Hey ladies, if you’ve upgraded your girls you might be wondering about exercise. There’s a lot to think about when it comes to post-op exercises including: physical activity levels before the procedure, future fitness goals, breast implant exercise techniques, and regaining your general exercise routine. Firstly, knowing what to expect is an important part of recovery as well as having a well-made post-surgical bra. It sounds like a lot but don’t worry. You got this!
Your Body
Your activity level may vary as the healing process progresses. However, the exercises that you do in the later stages of the healing process depend on your physical condition prior to the breast augmentation procedure. For example, if you trained for an hour or more each day and consider yourself especially fit, then you can generally expect to kick it back into high gear in about twelve weeks. If you had moderate amounts of exercise and wish to continue your current lifestyle, a few weeks of rest from intense exercises won’t affect you too much. Finally, if you enjoy a relatively sedentary lifestyle, consider light exercise such as walking in order to keep the blood flow going.
General Exercises After Breast Augmentation: How Long Before You Can Exercise After Breast Augmentation?
Aside from specific exercises for the breast implants, you might want to know what types of exercises are safe during recovery. Need to know about 3 weeks post op breast augmentation exercises? How about leg exercises after breast augmentation?
According to John Williams, M.D., “The main concern with working out after a breast augmentation is overusing the pectoral muscles. Since the vast majority of breast implants are placed underneath the pectoralis major muscle, the muscle will need to heal from surgery before stress is placed on it through resistance training. The reason for this is the scar tissue, or capsule, that lines the pocket that holds the implant, begins forming immediately after surgery. Every woman who has breast implants has capsules lining the pockets. This is simply our body’s way of protecting us against an object (the implant) that it doesn’t recognize. The goal is to allow the capsule to form in such a way that it is undetectable. Therefore, during the initial four weeks after surgery, it is recommended that breast augmentation patients avoid overusing their pectoral muscles”.
In other words, you’ll want to avoid overworking the pecs so that your new implants will heal up properly without scars. Also, avoid lifting anything over ten pounds, carrying heavy purses or bags, and pushing or pulling heavy objects within the first four weeks after surgery. You’ll mainly wanna focus on lower-body exercises and light to moderate cardio. Around the four-week mark, you’ll most likely have a post-op visit where the doc will check you out and make sure everything’s healing up properly. If they give you the OK, you should be able to start doing arm and chest exercises.
The following is a week-by-week breakdown of how to perform general exercise throughout the healing process. Always consult with your surgeon before taking on high intensity exercises at any part of the healing process. Pain and discomfort are your body’s way of telling you to stop. If exercises that were previously within your capability suddenly prove too difficult, rest for a few more days and try again. This guide is meant for those who were moderately or highly physically active before surgery.
Week 1
During the first 48-72 hours, taking light walks can help with blood flow. This is important for preventing blood clots. Your body is still recovering and needs an adequate amount of rest so make sure to take plenty of naps. After the first three days, low intensity exercises such as walking on the treadmill and peddling a stationary bike are fine in moderation. As a precaution, try to avoid core, upper body, incline, holding on, and other high intensity exercises.
Week 2
In the second week, your energy levels will start coming back so you might feel like moving around a little bit. Still, be mindful about your body’s needs. If you feel any pain or discomfort, stop and wait a few more days before trying again. You should be able to do leg extensions, seated hamstring, seated abduction, and isolated legs. Upper body, core, holding on, and high intensity exercises should still be avoided.
Week 3-4
Between weeks 3 and 4, you might feel more comfortable moving around. You should still avoid upper body and high intensity work outs but light holding and lightly holding small weights in your hands should be ok in moderation. Be careful with core exercises. There’s no need to worry about loss of abdominal muscle definition at this point, especially if you were an avid gym girl before the breast augmentation procedure.
Week 5-8
During this time, your body has made a lot of progress. Feel good about yourself! You’re in the home stretch. Now you can do some light jogging, narrow back work, squats and lunges, bicep and tricep work, delt raises and presses, and glute kickbacks. Bench pushups, chest flies, pull-ups/hanging, and heavy tricep dips are still out, though.
Week 9+
After the ninth week, your body might feel completely normal again. You’ll be able to start high intensity exercises such as sprints, jump rope, and lunge jumps. Hanging and pull-ups should still be avoided, however.
Around week twelve, it should be safe to continue all previous high intensity workout routines but check with your physician just to be safe, especially if you feel any pain or discomfort before, during, or after working out.
Conclusion
Your body is unique and listening to it throughout the healing process is the best thing you can do. These general guidelines can help you plan a suitable post-op exercise routine. For personalized advice, talk to your doctor and/or personal trainer about your health, fitness, and body image goals. Plenty of rest, relaxation, and a little exercise can go a long way. You go girl!