When Can I Start Exercising After Having a Baby? A Postpartum Return to Exercise Overview
You’ve had your baby and, at some point, you start getting that little itch to move again.
Maybe you miss running. Maybe you miss lifting weights, going to yoga, or simply feeling strong in your own body. Maybe exercise was a big part of your life before pregnancy and you’re wondering when you can get back to it.
Or perhaps you weren’t particularly active before having your baby, but now you’re realising that recovering from pregnancy and birth requires a bit more than simply waiting for time to pass.
One of the questions I hear most often from new mums is:
When can I actually start exercising again after having a baby?
And unfortunately, the answer isn’t quite as straightforward as “six weeks”.
Your return to movement after birth should take into account how you gave birth, how your pelvic floor and abdominal wall are recovering, how you’re sleeping, whether you have any pain or symptoms, and how supported you are in this stage of motherhood.
There isn’t one date in the diary when every postpartum body suddenly becomes “ready”.
So rather than thinking about being cleared to exercise, I want you to think about your postpartum recovery as a progression.
You start where you are. You notice how your body responds. And you build from there.
Why the Six-Week Rule Isn’t the Whole Story
Most women have heard some version of:
“Wait until your six-week check and then you can exercise again.”
But your six-week postnatal check was never designed to be a comprehensive return-to-exercise assessment.
It may cover things such as bleeding, contraception, wound healing, blood pressure and how you’re feeling generally. What it often doesn’t include is an assessment of your pelvic floor function, abdominal wall, pressure management, strength or ability to tolerate impact.
So being told everything looks fine at six weeks doesn’t necessarily mean your body is ready to go for a run, return to HIIT or pick up where you left off in the gym.
And equally, it doesn’t mean you need to spend those first six weeks doing absolutely nothing.
Current postpartum exercise guidance supports a much more gradual approach.
Breathing, circulation, pelvic floor rehabilitation and appropriate gentle movement can begin much earlier for many women, while running, jumping and more demanding strength work usually need considerably more preparation.
The important bit is that we stop treating week six like a finish line.
It’s simply one point in a much longer recovery.
What Does the Current Research Tell Us?
In 2025, new evidence-based postpartum physical activity guidelines were published by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology.
They recommend gradually working towards around 120 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week, combining cardiovascular movement and strength work across at least four days.
But the word gradually really matters here.
This isn’t a target you need to hit at six weeks postpartum.
It’s something you build towards as your recovery, energy, confidence and capacity improve.
The same guidelines support pelvic floor muscle training from the early postpartum period and highlight something I think is incredibly important: appropriate postpartum exercise has benefits far beyond “getting fit again”.
Research has linked postpartum physical activity with improvements in mental health, pelvic floor symptoms, sleep, fatigue, lumbopelvic pain and overall wellbeing.
That matters enormously.
Because postpartum exercise isn’t about trying to get your old body back.
It’s about supporting the body you’re living in now and helping it function well for the months and years ahead.
The Benefits of Moving After Birth
We often talk about postpartum exercise as if its main purpose is changing how your body looks.
I really wish we’d move away from that.
The benefits are much bigger.
The 2025 postpartum physical activity guidelines found that being active after birth was associated with a reduction in the odds of postpartum depression and urinary incontinence, alongside improvements in anxiety, sleep, fatigue and physical wellbeing.
Movement can also help you gradually rebuild confidence in your body after pregnancy and birth.
And then there’s something that’s much harder to measure.
Getting out of the house.
Having somewhere to be.
Seeing the same faces every week.
Moving alongside other women who are also navigating feeding schedules, broken sleep, pelvic floors, birth recovery and the enormous identity shift that comes with becoming a mum.
For the women who come through Nest here in Glasgow, I see that part being every bit as important as the exercise itself.
Sometimes the class gets you through the door.
The community is what keeps you coming back.
What Does a Postpartum Return to Exercise Actually Look Like?
Rather than thinking of exercise as something that is either “allowed” or “not allowed”, it can be much more useful to think in phases.
There is no magic switch.
We simply turn the dial up slowly.
The Early Weeks: Birth to Around Six Weeks
These first weeks are recovery.
Even if you feel surprisingly well.
Your body has spent around nine months adapting to pregnancy and has then been through birth. Your abdominal wall, pelvic floor, connective tissue, rib cage, diaphragm and entire pressure system have all had to adapt.
If you’ve had a caesarean birth, you’re also recovering from major abdominal surgery.
This isn’t the stage for testing what your body can do.
Think rest, nourishment and very gentle reconnection.
Depending on your individual recovery, this might include:
360-degree breathing
very gentle pelvic floor connection and relaxation
getting up and moving around the house regularly
short walks when they feel comfortable
mobility
finding comfortable positions for feeding and resting
gradually reconnecting with your core
And a really important point here: more isn’t automatically better.
If you go for a longer walk and notice increased bleeding, pelvic heaviness, pain or that deep dragging feeling afterwards, that’s useful information.
Your body is telling you the load was too much for today.
Listen to it.
Around Six to Twelve Weeks
For many women, this is when movement starts becoming a little more structured.
Walking might gradually become longer.
You can start rebuilding foundational strength.
You can work more intentionally on your core and pelvic floor as a system rather than treating them as two completely separate things.
You can start introducing movements such as squats, hinges, pulling, pushing and carrying with an appropriate level of resistance.
But your symptoms still matter more than the calendar.
Two women can both be eight weeks postpartum and need completely different programmes.
One may have had a straightforward birth and feel ready to progress.
Another may have had an assisted birth, significant tearing, a caesarean, pelvic heaviness or a baby who has barely slept for six weeks.
Both are eight weeks postpartum.
They are not starting from the same place.
At Nest, this is exactly why our earliest postpartum exercise sessions focus on foundations first.
We want to know that you can breathe, manage pressure, load your body and recover from movement before simply adding more intensity.
Twelve Weeks and Beyond
This is where running, impact and progressively heavier strength work may begin to come back in for some women.
But again, twelve weeks is not a green light.
It’s simply the earliest point at which certain higher-impact activities may be appropriate following a proper progression.
Before returning to running, for example, you want to know that your body can tolerate walking, single-leg loading, hopping and impact without leaking, heaviness, pain or other symptoms.
The question stops being:
“Am I twelve weeks postpartum yet?”
And becomes:
“Can my body currently manage the demands of the activity I want to do?”
That is a much more useful question.
Does the Way You Gave Birth Matter?
Absolutely.
Not because one birth is more valid, easier or harder than another, but because different birth experiences place different demands on the body.
After a Caesarean Birth
A caesarean is major abdominal surgery.
Even if your scar looks beautifully healed from the outside, there is still significant healing happening underneath.
Your abdominal wall, connective tissue and scar all need time, movement and progressive loading.
Scar mobility can also be an important part of recovery once the wound is fully healed.
Scar tissue can affect how the tissues around your abdomen move and may influence comfort, abdominal function and even bladder or bowel symptoms for some women.
If you’ve had a caesarean, recovery shouldn’t simply be:
“Don’t exercise for six weeks, then carry on.”
There is a whole rehabilitation stage missing from that advice.
After a Vaginal Birth
A vaginal birth may not involve an abdominal incision, but your pelvic floor has still experienced enormous load.
The tissues of the pelvic floor lengthen and stretch significantly during birth, and perineal tearing is incredibly common.
Even if you didn’t tear, your pelvic floor still needs recovery.
If you had an assisted birth using forceps or ventouse, or experienced a third or fourth-degree tear, pelvic health physiotherapy support can be particularly valuable before progressing into more demanding exercise.
Your Pelvic Floor Isn’t Working Alone
We talk so much about “doing your pelvic floor exercises” after having a baby that it can sound as though your pelvic floor is working on its own.
It isn’t.
Your pelvic floor has teammates.
It works alongside your diaphragm, abdominal wall, deep core, rib cage, glutes and the rest of your pressure management system.
So while pelvic floor contractions can absolutely be useful, postpartum pelvic floor rehab isn’t simply about doing hundreds of squeezes.
Can you contract?
Can you relax?
Can you breathe without gripping?
Can your pelvic floor respond appropriately when you lift something, cough, squat or eventually jump?
Can it manage increased pressure and then let go again?
Sometimes the issue is weakness.
Sometimes it is tension.
Sometimes it’s coordination.
Sometimes it’s a combination of all three.
That’s why “just do your Kegels” is rarely enough.
When Should I See a Pelvic Health Physio?
I would love pelvic health physiotherapy to become as normal after having a baby as going to the dentist or having your eyes checked.
You don’t need to wait until something is badly wrong.
But there are certain symptoms I absolutely wouldn’t ignore, including:
leaking urine, wind or stool
heaviness or pressure in the vagina
a bulging or dragging sensation
pelvic pain
pain with sex
difficulty emptying your bladder or bowels
ongoing pain around your caesarean scar
significant abdominal doming or difficulty managing pressure
symptoms that become worse after exercise
These things might be common after birth.
That doesn’t mean you simply have to put up with them.
Your body deserves rehabilitation, not resignation.
Warning Signs That You Might Be Doing Too Much
One of the most useful things you can learn postpartum is how to notice your body’s response to movement.
Not just during exercise.
Later that afternoon.
That evening.
The following morning.
Sometimes you feel absolutely fine in the moment and realise afterwards that you exceeded your current capacity.
Things I’d pay attention to include:
bleeding becoming heavier again
increased pelvic pressure or heaviness
leaking
pelvic, hip, lower back or perineal pain
pain around your caesarean scar
increased abdominal doming or pressure
symptoms appearing later in the day after activity
feeling wiped out for the rest of the day after a workout
None of these mean you have failed.
They’re data.
Scale the activity back, recover, and rebuild from there.
Postpartum recovery is rarely a straight line.
Some weeks you’ll feel stronger.
Other weeks the baby won’t sleep, you’ll be feeding constantly and getting dressed will feel like enough of an achievement.
Your programme needs to have room for both.
What About Diastasis Recti?
Diastasis recti is incredibly common after pregnancy.
Your abdominal wall has had to make room for a growing baby. Some degree of separation is therefore a very normal part of pregnancy and early postpartum recovery.
What matters much more than the size of the gap is how your abdominal wall functions.
Can you create tension?
Can you breathe?
Can you manage pressure?
Does your abdomen excessively dome or push out during certain movements?
Can you progressively increase load?
Having diastasis does not mean you need to avoid exercise.
And it certainly doesn’t mean you need to spend the next six months doing nothing but tiny “core activation” exercises on the floor.
Your core needs to eventually cope with real life.
Picking your baby up.
Carrying the car seat.
Getting the pram in and out of the boot.
Lifting a toddler while holding a baby.
Exercise should gradually prepare you for that.
Can I Exercise If I’m Breastfeeding?
Yes.
Exercise and breastfeeding can absolutely sit alongside one another.
Current evidence does not suggest that appropriate postpartum exercise negatively affects breast milk quantity or quality.
What you may need to think about is the practical side.
You’re feeding another human and exercising while recovering from pregnancy and birth, so adequate food and hydration really matter.
You might also find it more comfortable to feed or express before exercising, particularly if your breasts are full.
And please invest in a supportive sports bra.
Your body has enough going on without adding uncomfortable bouncing into the mix.
Breastfeeding doesn’t mean you need a completely different exercise pathway.
The same principle applies:
build gradually and let your symptoms, recovery and energy guide you.
The Bit We Don’t Talk About Enough: You Need Support
There is a huge problem with a lot of postpartum wellness advice.
It tells women what they should be doing without acknowledging what their days actually look like.
“Exercise four times per week.”
Lovely.
Who has the baby?
When are you supposed to do it?
What happens when you’ve been awake six times overnight?
Where do you go if you don’t feel ready for a normal gym?
What if you’re breastfeeding every two hours?
What if childcare costs more than the class?
What if you simply don’t want to leave your baby yet?
This is why postpartum support cannot rely entirely on the mother finding more motivation.
We have to make the environment work for her too.
Babies need to be welcome.
Classes need to understand postpartum bodies.
Timings need to work around maternity leave.
You need somewhere you can stop and feed halfway through without feeling awkward.
And perhaps most importantly, you need to be surrounded by people who understand the stage you’re in.
That is exactly what we’ve tried to build at Nest.
Returning to Exercise After Having a Baby in Glasgow
At Nest, our postpartum movement pathway has been created specifically for this stage of motherhood.
You don’t need to walk into a generic exercise class and hope the instructor knows what to do with a six-week postpartum body.
Our classes are designed around postpartum recovery from the beginning.
We start with foundations.
Breathing.
Core and pelvic floor coordination.
Mobility.
Pressure management.
Strength.
Then we progressively build.
As your body becomes more capable, the challenge increases.
Our postpartum pathway moves through our foundations classes into Balance, Strong and eventually higher-intensity movement such as Buggy Fitness on Glasgow Green.
Your baby is welcome.
There is no expectation that you keep up with anybody else.
And there is no prize for progressing through the stages fastest.
You start where your body needs to start.
That might be six weeks postpartum.
It might be six months.
It might be two years.
The postpartum years don’t suddenly end because maternity leave does.
So, When Can You Start Exercising After Having a Baby?
Probably earlier than the old “do absolutely nothing until six weeks” advice suggests.
And probably more gradually than the “you’ve had your six-week check, you’re good to go” advice suggests too.
Those first weeks can include rest, breathing, circulation, short walks and very gentle pelvic floor and core reconnection when appropriate.
From there, you gradually rebuild mobility, strength and capacity.
More demanding strength work comes later.
Running and impact come later still, once your body can demonstrate that it is ready for the load.
And all the way through, your symptoms matter.
If you leak, feel heavy, experience pain or notice your symptoms increasing after exercise, that isn’t something you need to push through.
It is information.
Your body has spent months changing to grow your baby and it deserves more than a six-week deadline for recovery.
You also don’t need to “bounce back”.
You need the opportunity to rebuild.
Slowly enough that the foundations are there, progressively enough that you keep getting stronger, and with enough support around you that movement actually fits into your life as a new mum.
If you’re in Glasgow and want support returning to exercise after having your baby, our postpartum classes at Nest are designed to meet you exactly where you are.
Start with the foundations. Build from there.
Your future body will thank you for it.
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