I just want to share with you my personal story, how a man was dragged into mothers and babies’ world by working out.
One day, I was visiting my little nephew. I was never “good” with babies and kids in general. I am always a little nervous when I am around them though. That was also the situation with my nephew, I was just standing and watching him, said a few words, rubbed his head, but he just stared at me as if I was a weird person. Fortunately, this awkward situation was interrupted by a discussion why is his mother, my relative, who is now few kilos heavier and who breathes heavily when she moves.
I heard many arguments for not working out, such as: everything is happening so fast; changing diapers, breastfeeding, lack of sleep, and crying at night…in the midst of all this chaos you forget about yourself and your body. You feel guilty about the excessive weight you gained, but you have a new priority now; your baby, so everything else is put a side.
Then it crossed my mind: why don’t you work out while you are playing with your baby? Instead of further arguing, I decided to show her.
I picked up my nephew (replacing him with a weight) and started doing some exercises. Immediately I saw a smile on his face and that is when I started liking babies! I liked that smile so much that I did a whole body workout with my little nephew, I was constantly laughing but I finished in a good sweat!
Following this session, I started being more interested in postpartum workouts and designing special workouts for you and your baby. Below are just some of many options for you to be creative and have fun with your child:
- Lounges with core twist to the side at the bottom position, while holding your baby close to your chests
- Squats with baby-raises over your head, after squat just push up the baby as high as you can
- Sumo squats (same as regular squat just wider stand, feet pointed out)
- Floor presses (while you are laying down just raise your child up and down for a few sets of 10 repetitions)
- From a laying down position to standing (holding baby over your head) (this one is the hardest one; multifunctional and incorporates exercises 5 and 2)
- Biceps curls with your baby
These Advises are provided by Trainer Vladan Velojic
