I Tried Three Fitness Apps to Help My Postpartum Recovery

Speaker 1: It is been seven months since I gave birth to my son, Charlie, and I've been easing my way back into an exercise routine. To do this, I've been testing out a bunch of fitness apps. I've also been receiving insight from a few experts along the way. Now I'm here to share what I've learned with you. The prenatal and postpartum season is one of the hardest things you may ever experience. You're transitioning into parenthood after your body has just gone through some serious [00:00:30] changes. By that same token, you're advised to take care of yourself while you're sleep deprived. Taking care of this new life and adjusting to this overnight change. Speaker 1: During my pregnancy, I wanted to remain as active as possible. I turned to the Future app for help. I found Laura Lynn Leor, a trainer who specializes with prenatal and postpartum clients to help me. She was able to cater the workouts to all my needs and adjusted them accordingly each trimester. After I gave birth, I also [00:01:00] worked with a pelvic floor therapist. Laur was able to take into account any recommendations they offered. She then created a workout for me that included a lot of breathing exercises, light stretching, and eventually we worked in some body weight movements. Working with the Future app at home was a breeze. I was able to track my workouts a week ahead of time. I could modify them as needed, and I was able to connect with my trainer. Through their chat portal, we could share pictures, videos, any concerns I had [00:01:30] regarding my workouts for the week. After six months, I started to feel more or less like my old self. My pelvic floor therapist had also discharged me. During this time, ads for postpartum fitness apps kept popping up on my social media feeds. I was curious to see what these were about, so I tested a few of them out. The apps I decided to check out were the Get Mom Strong app, every mother app and Crew Fitness's Postpartum program. The reason I chose these apps [00:02:00] were because they had overall positive reviews and there was minimal bounce back language. Speaker 1: Get Mom Strong was created by Ashley. Now a pre and postpartum corrective exercise specialists. The app offers total body workouts, mobility exercises, nutrition tips, and more. I had to answer questions about where I was working out, whether that was at the home or gym, if I was experiencing any pain and my goals. The homepage provides an overview of the Strong, like a mother [00:02:30] or slam programs available through the app, as well as your stats, nutrition tips, and healthy recipes. It's recommended to start off with their four basics program. I tried the Slam Bridge Slam 30 and Slam 45 minute workouts. I like the formatting of the exercise selections and equipment options. I had a slight issue accessing the more detailed exercise video demonstrations, but I eventually figured it out. The workout lengths are realistic to accomplish, [00:03:00] especially if your children are constantly interrupting you. The educational tips are also helpful as you go through your recovery and everyday living with an infant. Speaker 1: Every mother is an evidence-based, clinically proven, and PT informed exercise App creator and co-founder Leah Keller has a decade's worth of experience working with postpartum clients. She previously released A DVD called the DIA Method, which would later become every mother. The app first asked me questions about my postpartum state. The questions aren't [00:03:30] about diagnosing users. Instead, they're about augmenting their health. I started on the Surpass Essentials path, an introductory two week program that gives you a preview of the other Surpass guided paths. It starts off with the core and pelvic floor warmup followed by the workout. I like that during the core portion, there were repeated cues on the right way to do a core compression, so all the muscles in the pelvic floor and deep core are properly engaged and working together as you breathe. These workouts are structured like an [00:04:00] on-Demand fitness class. I noticed most of them aren't long, which is doable for a busy parent short on time. This is a good transitional program as you resume physical activity postpartum. The app also has a foundation section, which has educational materials on everything from childbirth recovery to managing the pelvic floor. As you age, users get check-ins every four weeks and receive a video from an on staff physical therapist based on exercises they think you could work on, and there's a support hub where you [00:04:30] can chat with experts if you have any further questions. Speaker 1: The Crew Fitness app was created by Katie Crew, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and health coach. The app asked questions such as where you like to train and your training level. You're then presented with 25 programs. I chose the Postpartum Home 30 week program. The workouts are done three times a week and separated into four phases. The first phase is about reconnecting with your core. The second [00:05:00] phase includes rehabilitative core movements. The third phase incorporates full body strength with core strengthening, and finally, phase four challenges the core EM body a bit further. If you're further along in your postpartum recovery, some of these workouts might start to feel a little easy. The good news is this app offers a variety of other workout programs. Everyone's postpartum journey is unique and has different needs. You should also approach exercise of caution during this stage. [00:05:30] This applies whether you use a fitness app or go with a personal trainer. If you feel okay overall, it's still important to not overdo it too soon. As with any fitness goal, you should be patient with your body, especially as you go through recovery postpartum. If you can get evaluated by a pelvic floor therapist. Having this information will make you feel empowered and confident in how you want to approach movement. Next, remember, the end goal is to safely resume doing your favorite activities so you can go [00:06:00] on to enjoy doing them for life.