The 5 postpartum fitness apps we tell our best friends about
I was cleared for “light yoga” two weeks after my son’s birth. I’d had a fourth degree tear during labor (meaning vagina to bum) and went for an emergency check-up because things didn’t feel right. My OB-GYN took one quick peek down there and pronounced that I was already almost healed and could get back to yoga that day. I could barely sit down. How on earth would I do yoga?
I spent the next stretch between appointments not only feeling like a failure for being lost at this new mom thing, but also because I couldn’t fathom getting back to working out. At my six-week appointment, I told my doctor that I had been crying every single day and could hardly leave the house. I was so afraid of everything. Her solution was to exercise, so I resumed intensive workouts. Sure, I was peeing myself and having lower back pain, but my doctor had cleared me. This is “normal.” Right?
I often wonder if one of the factors contributing to my postpartum anxiety was incontinence. How can you feel secure in the world when you quite literally have no support underneath you? I was a long-time yoga teacher, yet I had zero comprehension about working out post-birth. I naively assumed, like most birthing people, that all you needed was your six or eight-week check-up and then you could get back to exactly what you were doing pre-pregnancy. I was wrong.
The deeper I dove into my own recovery and healing, the more I realized how much misinformation is out there. In fact, many postpartum fitness classes may be causing more harm than good. I did things very differently when I had my second son. I searched for experts who taught slow and methodical recovery programs. Most importantly, I was patient with my healing. Today, I’m the strongest I have ever been and I wholly credit the wise fitness leaders who guided me through my postpartum recovery.
Moms need to take care of themselves
While you can find a plethora of prenatal fitness classes, there are few postpartum-focused ones. Mainstream interest is limited for this profound period in mothers’ lives. There are also a lot of catch-all classes—one class for everyone regardless of where they are on their healing journey—when, much like pregnancy, each phase of postpartum requires a different focus and attention.
Maternal fitness experts like Saralyn Ward have decided to take matters into their own hands. Ward originally launched the app, Better After Baby in 2019 from her kitchen table, while pregnant with her third child. She is currently crowd-funding for the app’s relaunch in 2024.
“3.5 million people give birth every year in the US. We need support now, and if we all chip in a small amount we can move the needle faster, building exactly what we need and want along the way,” Ward told me in a recent interview. “Women have to be their own advocates. We are taking healthcare into our own hands.”
Because so many new moms are struggling to take postpartum healing into their own hands, I rounded up some of the smartest, most-sophisticated and physiologically-sound postnatal fitness apps available. Here are the apps I recommend to all my mom friends.
My 5 fave postpartum fitness programs
Here are my top 5 choices.
1. Restore Your Core (RYC)
Lauren Ohayon is a pioneer in the postnatal fitness space. She created Restore Your Core (RYC) in 2015. “I got tired of all the misinformation, lies and myths that led to widespread disempowerment and I decided to create the alternative,” Ohayon wrote over email.
In addition to its well-researched and expertly taught tutorials and classes, what sets RYC® apart from other postnatal fitness programs is the program’s overarching goal to help people have a functional and responsive core, as opposed to striving for a certain look, like flat abs or a toned bum.
As the website states, “Flat bellies are not better bellies. Functional has no ‘look’.” Signing up for her comprehensive 12-week program also gives you access to the RYC Facebook community, which connects tens of thousands of members from all over the world. There are also 1:1 sessions available with Ohayon herself or trained RYC Experts for more personalized attention.
2. The Class
We are regularly encouraged to “listen to our body” in postpartum fitness classes and wellness circles, but how exactly does one do that?
“From my experience, the key is to actually make space to get quiet and to get in touch with your body and learn to trust the sensations it is providing you,” advises Taryn Toomey, Founder and Creative Director of The Class. This unique mindful movement platform teaches us how to strengthen our deep listening skills and intuition, right alongside our muscles.
There are numerous programs for the different seasons of women’s health on The Class platform, from menstruation to menopause. The postpartum classes are special in that they are guided by teachers who are teaching from a place of “honest understanding,” as Toomey describes, healing from birth right alongside you.
The Digital Studio has a robust community section where teachers and students can interact with one another. Live chat before and after classes is available, as well as “Class Rooms” dedicated to specific topics, such as form and alignment, equipment and behind-the-scenes outtakes. “We hope these practices serve new moms with care, with community, and in a space that allows a cry, a laugh, and a way to move that feels like healing,” invites Toomey lovingly.
3. The Movement Club
Former Dancing With The Stars’ pro Lindsay Arnold has quickly made a name for herself in women’s health with The Movement Club. Her 6-week Postpartum Program provides day-by-day guidance and includes rest days, walk days and light breathing days.
Arnold, who has now gone through postpartum twice, explains her motivation behind designing a daily system: “It was important to me to take the guesswork out of what you should/shouldn’t do working out postpartum. As a mom there is very little time in the day for yourself. If you have a moment to move your body, my goal is to make that as easy, quick, effective and safe for you as I can,” she shares.
Beyond the physical benefits, Arnold knows firsthand that moving wisely during postpartum can be critical for mental health, “It can be scary getting back into fitness after pregnancy. There are so many unknowns, but with experience comes confidence and trust in your body. I could tell a huge difference in my mental state on the days I was able to take time to give back to my body.”
4. The Sculpt Society (TSS)
Megan Roup danced professionally for the Brooklyn Nets before becoming a mother to two daughters and launching her platform The Sculpt Society (TSS). TSS (as it’s called by members) is a mix of sculpt and dance cardio that’s so fun you’ll hardly notice you’re sweating. Roup has collaborated with brands such as Chanel and Sakara and is beloved by celebs (and moms!) like Miranda Kerr and Hannah Bronfman. In addition to hundreds of classes, TSS offers a one-stop shop for chic equipment and stylish workout wear.
TSS offers two super thorough postpartum programs: The Postpartum Pelvic Floor + Core Recovery Program is safe to do post-birth for the first 6 to 8 weeks of healing and addresses diastasis recti. The follow up program, The Postpartum Program, is comprised of quick and efficient workouts for when you’re ready to level up and make movement part of your new mom routine (and we swear, they’re actually fun!).
5. KT Method
When Karly Treacy was told by doctors that the only option for healing her pelvic prolapse would be surgery, the lifelong athlete vowed to find another way. Through her Pilates, barre, and yoga training, the mother of three managed to heal herself. Since then, she has studied in dynamic neural-stabilization and somatic experiencing and has helped thousands of women heal birth patterns and traumas.
Her postpartum recovery program is all about repetition and consistency. It includes 10-minute videos that you are encouraged to do multiple times a day and multiple times a week. It’s a small but mighty healing program, but Treacy also has a prolific library of on-demand classes all of which are pelvic floor and core-health sound.
A note on postpartum fitness: Take your time
The shared piece of advice I heard from each expert I spoke with is to take your time getting back to movement after birth and to not let the toxic cultural messaging of “getting your body back” lead you to physiologically dangerous or premature choices.
Arnold lovingly advises, “Be gentle with yourself and take it one day at a time. It takes time to regain strength and endurance and that’s perfectly normal and expected. Your body has gone through and is going through so much. Be proud of yourself and know that you are enough.”
Ohayon also makes the powerful point that how we treat ourselves during this period is something we are modeling to our kids, “The pressure to be ‘perfect’ is incredibly intense as a mother—learning to respect your body is a powerful message to your kids that they will take with them too.” Her parting advice is to treat our bodies as we would our children. After all, we mothers are being born right alongside our children. Let’s learn how to be just as curious and patient with our postpartum bodies as we are with our little ones.
