Returning to exercise - am I always going to have alluringly bulgy pants?

[MsF1t]

Tena Ladies. The only thing currently enabling me to do circuit training without humiliation: and even then, the words 'star jumps', 'burpees' and 'knees to the chest' strike fear into my heart.

My baby is 7 months old, and was a forceps delivery. I had some issues for a while after, but on the whole am out of nappies. Except for when doing vigorous exercise, and yesterday I actually had to dash to the loo during a warm up.

I have been trying to do Keigels whenever I remember to, but I feel like it isn't enough. Does anyone have any advice before I book an appointment with my GP?

(Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this, had a look around but there's no 'Body' in 'Body and Soul', apparently..?)

Lots of sex and orgasms?

Sorry - obviously in a mischievous mood... still worth a go tho'

physio referral.

Hiya, assuming you have had the clearance from the docs/midwife to start exercising, I would highly recommend classes like Pilates which focuses on pelvic floor muscle and core strength and general balance. Another class that you could do is body balance ( a fitness class that focuses on the elements of yoga tai chi and Pilates) . I used to work as a fitness professional and I highly recommend both of these classes for ladies who want to get back into exercise after having a baby.

I would still go and see a GP FIRST to make sure there's nothing down there to worry about. Make sure ask them whether you are ok to do these classes.

Please don't rush into hardcore exercise... After all you have not done any hardcore fitness based activities for over a year. Have small achievable objectives so you will have a healthy injury free body on the long run.

Xxxx best wishes :))))

Thank you ladies- the other half was particularly keen on the 'sexercise' advice!

Rhianna- I spoke to midwives/health visitor about returning to exercise months ago, when I first started exercising again. I pretty much figured the concern was more about abdominal stuff until the muscles had re-stabilised. The pelvic floor wasn't mentioned as being an issue at all. Anyway, I was told I'd be fine.

I changed gyms recently and started doing the circuits classes (after a break of maybe 6 weeks from going) where they do all this really jumpy bladder-emptying stuff. I just hadn't realised how little things had improved, I think I thought it would somehow just... heal and sort itself out.

I'm not very good at taking it easy. I get one visit to the gym a week currently, and as I did Thai boxing and boxing for several years, I get very competitive with myself. I'm not attempting to split trees with my forehead or anything, but I find it difficult to do very low-key exercise. For example, I had a prenatal yoga DVD I used to do at home during pregnancy and only stopped doing the 'first trimester' positions at the very end. My partner used to laugh as I screamed 'f*ck you, Poppy!' (Poppy was the third trimester 'example') throughout, because she just seemed to sit sedately in a bloody chair the whole time, looking bovine.

Anyway. Thanks again, I will perhaps think about doing some more Pilates style stuff at home, and I reckon a visit to the GP and a physio referral are in order. Bloody hell, though- it really is all glamour, this childbearing lark, isn't it?

squelches off to sit on some rubber mats

I would also recommend pilates, all the time I keep it up I don't have any 'tena' moments (star jumps at circuits took me a while to do though).

I used to do a mixture of circuits and running before I had the DC's, set classes and evening runs with a club. Now I don't have so much time on my own so I do perhaps 1 class a week but lots of waking (good pushchair that you can stride out with and hold a good posture, do a route and beat your previous time type thing. Or you can run with the buggy if you have a good one). I do pilates as and when around the house, I'm working on my tummy muscles atm (they separated during pregnancy) so I'd do a few pilates exercises while the kettle is boiling or the pasta is cooking (sounds a bit bonkers but I have 3 DC's under 5 so I don't get much time on my own, by the end of a good day I could have done an hour or so of pilates).

I found it hard going from being a full on exerciser to not being able to do so much structured exercise, the results you get from pilates make it easier to bear (if that is the right word) though.

Thank you CinnamonGiraffe and birdsof... both very useful posts. I didn't realise that I could make things worse!

I shall be making an appointment with my GP for a physio referral: in the meantime, I'm going to look at what Pilates I can manage to do at home (can't manage the cost of classes or the time away at the moment).

Thank you, everyone. I really am grateful to you for responding. And... duh. There's a health section, I hadn't noticed it. Blame sleep deprivation, I do seem to shamble about like a zombie most of the time these days... >_