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Dubai Active 2024: Personal trainer shares top fitness tips for training post-pregnancy

Kayla Itsines, who is on a mission to provide women with the tools they need to improve their health, fitness and confidence, will lead workout sessions at Dubai Active this weekend

Published: Tue 22 Oct 2024, 12:55 PM

Updated: Tue 22 Oct 2024, 12:56 PM

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Dubai Active 2024, the Middle East's premier health, fitness, and wellness expo, will take place from October 25-27 at the Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City. The event, organised by IEG Middle East in partnership with Dubai Sports Council and Dubai Tourism, will feature over 600 athletes and influencers and attract more than 38,000 fitness enthusiasts.

Visitors can expect dynamic workout sessions led by global fitness icons, including Leana Deeb, Kayla Itsines, and Courtney Black.

The expo also marks the opening of the Dubai Fitness Challenge's month-long wellness initiative.

Earlier this month, in exclusive conversations with City Times, Leana and Courtney shared their personal journeys where they took us through their fitness philosophies.

Meanwhile, Kayla, who spoke about embracing fitness in a 9-to-5 lifestyle last year, is back with some more tips. This time around, the globally recognised personal trainer whose mission is to provide women with the tools they need to improve their health, fitness and confidence, shares top fitness tips for training post-pregnancy. Below are Kayla's tips for a healthier body:

'Rest and recover'

When it comes to post pregnancy training, I think the first thing that is most important is that you take time to rest and recover properly and work with your healthcare professional to ensure that your body is able to return to fitness safely.

Whether you’ve had a natural birth or a c-section, the wait time to return to fitness is usually around six weeks.

Although it is not recommended that you return to the gym prior to the six week wait time, there are definitely things that you can do to help move your body and clear your mind.

'Go for a walk'

The first thing that I would recommend is just going for a walk during your baby's naptime. For me this looked like taking my daughter or son out in the pram/stroller for an hour walk around the 4-5 week mark.

Another thing that I would recommend women to do, is to go into the Sweat app (available on Google Play and Apple Store) and look at our multiple programmes for both pregnancy and pregnancy training. This includes training routines for post c-sections too.

'Breathing and stretching'

We need to remember that the foundations of their body need to be rebuilt first before going into any sort of training. This looks like working on pelvic floor muscles, breathing and stretching (within limits).

Post pregnancy is the time in a woman’s life where her body really doesn’t feel like her own, so it is important that mental health always comes first and is paired with things like walking, stretching, breathing, meditation, adequate rest and a healthy balanced diet.

I would like women to remember that this is only a short period of their life, but returning to fitness too early or against a healthcare professionals instructions could lead to injury.

If I could say one thing to myself post pregnancy I’d say, “It’s not always going to be like this, you will not always feel this way. You will look back at this time and be so proud - so enjoy the moments now, because I promise you will get there.”

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