Postpartum strength training: getting back to lifting

Postpartum strength training starts with your pelvic floor, then squats and bridges, then a deadlift no heavier than a baby in a car seat. Not your old training max, and not a 6-week deadline. The published guidance builds it in stages over the first 3 months, and heavier lifting comes back gradually after that, once your pelvic floor and abdominal wall are ready for the load.

This post sticks to what official guidance and the research actually say. When you want structure, a coach that programs your week for you can handle the planning, but the order below comes first.

Before anything else: check with your doctor, midwife or a pelvic health physiotherapist before you start lifting again, and again before each big step up. Nothing here is medical advice or a diagnosis.

What official guidance says about postpartum strength training

• ›The WHO recommends that postpartum women without contraindication do regular physical activity, including a variety of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, and says the available evidence supports including regular strength training for pregnant and postpartum women. If you're not there yet, it says to start with small amounts and gradually increase frequency, intensity and duration (Bull et al., 2020).
• ›ACOG says exercise routines may be resumed gradually after pregnancy as soon as medically safe, depending on the mode of delivery and any medical or surgical complications. It also says women who were physically active before pregnancy can continue those activities during pregnancy and the postpartum period (ACOG, 2020).
• ›The NHS notes that your lower back and core abdominal muscles may be weaker than before, and that your ligaments and joints are more supple for a few months after birth, so there's an increased risk of injury if you stretch or twist too much (NHS).
• ›The return-to-running guideline by physiotherapists Tom Goom, Gráinne Donnelly and Emma Brockwell recommends that every woman, however she gave birth, gets a pelvic health assessment with a specialist physiotherapist (Goom, Donnelly & Brockwell, 2019). It's written for runners, but its early-weeks timeline includes lifting.

What none of them give you is a date when you're back to your pre-pregnancy numbers. A full program, like a 12-week plan for women, comes back in stages. It's the destination, not week one. Why lifting matters more as the decades go on is covered in a guide to strength training for women over 40.

When can you start lifting weights after having a baby?

Earlier than most people think, and lighter than most lifters want.

The guideline's Appendix 2 gives an example of exercise progression for the first 3 months. The authors say plans vary with your birth experience and any issues, so read the weeks as a rough order, not a schedule to beat.

Source: Appendix 2, Goom, Donnelly & Brockwell, 2019.

Two details in the 6–8 week row matter. The deadlift starts as technique, with gradual load progression from something like an empty barbell. And the stated aim is restoring strategies for the everyday tasks of caring for a newborn and older siblings. The first goal is lifting your life, not a number.

The rest of the first year, from walking to running, is laid out in working out after having a baby. Lifting runs alongside it.

After a caesarean

The NHS says recovery takes longer after a caesarean, so talk to your midwife, health visitor or GP before starting anything strenuous (NHS). The guideline notes that uterine scar remodeling extends beyond 6 weeks, and cites research finding that abdominal fascia has regained 51% to 59% of its original tensile strength by 6 weeks after a caesarean and 73% to 93% at 6 to 7 months (Goom, Donnelly & Brockwell, 2019). Same stages, more patience, with your care team setting the pace.

Getting back to heavier lifting

After 3 months, the published guidance gets thin. The guideline says the evidence base for returning to exercise after birth is limited, and describes returning to sport as a process of balancing risk and reward for the individual: addressing risk factors and planning a gradual progression can reduce risk, while recovery strategies, especially sleep, can maximize the rewards (Goom, Donnelly & Brockwell, 2019).

In coaching terms, that looks like this:

• ›Restart well below your old numbers. Stop sets with two or three reps left in the tank, and add one thing at a time: a rep, then a set, then a small jump in weight.
• ›Technique before load. The guideline starts the deadlift as technique work for a reason, and the same logic applies to every lift.
• ›Your physio sets the ceiling. How much and how fast depends on your pelvic floor and abdominal wall, which a training app can't assess.

The research is limited but encouraging. In a randomized trial of 60 healthy postpartum women, 18 weeks of twice-weekly resistance training produced greater strength gains than flexibility training, and may be associated with better exercise self-efficacy and physical activity outcomes (LeCheminant et al., 2014).

What about women who lifted heavy before and during pregnancy? A survey of 679 people who lifted at least 80% of their one-rep max during pregnancy found that most returned to weightlifting after delivery, on average 3.2 months later, and that 57% reported urinary incontinence following pregnancy (Prevett et al., 2023). That's what one group did, not a recommended timeline, and the leaking figure is a reminder of why the pelvic health check matters.

Breathing, bracing and the pelvic floor

Everyone online has a breathing rule. The evidence is thinner than the confidence.

• ›Pelvic floor training works. A 2025 meta-analysis found moderate-certainty evidence that postpartum pelvic floor muscle training reduced the odds of urinary incontinence by 37% (Beamish et al., 2025). The WHO says it may be done daily to reduce the risk of urinary incontinence.
• ›Squeeze before you lift, if you leak. For people with urinary leaks, the NHS suggests tightening your pelvic floor before and during a lift, such as picking up children or shopping bags (NHS).
• ›Lift close, bend your knees. The NHS suggests bending your knees with a straight back to pick things up, and holding heavy objects close to your body (NHS).
• ›No universal breathing rule. In a study of 206 women lifting a 12.5 kg weighted car seat at 6 to 10 weeks after a vaginal birth, neither lifting technique nor breath holding was associated with peak pressure inside the abdomen (Hsu et al., 2018). Work out your bracing with a pelvic health physiotherapist, not a video.

A sample postpartum strength training week

This is an illustration, not a prescription. It shows one week around months 4 to 6 for someone whose physio has cleared progressive lifting. Yours depends on your birth, your recovery and your care provider.

Two or three sets of 8 to 12 reps, stopping with reps in reserve, is a common starting point. Pelvic floor exercises continue daily throughout. If running is part of the plan, it has its own published progression, and the postpartum running plan covers it step by step.

Breastfeeding, sleep and recovery

Breastfeeding. ACOG says regular aerobic exercise while breastfeeding has been shown to improve cardiovascular fitness without affecting milk production, composition or infant growth, and suggests feeding or expressing before exercise and staying well hydrated (ACOG, 2020).

Sleep. The return-to-running guideline calls sleep key for recovery from physical and psychological stress, notes that sleep loss is thought to impair maximal muscle strength, and suggests naps timed with your baby's sleep (Goom, Donnelly & Brockwell, 2019). On a night of two hours' sleep, the walk counts and the heavy session can wait.

Pressure. The same guideline warns that social pressure to return to a pre-pregnancy figure or fitness can push new mothers toward compromised nutrition, excessive exercise and unrealistic expectations. Nobody's on a clock.

Signs to back off

The return-to-running guideline lists signs that make seeing a pelvic health physiotherapist especially important, quoted word for word (Goom, Donnelly & Brockwell, 2019):

• ›"Heaviness/ dragging in the pelvic area (can be associated with prolapse)"
• ›"Leaking urine or inability to control bowel movements"
• ›"Pendular abdomen or noticeable gap along the midline of your abdominal wall"
• ›"Pelvic or lower back pain"
• ›"Ongoing or increased blood loss beyond 8 weeks postnatal that is not linked to your monthly cycle"

It also says: "Heaviness, dragging, incontinence or moderate to severe pain may suggest excessive training distance or intensity." If any of these show up when you lift, drop the load and get help. The guideline calls these problems "common but not normal". Nothing to be embarrassed about. Nothing to lift through.

The long game

The strength you rebuild now is the strength you carry into your 40s and 50s. Later the reasons to lift shift again: strength training for menopause picks up the programming, and menopause and exercise covers the wider picture.

How exrsz handles this

exrsz builds a periodized plan from your goal, schedule, level and equipment, balances running and lifting in one plan, adapts each week to how you actually trained, and reshuffles missed sessions, which in the first year is a lot of them. It doesn't assess your pelvic floor or give medical advice. Check with your doctor, midwife or a pelvic health physiotherapist first, then build from where they say you are.

FAQ

When can I start postpartum strength training?

The return-to-running guideline's example includes pelvic floor and basic core work from birth, squats, lunges and bridges from around 2 to 4 weeks, and light deadlift technique from 6 to 8 weeks (Goom, Donnelly & Brockwell, 2019). Check with your doctor, midwife or a pelvic health physiotherapist first.

How heavy can I lift after having a baby?

The guideline's example starts deadlift technique at no more than the weight of a baby in a car seat (15 kg), with gradual load progression (Goom, Donnelly & Brockwell, 2019). There's no published timeline for heavier lifting, so your physio and how your body responds set the pace.

Can I lift weights while breastfeeding?

The guidance doesn't rule it out. ACOG says regular aerobic exercise while breastfeeding has been shown to improve fitness without affecting milk production, composition or infant growth, and suggests feeding or expressing first and staying hydrated (ACOG, 2020).

Can I lift with separated stomach muscles?

The NHS suggests avoiding heavy lifting, sit-ups and planks to start with if your stomach muscles have separated, and contacting your GP if the gap is still obvious 8 weeks after birth (NHS). A physiotherapist can guide when and how to add load.