Pretty Strong · Free tool

The Postpartum Return-to-Run Checklist

Not a date on a calendar. A set of things your body should be able to do, without symptoms, before you add the impact back in.

Pop your email in and it opens up

  • The symptom list that means see someone first, not push on
  • The seven-part impact screen used in return-to-running assessment
  • A clear verdict: not yet, build capacity, or start this week
  • A staged walk-run progression with a symptom gate on every step

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Pretty Strong · Free tool

The Postpartum Return-to-Run Checklist

Not a date on a calendar. A set of things your body should be able to do, without symptoms, before you add the impact back in.

Where you are

If it is years rather than weeks, that is fine. Put the weeks in anyway, or an approximation.

This changes what to watch for, not whether you can run.

Part one · symptoms

Tick anything that is true at the moment, whether it happens on a walk, on the stairs, when you lift the baby, or just during the day.

Part two · the impact screen

Tick each one you can do with no symptoms at all from the list above. No leaking, no heaviness, no pain, either during or afterwards. If you are not sure, leave it unticked and go and test it this week.

Part three · the strength screen

Twenty good reps on your worse side, each one. Tick the ones you can do. Quality first: stop the set when the form goes, not when it burns.

Part four · the rest of it