How Greta Ended Up Being STRONGER in Postpartum than Before Kids! (Episode #13)

When you learned you were pregnant, did you worry about losing your fitness?

This was true for one of our clients, Greta, who is an active duty Judge Advocate General (JAG). For her, fitness is not only an important aspect of her job – it's also something that makes her happy.

When she had her daughter about a year ago, she faced a tough recovery and a strenuous job to return to. She’d put on 60 pounds during her pregnancy and afterward struggled with pelvic floor pain and connecting to her core. She began our postpartum recovery program six weeks postpartum.

In this episode, Greta shares her journey back to fitness – the mistakes she made, what she learned, and what she recommends more mothers do in order to feel STRONGER postpartum than before kids.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• The mistakes Greta made in postpartum – and how she overcame them

• The importance of showing up, no matter what intensity you ultimately decide to work out at

• Greta’s advice for new moms regarding consistency

• The tools Greta developed to combat pelvic floor pain

• The importance of CONTINUING foundational work – even if you think you’ve been making progress

• How feeling stronger affects Greta’s energy and quality of life

Notable Quotes from Greta:

“When you're used to a very high activity level before pregnancy, and even for a good part of the pregnancy, going through that postpartum period where you have to rest, you have to give your body time – it's an exercise in patience.”

“Being in the military, you want to be someone who is strong, because that's what you need to be. And so when you don't feel strong, when you feel like you're not living up to the standard that your workplace has for you, it can be very disheartening. So just kind of sticking to that hope – that you will get better – and appreciating the incremental process.”

“I needed an individual plan to focus on not just what my goals were, but what my body's weaknesses were. I had imbalances between one side and the other as far as my hips and my glutes. And so that's when I tried the private sessions. They worked so well that I ended up doing them weekly. And I still do them weekly! What's great – I comment to my husband about this all the time – is I think I'll end up being stronger than I was before.”

Resources & Links

Looking for support to stay active during your pregnancy or start your postpartum recovery? Here are some options to get you started on a great path forward:

1) Take the Pelvic Floor & Core Strength Quiz. After taking the quiz, you'll get a score and based on your results, guidance on what steps to take to move you forward in your recovery.

2) Check out our podcast listening guides: Download the Pregnancy Listening Guide or Postpartum Listening Guide.

3) If you're pregnant, want to be way more active than you have been, AND want connection with other mothers, but don't know where to start…join the Expecting to Flourish™ Membership - a mom-driven and expert-guided virtual space empowering moms with a new approach to prenatal fitness and birth prep that actually prepares you for the physical and emotional hurdles of motherhood.

If you’re postpartum and ready to get moving, need to heal your body but you don’t know where to start…join us for Postpartum Repair & Restore LIVE, a science-backed and fun-stacked, Diastasis and Pelvic Floor Strength program. Start healing your diastasis and eliminating leaking in 8 weeks or less with our guidance.

4) Do you prefer working one-on-one, or have a high risk pregnancy, a severe diastasis or leaking that won’t quit? You might be a candidate to work with us privately. To find out, take this quick self assessment! If you qualify, you'll be invited to schedule a complementary Postpartum Strategy Session with us where we'll take a good look at what's not working in your repair process, and come up with a great plan just for you.