Postpartum Workout Plan: When to Start and What to Do
Check with your doctor first, after every birth. After an uncomplicated vaginal birth, ACOG says it's usually safe to start a few days later; after a C-section, ask your ob-gyn. Start with walks and pelvic floor work, then step up by how you feel, not the calendar: when the last stage is easy, with no leaking, heaviness or pain.
When can you start working out after giving birth?
Sooner than you might think, with one rule first: get your doctor's OK, however you gave birth. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says it's usually safe to begin exercising a few days after giving birth, or as soon as you feel ready. If you had a C-section or complications, ask your ob-gyn when it's safe to begin.
You don't have to wait for your 6-week visit to start walking. A 2019 UK guideline for physios and trainers says the 6-week check is too long to wait for gentle activity: walking, pelvic floor work and tummy exercises. What waits is running.
The goal is 150 minutes a week of moderate activity, the kind where you can talk but not sing, plus strength work on at least 2 days. ACOG lists lifting weights as strength work.
Your postpartum workout plan, stage by stage
Each stage has a check, not a date. Every check includes this: no leaking, heaviness or pain, during or after. The weeks come from the UK guideline's example plan: squats and bridges from weeks 2 to 4, a light deadlift from weeks 6 to 8. A C-section, a hard birth or short nights can stretch any of them, and that's normal.
| Stage | What you do | Move on when |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Walk and breatheOften weeks 0 to 2 | Short walks, building toward 20 to 30 minutes a day. Pelvic floor squeezes and gentle tummy work lying down, like pelvic tilts. | A 20 to 30 minute walk feels easy. |
| 2. Bodyweight strengthOften from weeks 2 to 4 | Two or three short full-body sessions a week: squats to a chair, glute bridges, wall push-ups and band rows. | Two or three sets of 10 feel easy. |
| 3. Add weightOften from weeks 6 to 8 | Dumbbells for goblet squats, rows and presses, and a light deadlift. Start the deadlift no heavier than your baby in the car seat, about 15 kg (33 lb), and build from there. | Only if you want to run or jump: you're past 3 months and you pass the at-home test below. |
| 4. Running and jumpingNot before 3 months | Easy jogs, then hops and faster intervals. | This is the last stage. Add distance and speed a little at a time. |
Often weeks 0 to 2
- What you do
- Move on when
Often from weeks 2 to 4
- What you do
- Move on when
Often from weeks 6 to 8
- What you do
- Move on when
Not before 3 months
- What you do
- Move on when
The test before you run or jump
The UK guideline says running isn't advisable before 3 months after birth, or later if you have pelvic floor symptoms. Before your first run, it wants you to do all of these without pain, heaviness, dragging or leaking:
- Walk for 30 minutes
- Balance on one leg for 10 seconds
- Single-leg squat, 10 on each side
- Jog on the spot for 1 minute
- Forward bounds, 10
- Hop in place, 10 on each leg
- Single-leg "running man", 10 on each side
It also has you check your strength, aiming for 20 reps each of single-leg calf raises, single-leg bridges, single-leg sit-to-stands and side-lying leg lifts, to show where to focus your strength work. If one of the seven feels wrong, stay at stage 3 for now and ask your doctor about a pelvic health check.
Signs to stop and call your doctor
ACOG's rule is short: stop exercising if you feel pain. The UK guideline's running advice adds these signs to watch for:
- Leaking pee or poop
- Pressure, a bulge or a dragging feeling in your vagina
- Vaginal bleeding during or after exercise that isn't your period
- Pain in your pelvis
If you notice any of them, drop back a stage and tell your doctor or a pelvic health physical therapist.
Is the gap in your belly normal?
It's very common. In a Norwegian study of 300 first-time mothers, 60% had a gap at least two fingers wide between their tummy muscles six weeks after birth. Doctors call it diastasis recti. At six months it was 45%, and at a year, 33%.
In the same study, women with and without the gap reported the same amount of back and pelvic pain a year after birth. If your belly domes or bulges down the middle when you sit up, show your doctor or a pelvic health physical therapist, and ask which moves to change for now.
How to fit workouts in with a baby
Forget the hour at the gym. ACOG says even 10 minutes of exercise benefits your body, and three 10-minute walks a day reach the weekly goal. A set of squats while the bottle warms is part of the plan.
If you breastfeed, feed or pump before you work out, so you're comfortable. The US Physical Activity Guidelines say moderate exercise doesn't appear to hurt how much milk you make, what's in it, or how your baby grows.
If you'd rather press play than build your own, a Solin creator has done the planning. Emma Logsdon's Postpartum: Weeks 1-6 covers the first six weeks after birth with breathing, core and pelvic floor work and gentle movement. Kylie Holbeck's RENEWED 2.0 picks up at weeks 5 to 11 with five strength workouts a week.
And their members say the workouts fit around the baby. Taylor wrote: "With kids at home, every day is different and it’s nice knowing that whether my baby naps or not isn’t going to impact my workout!!" And Madeline, in a review on Kylie Holbeck's page: "Being four months postpartum and having a two year-old I’ve found it hard to make time to work out and prioritize my health with these 30 minute workouts have made it possible and I’m starting to feel myself!" Results vary.
Will working out help you lose the baby weight?
On its own, less than you'd hope. A Cochrane review of trials after birth found that women who only exercised didn't lose significantly more weight than women who got usual care. Women who changed what they ate and exercised lost about 2 kg (4 lb) more than usual care. The authors say diet plus exercise preserves fat-free mass, while diet alone reduces it.
So lift to get strong, walk to feel better, and eat real food. Strong, not starving. Don't get your bikini body back, get yourself back.
Do it with other moms
Solin creators run postpartum programs from the first weeks after birth onward, each with a community of moms doing it alongside you and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Check with your doctor first, then pick the one that fits where you are.
See postpartum programs