Training through it, and back from it.

First, the honest bit

I'm a personal trainer with a pre and postnatal qualification. I'm not a midwife, an obstetrician or a women's health physiotherapist, and there are things that belong with them rather than with me. If something needs assessing — pelvic floor symptoms, abdominal separation, pain that isn't ordinary muscle soreness — I'll say so and point you towards the right person rather than guessing.

Before we start anything, you'll need to be clear with your own clinicians that exercise is appropriate for you. That's not me covering myself; it's that they know things about your pregnancy or your recovery that I don't.

Training during pregnancy

For most people with an uncomplicated pregnancy and clinical sign-off, continuing to train is both possible and worthwhile. What changes is the programming, not the principle.

• Intensity gets steered, not abandoned. We work at effort levels you can hold a conversation through, and adjust as the weeks go on.
• Exercise selection changes over time. Positions and movements that stop being comfortable get swapped, not forced.
• Strength work stays on the table. Resistance training isn't the risky part of a pregnancy; being deconditioned has its own costs.
• Your feedback outranks the plan. If something feels wrong on the day, we change it on the day.

Coming back afterwards

The return is where people get it wrong most often, usually by going too hard too early because they feel fine at rest, or by doing nothing for a year because nobody told them what was safe.

We start after your postnatal check and whatever your clinicians have said, from wherever you actually are — which might be breathing and walking before it's anything else. Then we build, deliberately, with the same written-programme approach I use with everyone: you'll know what next week looks like because it's already planned.

Progress gets measured against where you started, not against who you were before. That sounds like a small thing. It isn't.

What this doesn't come with

No "bounce back" talk, no before-and-after of your body as a selling point, and no timeline for returning to a previous weight. I don't think that framing helps anyone, and I'm not going to use it to sell sessions. If you want to train because you'd like to feel strong and capable again, that's a good enough reason on its own.

Practicalities

• Where — Anytime Fitness, 224–226 Norwood Road, Tulse Hill SE27, a couple of minutes from the station.
• When — 5am to 5pm, seven days. Off-peak hours mean a quieter floor and no waiting for equipment.
• Who — just me, every session. No rotating trainers, and nobody you have to explain your situation to twice.
• Between sessions — nutrition guidance built around what you're actually eating and managing, plus me on the end of a message.