I'm looking for bodybuilders/competitors feedback following a pregnancy. I'm a competitor and just went through my first pregnancy. I have trained until about 5 months pregnant due to lockdown, gym being closed etc.. What was your strength situation following your pregnancy? I have started weightlifting again and OMG I am shocked to see how weak I became!!! Literally feeling like a beginner who has never lifted before!!! To put it in perspective I could leg press 280kg, squat 100kg and hip thrust 130kg and I now can barely squat 10kg!!!! Please I'm really looking for feedback to know this is normal and also how long it took you on average to get back to where you were. Thanks to any answer
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02-18-2021, 09:05 PM #1Registered User
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Post pregnancy - no strength left
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02-18-2021, 09:36 PM #2Focus on yourself
- Join Date: May 2008
- Location: Massachusetts, United States
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Congrats on your new baby and hope everyone is healthy.
Couple things:
Where are you calories set and are you breastfeeding? How long have you been back to training?
It's all going to come back but give yourself some time. For now I would focus on 3 day full body. Focus on your compounds, (the meat and potatoes of any program) and getting your numbers back up. Throw in a bit of isolation for the smaller details and call it a day.National Level Competitor (Female BB)
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02-18-2021, 09:41 PM #3I'm not a woman but I train quite a few post natal women. Do you have any sort of grading for diastases recti (abdominal seperation), or any at all? DR is the main reason women's strength is weakened post pregnancy due to lack of core strength which is a primary driver in most compound lifts.Originally Posted by Annefit974
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02-19-2021, 11:02 AM #4Registered User
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Use it or loose it is a true statement here.
Strength and muscle hypertrophy diminish when not challenged for a long time.
Of course you had good reason.
It's like taking five steps forward and then four steps back.
Strength and size takes a lot effort to get there but unfortunately it's easy to loose.
The good thing though once you've been there it will come back easier but you'll have to start at square one again.
Have a plan with your training and diet and follow it.
You'll be gaining again in no time.
Good luck.
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02-19-2021, 11:10 AM #5Registered User
- Join Date: Apr 2016
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Have your electrolytes been checked? How are you phosphorus levels? Like Kim mentioned about breast feeding, it can take a lot out of you, it can burn 500 more calories a day. Are you trying to diet post baby to lose weight or did you gain a lot of weight? And you’ll gain the strength back before you know it
Insta is username snails.r.us
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02-20-2021, 05:08 AM #6Chihuahua in the rain
- Join Date: Mar 2018
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Can only speak for the pregnancy thing second-hand (my wife gave birth 10 months ago) but you definitely lose a lot of fitness in that process.
That said, Garage Rat has a good point that I’ll reiterate in different words. Muscle memory is a “thing”. You’ll have to work back up to where you were (and unfortunately, I can’t say if a 90kg drop in your squat is normal or not), but your return to that point will go much, much faster than your original journey. I speak not from personal experience, but from clinical studies that have been done.
Best of luck!My home gym: https://igoodies.000webhostapp.com/?viagra=showthread.php?t=175136471&p=1623181551&viewfull=1#post1623181551
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