Welcome to

Mamafitness.in

Educating about and promoting women’s health postpartum and during pregnancy

Mamafitness

Welcome, mama!

Be proud of yourself, because your body has been (or is) working a lot during your pregnancy and delivery! So often we find it hard to take time for ourselves in order to care for our body - more so postpartum, when we're also taking care of a tiny new human being. But doing so can actually prevent so many health issues, and our bodies deserve our care!

I’m Leonie from Germany, and have been living in India for several years. I have also given birth to my daughter here! As I was doing research on many pregnancy-related topics in preparation for my own birth and postpartum period, I noticed that a lot of support that women will almost automatically get in Germany was not easily available here. This was a huge motivation for me to start investing into my own training to become a postnatal fitness trainer, with a vision to educate and empower women here to take care of their own health postpartum. I hold a fitness trainer B-license, and I’m licensed as a postnatal fitness trainer by the Akademie für Prä- und Postnatales Training in Germany, and therfore trained in their course concept MamaWORKOUT. I have done additional training in fascia exercises after childbirth, and am currently doing training in the hypocore concept. I’m a busy mom of a baby girl, so this website is still under construction, but little by little I will be offering more content here, and also on my instagram profile @leonie.mamafitness. I’m a licensed nutritionist as well, with an extra license for nutrition counseling during pregnancy, and will therefore also be posting advice regarding a healthy diet during pregnancy.

Why do postnatal exercise?

After giving birth, your body is far from being in its pre-pregnancy shape. Both pregnancy and delivery have taken a toll on it, especially on your core. Your belly is still big, because your belly muscles have been stretched a lot and thinned out. There is usually a gap between your straight belly muscles, a so-called diastasis recti, because your body made room for your baby. Your pelvic floor has been working hard carrying your baby, has been overstretched and maybe injured during a normal delivery, or its connection with the belly muscles has been cut or torn during a c-section. A postnatal exercise course gradually rebuilds your core. In the large majority of women, such a course prevents the formation of health issues such as:

a lasting diastasis recti
persistent back pain
prolapse
persistent issues with incontinence

If you never did postnatal exercise and are suffering from diastasis recti, persistent back pain or incontinence, a postnatal exercise course may still help you now, even if the delivery of your baby was a long time ago. In some cases, individualized therapy with a women’s health physiotherapist will be necessary.

Coming up on this website!

If you want to get informed when new things become available, follow our instagram account or sign up for our newsletter!

AND MORE...

Pelvic floor basics

How to properly contract your pelvic floor - I'll be recording and publishing this video in better quality soon

Learn about your pelvic floor and how to contract it, so you can support its recovery after pregnancy and birth. If you had an uncomplicated vaginal delivery, you can start during the first few weeks after delivery. If you had a c-section or a more complicated or strenuous vaginal delivery, you may need to recover a little and regain strength before starting with pelvic floor exercises. In that case you can start when you feel physically and mentally ready. One additional note: you should NOT do Kegels while you’re breastfeeding or using the toilet.

Your pelvic floor is the number one thing needing recovery in your body postpartum. You should only start with exercises for your belly once you have some control of your pelvic floor, otherwise belly exercises will harm the pelvic floor.