Let’s talk about one of the most underrated but totally essential parts of your postpartum recovery.
When I asked our community what their favourite style of workout was, 87% came back with LIFTING. Yep, our Hatch Athletes love to lift.
It’ll come as no surprise then to know that one of the most commonly asked questions I get with clients is: when can I get back into the heavy stuff?!
My answer: sooner than you think.
Hurrah!
But, yep, it’ll always come with a but… there are a few things to consider, and to consider in the right order as a postpartum mama.
Postpartum can feel like starting from scratch—but when it comes to building your body back up, progressive strength training is where it's at. In fact, it might just be the most important element in your postpartum rehab.
Why? Because loading your body (yes, even gently at first) is vital for rebuilding your pelvic floor, core, and skeletal system. Compound strength work (think squats, deadlifts, pressing) supports the day-to-day physical demands of being a mum (baby-wearing whilst loading the laundry, anyone?)! It teaches your body to stabilise under load, improves posture, boosts endorphins, and actually helps you recover faster—when done well.
Plus, it’s easy to tailor your strength sessions to your own recovery timeline and energy levels. Way easier, in fact, than modifying high-intensity cardio.
In early postpartum the key is progressive programming. That means building up slowly with the foundations first.
Start with your deep stabilisers (like your pelvic floor and deep core) which need primary attention postpartum for both vaginal delivery and c-section mamas. This looks like your typical rehab stuff: pilates style exercises which really pay attention to your core canister and ensuring you have the ability to tolerate load.
Ensure you've been signed off by your women's health physio, especially if you've had a more complex vaginal delivery or if you've experienced any symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction (a bit more on prolapse later).
Begin with squats, deadlifts and presses at lower loads (how heavy), reps (volume), intensity, and adjust range of movement as needed (hello tight hips and achy backs) and only once you've mastered these elements, progress to heavier, more volume, complexity and intensity.
Getting your programming right is the key to progress when it comes to weight-training postpartum. Our 12 week Hatch Athletic postpartum programming we do the 'heavy lifting' for you (sorry for the pun) by taking any guesswork out of it.
If you're programming for yourself, here’s what a smart return might look like:
Weeks 0–6: Rehab mode — breathwork, core, pelvic floor, and gentle functional movements.
Weeks 6–12: Introduce compound strength patterns — bodyweight → dumbbell → barbell progressions.
Week 12+: Begin a formal strength-training programme, we recommend a periodised squat and deadlift programme.
Month 4+: Slowly rebuild intensity, always checking in with your symptoms (no leaking, pelvic floor dysfunction or pain).
Before jumping into heavier lifting sessions, you’ll want to ensure you have:
Everyone's pelvic floor is different - some of us can Valsalva/breath hold whilst lifting heavier loads in earlier postpartum, others will need to wait longer.
Valsalva is a weightlifting technique where you breath-hold and stack your core before completing a heavy lift. It's a very effective technique in improving one's ability to lift heavy load and protect your spine using intra-abdominal pressure. This is an area under big scrutiny right now by researchers for the pregnant populations, who are now starting to suggest that Valsalva in pregnancy weightlifting is not necessarily a threat to your pelvic floor (Prevett, Forner, Davenport, et al 2023). Surely this means, the same then for postpartum mamas?
Sadly, we don't have any hard and fast research for the postpartum populations per-se. At Hatch, we take what we have research-wise and combine it with clinical experience.
Lifters who are experienced, have NO pelvic floor dysfunction and know they have the ability to BRACE with their pelvic floor at the same time as carrying out a lift may breath hold/or Valsalva. Remember, this is against a pelvic floor that is ON.
If you are at all unsure, have some work to do on your pelvic floor postpartum, or experience pelvic floor dysfunction, i.e. leaking, heaviness or pain - continue to adopt the more conservative advice:
Note: I didn't say stop lifting. The important thing to take from this is to choose what's right for you.
Symptomatic prolapse? Feelings of bulging or dragging or heaviness in the vaginal area? There are options for ladies with prolapse, and in fact - stop press - we want you to continue lifting too. As we've already discussed, loading is actually necessary for the pelvic floor to improve, so we want you to continue lifting within your symptom free-zone and using the pressure management breath-work we discussed above.
We also highly recommend that you do this under the guidance of your women's health physiotherapist as there will be a lot of lifestyle advice to follow, and some more personalised exercises and treatment that will likely accompany this. There is also the option of having a pessary fitted for longer term symptomatic prolapse, so do seek out your healthcare specialists who can support you with this.
Last, but not least, for all your Olympic lifters out there. When does one reintroduce Olympic lifting postpartum?
Olympic lifting is technical first, heavy second. You need to train your brain and body to find solid positions again before you layer in complexity or load.
So, once you have that in mind, the progressions should make more sense. Spend time (whilst you're rehabbing your core, pelvic stability and rebuilding your upper and lower body strength) by practicing your timing, speed, control and technique for your clean and snatch. You're going to also have to spend time of your range of movement and mobility.
When it comes to Olympic lifting, position matters—and your body might feel totally different post-birth.
So there you have it. Sound like a lot? Let us do it for you, with our Postpartum Training Programme. Check it out.
Strongly,
Kat x