Tara, 31 · Architect · Thapagaun
24 weeks: from a 20-second plank to carrying her daughter up four floors
Tara started four months after her daughter was born, once her doctor cleared her to exercise. Over 24 weeks with a woman trainer she rebuilt her core and her strength, and lost 6.9 kg on the way.
- Trainer: Pema Sherpa
- Personal training plan
- 24 weeks
BeforeWeek 1AfterWeek 24Before and after
Strong again 24 weeks after pregnancy
Back pain from carrying her daughter and a weak core. Her doctor said yes; a woman trainer did the rest, slowly.
- Started
- 12 January 2026
- Length
- 24 weeks
- Trainer
- Pema Sherpa
- Plan
- Personal training
Measured from January 2026 to June 2026, 24 weeks
- Plank
- 20 sec90 sec
- Timed by her trainer
- Body weight
- 71.8 kg64.9 kg
- Gym scale
- Trap-bar deadlift
- 20 kg60 kg
- 5 clean reps
- Sessions
- 068
- Ladies-only hour
Before
Where Tara started
Tara had lifted weights before her pregnancy. Four months after her daughter was born she felt weak in a way she didn’t recognise: her back ached after carrying the baby, and she leaked when she coughed.
Her doctor cleared her to exercise at her four-month check. She didn’t want a generic class, and she wanted to train with women.
The turning point
The free session
She booked her free session in the ladies-only hour, 6:00–7:00 AM, Sunday to Friday, while her husband was home with the baby.
Pema didn’t put her on a machine. She asked about the birth, the doctor’s advice and the leaking, then started with breathing and a 20-second plank. Tara joined that week on the Personal training plan.
The plan
The plan Pema wrote
Pema built the plan in three stages and only moved on when the last one felt easy.
- Three sessions a week with Pema in the ladies-only hour, 6 to 7 AM.
- Weeks 1 to 8: breathing, core and pelvic floor work, light squats and carries.
- Weeks 9 to 16: loaded lifts, starting with the trap bar at 20 kg.
- Weeks 17 to 24: heavier lifts and short conditioning finishes.
- Two 20-minute home sessions a week, done in the park with her daughter.
- A referral to a women’s health physiotherapist in week 2, which Tara took up.
How it went
Week by week
Week 2
Floor work at home
The home sessions were floor work: breathing, dead bugs and glute bridges, with her daughter on the mat beside her.
Week 8
Leaking stopped
With the physiotherapist’s exercises and Pema’s plan together, she could cough and jump without leaking. That was the signal to start loading.
Week 14
A kettlebell for the park
Pema lent her a 12 kg kettlebell for the park sessions. Swings and goblet squats replaced the floor work.
Week 24
Four floors with the baby
A 60 kg trap-bar deadlift for five, a 90-second plank, and her daughter, now 9 kg, carried up four floors without stopping.
The result
What changed in 24 weeks
In 24 weeks Tara went from a 20-second plank to 90 seconds and from a 20 kg trap-bar lift to 60 kg. She lost 6.9 kg without dieting for it.
The back pain from carrying her daughter has gone, and she has started running again.
“Pema asked about the leaking on day one. Nobody else had.”
Every body after pregnancy is different, and nobody starts with me before their doctor says yes. Tara progressed because we waited for each stage to feel easy, not because we pushed.
Pema Sherpa, women’s training lead
What it cost
NPR 15,000 a month, on the Personal training plan
Today’s price, as of 28 October 2026. Gym + classes, with your own trainer for 12 sessions a month.
Who a plan like this suits
A good fit if
- Your doctor has cleared you to exercise after the birth.
- You want a woman trainer and the ladies-only hour.
- You want strength back, not just weight off.
Not a fit if
- You are less than six weeks after the birth, or haven’t seen your doctor yet.
- You want a women-only gym all day. The ladies-only hour is 6:00–7:00 AM, Sunday to Friday; the rest of the day the floor is mixed.
