No, needing to pee mid-workout is not normal
AFPA Pre and Postnatal Exercise Specialist and owner of Body Conceptions, Mahri Relin, has trained her fair share of moms. It wasn’t until a few years ago she finally plucked up the courage to ask the women why they kept disappearing in the middle of her class. Here is what she found and why she doesn’t think it’s ‘normal’.
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It would happen every time, like clockwork. We would finish our cardio, I would turn to my phone to select the next track, and my client would disappear for two minutes before returning to the room. I did not question this ritual for a while but I finally asked,
“What were you doing?”
“Peeing!” she exclaimed, “I have to pee every time I jump. I’m a mom, after all!”
This client was 50 years old with a 15-year-old child. Later, as I left her apartment, it dawned on me that this client hadn’t strengthened her pelvic floor enough after her daughter was born. To her, needing to pee (or even possibly peeing in her leggings a little) during our cardio was a perfectly normal and expected part of her routine.
I laughed to myself as I walked out of her building that morning – how had I not recognized this sooner?
I’ve worked with SO many women during and after their pregnancies and managed to avoid this issue in all of them. How had I not recognized this problem in an older woman? Peeing during exercise isn’t a mom thing and it isn’t normal!
I’m sure you know what it’s like to experience a change in your body, especially if it’s connected with an injury. Something happens to you, and you start to believe the pain in your back, or the stiffness in your knee, is the new normal. You accept that it will always be there — this is just the reality of aging and you’ll just have to deal with it from now on.
For many women, they believe the reality of life after children includes incontinence. They will often laugh about it with each other, “isn’t it funny how we all have to do this after we give birth? We’ll just have to get used to the leaking and the running to the bathroom during our exercise to pee. After all, that’s the deal with being a mom!”
NO! You don’t have to put up with this.
I have recently expanded my business to another city and another group of relatively new moms. I did not train them during their pregnancies, so we are starting a new routine together. Two of the three in my new regular group have to stop to pee, so I let them know that no, this doesn’t need to happen. We will incorporate pelvic floor exercises into our routine, and this madness will stop. Tell all your friends I told you this!
I am proud that our regular pre/postnatal clients have avoided the incontinence issue, and I strive to spread the pelvic floor gospel with new clients and beyond. It is never too late to strengthen your pelvic floor. There are so many other benefits that come from strong core muscles, including more control, stability, back pain relief and even better sex.
Don’t ever sell yourself short — and don’t let your friends get away with such self-defeating beliefs. This is NOT the new normal, and they can fix it any time. Start kegeling now!
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You can find out more about Mahri Relin and her work at:
Link to her video subscription service, with video bundles that allow you to do short exercises or full workouts, tailored to what you prefer: https://bodyconceptions.
