I'm pregnant or just had a baby. Can I train?

Talk to your doctor or your midwife before you talk to me, and do what they tell you. That is not a brush off, it is the only honest answer. I coach fighting. I do not give medical advice and I am not going to pretend I know your body better than the person looking after it.

Once you have had that conversation, come back with specifics. What you are cleared for, what you are not, anything you have been told to avoid entirely. I will work inside those lines and I will not push at them to see what happens.

There is usually something worth doing. A lot of self-defense is awareness, distance, voice and footwork, none of which involves being touched. Pad work exists at every intensity there is. Technique you learn now is technique you already own when you are cleared for more.

Coming back after a baby is the same conversation in reverse. Get the all clear, start well under what you think you can handle, and add from there. You are not behind and nobody is timing you. Recovery matters more than the training in that stretch, because sleep is broken and your body is already doing other work, so finish every session feeling like you could have done a bit more. See recovering between sessions.

The practical side is easier than people assume. Sessions happen at your house, so there is no drive and no childcare to sort out. The baby can be right there, and so can your partner or your mum, and nobody minds a session that pauses for five minutes. See who else can be around and starting from zero.