This April 12th I gave birth to my daughter Raphaëlle,3 and a half years after my son, Auguste. As I'm writing this post, it's been 6 weeks since the birth and starting to feel normal again amidst the constant demands of the children combined with lack of sleep, somehow I'm managing to get work done and squeeze in a few workouts a week to get my pre-baby body back in a sensible and sustainable way!
I was very lucky to have had 2 easy pregnancies, with no complications, despite finding the second pregnancy more challenging, I think due to the fact that I was already taking care of one, plus that my body had already taken a hit from the first pregnancy. But overall it was straightforward, and I kept up a fairly regular Cardio Barre routine up until we filmed the pre-natal video shoot for the app at 33 weeks, and then had some burst of energy the day before my waters broke at 39 weeks and busted out a 1 hour workout with a giant belly !
After getting the green light from my midwife, I started working out again on our app 3 weeks after giving birth. Obviously this will be different for everyone - and won't be possible if you've had a Caesarian - and I definitely recommend waiting until you feel ready !
In my case, I felt like I needed to start moving again, and as long as my exercises were very low impact, it was fine to start up a little routine again.
So in this post I'm going to take you through my programme, following the videos in the Kalon app.
Of course, my favourite class is Kalon Cardio Barre, and as this class is very much about toning and strengthening using Pilates and Ballet techniques, I knew it was safe to do, however I preferred to avoid any abs-focus classes, just because my mid section was still sensitive, so I chose to focus on butt, legs and thighs and of cours arms and posture as well.
For English-only speakers, you'll find that a couple of French classes have made their way into this programme (because they're just so good !). Cardio Barre is easy to follow visually so you may find it's fine for you, but if you prefer to follow an English class don't hesitate to replace them with a similar class with a coach such as Emma !
WEEK 1
Focus - Gentle Cardio Barre & Lower Body
We're starting the programme with workouts 3 days a week, combining low impact workouts with some stretching. Day 1 I was feeling super motivated so went straight into a one hour workout, focusing only on toning exercises and stretching.
I love the variety of coaches we have on the app so especially in this first week I tried a number of different teachers including Emma, Victoria and Jackie, which was really nice to keep me motivated and challenged with different styles of teaching.
WEEK 2
Focus - Cardio Barre & Lower Body
On week 2 I stuck with the 3 workouts a week format, as I was still feeling fairly tired and preferred to do short workouts but again focusing o low impact Kalon Cardio Barre, but increasing the difficulty slightly compared to week 1 classes. Still including some lower body butt workouts here as my mid-section did not yet feel ready for any abs work !
WEEK 3
Focus - Cardio Barre and gentle core work
In this third week I moved up to 4 workouts a week. I know how efficient Cardio Barre is so of course I continued to include these classes almost every day, adding in plenty of stretching too to make sure my muscles didn't get too tight.
This is also the first week I introduced some gentle core work with Charlène class at the Brach. This class is really excellent to start heating up those abdominal muscles in a safe way. As a Pilates instructor as well as Cardio Barre, Charlène knows exactly how to guide us through gentle movements to get that mid section moving without being too aggressive.
WEEK 4
Focus - Cardio Barre and Abs work
More Cardio Barre this week of course, still at 4 times a week, firing up that core with some more challenging 15 minutes abs videos and ending in a lovely Ballet Yoga Flow class with Emma.
Try to divide up your week as evenly as possible, leaving one day between each workout where you might decide to have a nice walk or a rest.
WEEK 5
Focus - Full Body Cardio Barre
Upping the Cardio focus and working all areas of the body this week, and of course still focused on Cardio Barre, we're still working with a variety of Kalon coaches to keep our motivation up and vary the styles and movements.
WEEK 6
Longer and higher intensity classes
As we've built up strength over the past few weeks, this week I've added 5 days of workout with longer and more challenging classes combining plenty of toning with balletic movements and stretching too.
As we reach the end of the programme, the idea is to continue working out consistently, perhaps repeating some of these videos or trying one of the many classes available.
You can continue either by following another pre-created programme on the app, focusing on a particular area of the body perhaps.
Or you can create your own programme with our new calendar feature in the app, to schedule you classes each day and track your progress.