Back To The Basics: Climbing After C-Section
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I had a chance to update with a new human to keep alive and all, but here I am to tell you about my first day back climbing since giving birth!
I had been had been climbing throughout my whole pregnancy, but it had been nearly a year since I had been bouldering. I made the decision to stop as soon as I found out I was pregnant. 7 weeks postpartum, after I got the Ok from my doctor to workout again, I was back on the bouldering side of the gym and…. It was not pretty.
Bouldering is HARD! It has been about 15 years since I started climbing and I had completely forgotten what the beginning felt like. My hands hurt, everything is hard, and everything feels so much heavier. At the point of writing this, I still have about 15-20lbs of my baby weight left on and boy do I feel it.
It’s pretty offensive to be honest. Looking at a climb that should be simple only to be shut down when I climb. It would go a little something like this:
Reads at climb
That looks pretty easy, I can do that
Gets on climb
Body says “Nooooooope”
The End
I knew that after almost a year it would be tough but damn… I was humbled real quick… I’m trying not to let it get to my head or my ego. After all, I did just create a human life and keep it alive for the past year! Not to mention I had my ab muscles sliced through. That definitely takes a toll on the body!
So here is to giving myself some grace (and a call to all you ladies going through the same thing to do so as well) and shifting my focus back to the basics.
The comfiest Amazon biker shorts
I hopped on easy climbs to feel the movement again and focus on technique, but let’s be honest… Even the easy climbs felt hard at this point
Hips to the wall
Since I had lost a lot of stamina and core strength (from having been sliced open), I put most of my focus into keeping my hips close to the wall to make sure my weight is over my feet rather than all on my fingertips. Finally being able to see my feet again, I am also relearning and readjusting to being able to climb closer to the wall and less square than I had to when I was carrying a watermelon in my midsection.
Footwork
My next focus was deliberate foot placement so that I am not fussing around and hanging on my fingers longer than I need to be.
Slow and Steady
I was also making sure to climb at a slower pace to build back some endurance and to make sure that I am thinking through each move rather than throwing myself up the wall because everything felt so heavy
Amazon biker shorts
Since that first day, I tried to get into the climbing gym at least once a week if I could get away and each session felt better and better. Like putting oil on rusted hinges, each day I made it in, I felt stronger and stronger. Now it has been 5 weeks since I got the ok and about 5 climbing sessions in, I am nowhere near half of where I used to be but every day is progress. Progress equals motivation to keep trucking.
The first day was humbling. I felt like I was starting over from the beginning but the body is an amazing thing. It was like getting back on the bike! The first day was a lot of falling. The second day felt smoother. The next day felt stronger. While it can still be discouraging at times, I’m having fun on the wall, which is the most important thing, right? RIGHT? haha….
It really does come back quicker than I thought it would! The strength part anyways… stamina is another story but it’s never been my strong suit.
Happy climbing!!!
