Guest Author - Angela England

These concerns and changes are totally normal. The BeFit-Mom Post Natal Conditioning Program has two parts to help women regain postpartum tone. The book, Exercise After Pregnancy: How to Look and Feel Your Best by Helene Byrne, a Perinatal Exercise Specialist and the Bounce Back Fast! DVD work together to help women retrain their bodies after pregnancy.

In her book, Exercise After Pregnancy, Helene takes the postpartum mother through the different stages of recovery. I appreciated the discussion of pelvic floor tone, stomach muscle control and gentle stretches for immediately postpartum. Helene encourages mothers to begin slowly, and has a routine for getting started, as well as a more difficult exercise series as postpartum moms start to rediscover their muscles.

One chapter even specifically addresses everyday activities and how to maintain good body alignment while lifting a load, carrying a baby, breastfeeding, sitting and more. These reminders include actual photographs of truly postpartum mothers.

Which brings me to mention something I really appreciated about this particular postpartum fitness series - the model in the DVD is an actual mother who is 4 months postpartum. She has a stomach that pops out in a fashion similar to my own three-pregnancies-stretched belly.

The Bounce Back Fast! Post Natal Core Conditioning DVD follows a similar structure as the book. During the introduction part, Helen talks about principles of fitness after the physical challenges of pregnancy. The DVD then has one 30 minute series designed to be a gentle introduction back into an exercise routine, slowly reawakening muscles that are slack and loose after birth. The next exercise routine is designed for flattening and toning the stomach, core muscles and overall body fitness.

The thing I liked best about this fitness program book and DVD is that the exercises were laid out in such logical fashion, specifically designed for the unique needs a mother has after giving birth. I liked that the models actually looked like women who had given birth. I loved hearing that some of the muscles in my body might take a little while to respond, and that was normal.

The only "con" to this DVD might be that it is designed specifically for postpartum women. This isn't something I'll reach for two years from now when I want an upbeat aerobic routine, but for anyone who's given birth, Bounce Back Fast is the perfect way to get started back on a road to postpartum fitness.