Mommy Fitness Made Easy!

Are you a busy mom who doesn't have time for exercise? No more excuses!

If you're a busy working mom like me, you realize how much better you feel when you're exercising, which translates into healthier eating and a tighter, leaner body. No one can really prepare you for the crazy busy life a new baby can bring, so most moms skip their workouts because they hate being away from their new baby.

The good news is that studies prove that short bursts of exercises are super-efficient when it comes to getting your body back into shape, and losing the baby weight. Because they are so doable, you can be more consistent. It's not the hardest, longest workouts that get the best results, it’s the workouts you do consistently and frequently that deliver.

DID YOU KNOW THAT

• a woman’s uterus grows from the size of a pear to a watermelon in nine months?
• it can be harder to control your body because your center of gravity changes and certain ligaments are looser?
• carrying and delivering a baby weakens your abdominal muscles and pelvic floor. This can cause problems with posture, strength, fecal and urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, issues with sexual satisfaction for some women, and leaves back muscles vulnerable to injury that can last a lifetime unless it's addressed.

One way to regain stability and heal pregnancy-related abdominal issues is through postnatal strong lean core workouts, but first...

• Get your mind right.
• Trade your excuses for solutions.
• Commit yourself 100 percent to doing five minutes daily, no matter what.

These exercises can be done using your baby instead of a medicine ball. Have fun working out with your baby and you’ll be setting a good example that taking care of our body is not negotiable! Workouts do not need to be torture to get results and do not require lots of equipment or any equipment for that matter!

Here are the best moves to flatten abs and strengthen core muscles after pregnancy.

Weighted Chair Squats with Baby Hold
(See the workout at the 1:20 in the video above)

Pelvic Tilts on Your Back with Baby Weight
Lie flat on your back with both legs bent into the body, hip-distance apart with both feet on the ground. Inhale and relax your abdominals, then exhale as you tilt your pelvis upward and pull your abs into your spine. Try not to engage the glutes as you tilt the pelvis (which means that you won’t be lifting it all the way up to a bridge position). On the inhale, lower your pelvis and release your abs. 

Repeat three times, then add kegels with each tilt. 
NOTE: You should feel like you’re pulling the pelvic floor up and into your body on the tilt while simultaneously exhaling and pulling your abs into the low spine. Then release everything on the inhale. Repeat 8-12 times using your baby as your weight.

Toe Touch with Baby
Make sure your abs (especially the lower abs) are pulled in tightly and imagine squeezing a golf ball in your vagina to recruit pelvic floor muscles before you begin. Start with your legs bent at 90 degrees in tabletop position, or placed on a chair. Crunch up to knees, holding your baby. Repeat with control 10-15 times.

Make sure that your lower back doesn’t arch with this movement, and maintain engagement/pulling in with the abs at all times. Keep your legs bent and reach them out higher if you feel too much strain in your back or hip flexors, instead of your abs. If your baby gets heavy, have them sit beside you and count your reps  :)

These moves address the issues new moms face, such as:

• High blood sugar levels
• Unbalanced hormones
• Weak pelvic floor muscles that were weakened during pregnancy

Take the 5-Minutes a Day Mother’s Day Challenge and watch the fat melt off faster than you can say, “Honey, let's have a 2nd!”