For the mom who did little exercise during pregnancy:

STRETCHING (10 minutes)

For Upper Body: Sit tall with your chin to your chest. Clasp your hands behind your back and raise your arms.

For Lower Body: Lie faceup on the floor with your feet on a wall. Shimmy your butt toward the wall until your body forms a 90-degree angle. Open your legs on the wall until you feel the stretch and hold it. (This stretches your inner thighs.)

Bring your legs together, putting the right leg over the left above the knee. Bend the knee of the bottom leg a little and hold. Switch legs and repeat. (This stretches your outer thighs.)

Stand up, knees together. Bend your left knee to bring your left foot behind you. Grab the toes of your left foot with that hand. Make sure to hold on to a sturdy object. Be sure that both knees are next to each other. Bend the knees of the supporting leg. Do a pelvic tilt. Repeat with other leg.

Standing with the right foot 6 inches in front of the left foot, bend the back leg and put both hands on the thigh of the bent leg. On the front leg make sure that toes are in the air. Stick out buttocks. You will feel the stretch in back of your front leg. Repeat with other leg.

For Lower Back: Lie faceup with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your arms out to your sides, palms to the floor. Keeping your feet on the floor, roll your knees to one side and turn your head toward the opposite shoulder. Switch sides.

STRENGTHENING (5 to 10 minutes)

Push-ups. Do modified ones with knees bent. Start with feet on the floor. As you become more proficient, you can do feet off the floor. Do as many as are comfortable.

Squats. Hold on to a pole, railing or door jam and bring your feet close to what you are holding on to. Spread them 6 inches apart. Make sure when you come down that your knees stay lined up with your ankles. The buttocks don't come down lower than your knees.

Stand against wall. Feet are hip-width apart and two feet from wall. Head and back stay pressed against the wall. Slide up and down. When you are in holding the down position, stay there for a few moments, then come up. Your buttocks shouldn't go lower than your knees.

For abdominals. Sit in chair, shoulders lined up with hips, hands on belly. Pull bellybutton back to spine, do little pulses contracting the abs as you pull the bellybutton out the back of the spine. Count and squeeze each time. Do this 100 times. Tupler teaches this in all of her classes and calls it The Tupler Technique as described in her book.

CARDIOVASCULAR (10 to 15 minutes)

Walk: Go for a 10 to 15 minute brisk walk outside. Make sure you have good supportive shoes.

For the mom who is in shape:

(10 minutes) Warm up on a bike or treadmill at moderate pace. On a bike, it would be 70 or 80 revolutions per minute. For a treadmill, walk uphill at a 3.8 to 4.2 pace with your arms pumping. (No hanging on!)

(6 minutes) Alternate between lunges and push-ups:

Do across the room lunges. If you don't have enough room, you can do stationary lunges. Make sure that both knees are bending and the front knee is directly over ankle. Hips should be squared, and weight should be distributed equally between both legs.

Push-ups. You can do a full or modified version.

(14 minutes) Do a series of four exercises in succession: Assisted pull-ups, reverse crunches, obliques and then plies. You should repeat the cycle three times (rest between each cycle).

Assisted Pull-Up: Do a set of 15 reps.

Reverse Crunch: (Note: If you had a c-section, then do regular crunches because pressure on scar may be too much.) Lie faceup with knees bent above hips, arms at sides. Raise your hips and pull your knees toward your chin. Slowly lower to starting position. Perform 15 to 25 repetitions.

Oblique Twist: Lie faceup on the floor, arms out to your sides, palms down. Keeping your legs together, bend your knees 90-degrees and then bring both legs toward your chest. Make sure your shoulders stay pressed against the floor, and keep your upper body still throughout this move. Slowly drop your legs to the floor on your left side. Slowly lift knees to center and lower to your right side. This is good for the obliques and lower back, which is the area where most post-partum women have a lot of pain. Perform 15 to 20 repetitions on each side.

Plie: Stand with your feet double shoulder width apart, toes pointing outward. Place your hands on your hips. Lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Do not allow your knees to go beyond your toes. Squeeze your buttocks and come back to starting position. Do 25 repetitions. If you have knee problems, don't go too low.

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