new born or just recently had your baby, times are tough. There are a lot of hormones playing havoc with your emotions and your body. Right now, if you are breastfeeding, you may feel like your sole purpose in life is to be a milk dispenser. You have put on weight, gotten all out of shape and wonder how you are going to lose all that fat. Depressing right? Try looking at it this way…... While you were pregnant your body stores fats FOR YOUR BABY. After birth, breastfeeding utilizes those fats and converts them to milk. Your milk helps your child develop their immune system, grow fast and become a big, fat, healthy, happy baby. The longer you can feed your child the better. It follows that it is A GOOD THING that you put on all that weight! It is! Good job Mum! The bigger you are, the better for your baby! Pat yourself on the back! If you can breastfeed, you are doing the most important thing possible for your child. The flip side of the coin is the more successful you are with feeding, the quicker you lose those pounds. To produce breast milk your body burns fats to make milk. The more you feed baby, the faster you slim down. Baby made you bigger while you were pregnant and now baby is making you slimmer. The important thing is to accept this and stop being too concerned with your body image right now. It will improve. It may take time to get back to the shape you were before, but isn’t it worth it? SO worth it? Exercises for New Mums. Q. When do you find time to exercise with a baby hanging off you all day? A. When you have a baby hanging off you all day. Try this weekly exercise program to get started. It’s easy. Trust me.
Every Day Walking with Baby. Brisk walking is probably the best way to trim down. Take Baby out in the stroller or pram every day for ten to twenty minutes. Work up a sweat, walk FAST. Take deep, measured breaths. Oxygen carries glucose etc, to your muscles. Your muscles need a lot of oxygen while exercising, so fill your lungs to capacity and you will develop more stamina. Take your walk in the early morning before it gets too hot. Exercising on an empty stomach, before breakfast, kickstarts your metabolism and burns more fat than at any other time. Try and make this a daily routine for baby and yourself: Get up, feed and change baby and GO. Shower when you get home. Chances are the baby will have fallen asleep during the walk. Brisk walking is a great cardiovascular exercise that increases your ability to cope with all the other exercises in your routine.
The following exercises aim to build muscle strength and size. The more muscle you have, the faster your body burns calories. The more you challenge yourself physically, the more your body responds by building fat burning muscle. Be mindful that muscle weighs more than fat. Measure your progress by how good you feel and how you look in the mirror, NOT on what the scales say.
Do ONE of the following exercises a day. Move on to the next exercise tomorrow.
Varying your routine has better results. You will focus on one muscle group a day, and give that muscle group a rest for a few days before coming back to it. This gives your body different physical challenges every day and the rest gives muscles time to recover and grow stronger before the next challenge.
Alternatively, you might want to do a mix of different exercises throughout the day, so you work the whole body every day. Doing this every other week will present different challenges for your body and force it to adapt by building more strength and burning more calories.
Monday and Thursday Bench Press Baby. Lie down and lift baby straight up in the air ten times. Amuse them by counting out the repetitions. When you get to ten, shout out “Yay!” and give them a big kiss and cuddle. They will love it. Rest for a minute before you repeat bench pressing baby. Do a total of five sets of ten ending in kisses. This exercise will work your arms and pectoral muscles and if you keep it up, will have the added benefit of gradually teaching your child how to count. Watch the anticipation grow on baby’s face as you approach ten. You will be amazed to see how quickly baby recognizes the numbers. Remember to keep breathing! Tuesday and Friday. Shoulder Press Baby. Same as the Bench Press, but from a sitting or standing position. Lift baby up overhead counting out ten repetitions. Give them a “Yay!” on ten and a kiss. Rest for a minute before you repeat Shoulder Pressing Baby. Do five sets of ten repetitions. This exercise will work your arms, shoulders and trapezius muscles. Again - remember to breathe.
Wednesday and Saturday Bent Over Rows with Baby. Bend from the waist. Keep your legs straight, feet a little wider than shoulder width, your back straight and parallel to the floor. Keep your head up. With baby in your hands, lower baby down to the full extension of your arms. Raise baby up close to your face, look at them and say “One.” Squeeze your back and arm muscles together. (Don’t squeeze baby!) Relax the muscles, lower baby and repeat. Do ten repetitions with the usual “Yay!” on ten and a big kiss. This exercise works the arms the entire back. Keeping your legs straight is also an isometric exercise for your legs. Bent Over Rows is more physically demanding, so you might not be able to get through five sets of ten repetitions. Aim for two or three sets of ten repetitions to begin with or five sets of FIVE repetitions. Add more sets every week or so, until you can manage five sets of ten. Breathe!
Sunday Take a break. You’ve had a big week. Have a lazy day and get back to your exercise routine on Monday.
If you like, spread the load throughout your day. A good idea is to do one set of ten repetitions every time you change baby’s nappy. This way you don’t have to work too hard to begin with, but you will still build up the strength and muscle to slowly dissolve that Baby Belly. If you have an unusually weak pelvic floor, it may be helpful to work with a physiotherapist or doctor who specialises in the area before starting your workout routine.
Read his other blogs here: http://www.vogueisme.com/professional/367/Peter-Robertson
