A big training app, or one small plan you will actually finish?
Sweat's postnatal program and Mumma Glow are built for two different mums. Here is how to work out which one is you.
Quick answer
Sweat's PWR Post-Pregnancy with Kelsey Wells is a 28 week program of 28 minute workouts inside a large subscription fitness app, and it suits you if you want structured, progressive strength training with plenty of variety around it. Mumma Glow is not an app at all: it is a one-time digital guide (single guides $15, the full bundle $50, no subscription and no login) focused on rebuilding your deep core and pelvic floor in short sessions. Pick Sweat if you want a full gym-style program and are happy paying monthly. Pick Mumma Glow if you want the affordable, one-time, no-subscription option you can start at the kitchen bench today.
Length of Sweat's PWR Post-Pregnancy program, including four optional beginner weeks
Length of each PWR Post-Pregnancy session
One-time price of a single Mumma Glow guide, with nothing to cancel later
What Sweat's postnatal program actually is
Sweat is one of the largest women's training apps in the world, and its postnatal offering is PWR Post-Pregnancy with Kelsey Wells. According to Sweat's own program page, it runs for 28 weeks, includes four optional beginner weeks at the start, and each session is 28 minutes. Equipment is listed as optional, with substitutions encouraged (water bottles instead of dumbbells, a chair instead of a bench), and Sweat states plainly that you need clearance from your healthcare provider before you begin. New users get a 7 day free trial.
Kelsey Wells holds pre and postnatal fitness certifications, which matters more than most people realise. If you want to know what those letters after a trainer's name are worth, we broke them down in our guide to reading a postnatal trainer's qualifications.
The important structural point: PWR Post-Pregnancy sits inside a subscription. You pay every month or every quarter for as long as you use it, and the exact price shifts by country and by promotion, so the figure you see in the app today is the one that counts. That is not a criticism, it is just a different deal to a one-off purchase.
What Mumma Glow actually is
Mumma Glow is a set of digital postpartum recovery guides. There is no app to download, no account to keep, no renewal date. You buy once (single guides $15, the complete bundle $50), download, and it is yours. The starting point is not a workout at all, it is breathing and deep-core reconnection, then gentle progressive work for the belly, glutes and pelvic floor in short blocks that fit into a nap.
That design comes from a simple observation: most mums do not stop training because the program was bad. They stop because life got in the way and the subscription quietly kept charging. We wrote about that pattern in detail in why most mums quit their postpartum program.
Sweat postnatal vs Mumma Glow, side by side
| Feature | Sweat (PWR Post-Pregnancy) | Mumma Glow |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Subscription app, video-led | One-time digital guides you download |
| Program length | 28 weeks, plus four optional beginner weeks | Self-paced, no fixed end date |
| Session length | 28 minutes | Short blocks designed for baby's nap time |
| Payment model | Ongoing subscription (monthly or quarterly), 7 day free trial | One-time payment, $15 a guide or $50 for the bundle, nothing to cancel |
| First focus | Reintroducing training and correcting posture | Breath, deep core and pelvic floor before anything else |
| Equipment | Optional, substitutions suggested | None needed |
| Variety after you finish | Large library of other programs included | None, the guides are the product |
| Personal assessment | No | No |
| Best for | Mums who want structured strength training and ongoing variety | Mums who want a cheap, finite plan and no recurring bill |
What Sweat genuinely does better
Three things, and they are real.
First, progression. A 28 week program with defined phases takes you further into strength training than a short guide does. If your goal is to be lifting properly again, that structure is worth something.
Second, breadth. Your subscription covers the whole Sweat library, so when PWR Post-Pregnancy ends there is somewhere obvious to go next. A one-time guide has no next chapter built in.
Third, the video format. Some people simply learn a movement better by watching it than by reading it, and a large app has production budget behind every clip.
If those three points describe you, Sweat is the better buy and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. The same honest logic applied when we looked at Peloton's postnatal collection.
Where a one-time guide makes more sense
The case for Mumma Glow is not that it does more. It is that it does less, cheaply, and finishes.
If you are eight weeks postpartum, sleeping badly, and the honest amount of time you have is ten minutes while the baby naps, a 28 minute session five days a week is a plan you will abandon in a fortnight and then pay for anyway. A one-time guide has no monthly bill quietly ticking over during the months you cannot train.
There is also the starting point. Sweat's postnatal program is a training program that happens to be postnatal. Mumma Glow starts before training: breath, then the deep abdominal wall, then load. If your belly still domes when you sit up, that sequencing matters more than the number of workouts on offer, and it is worth reading what coning and doming are telling you before you pick anything.
If you want the wider version of this argument rather than one brand against another, we compared the two categories directly in subscription apps versus a guided plan.
Why the recovery timeline matters more than the brand
Diastasis recti is common, and for most women it improves substantially over the first year without surgery. In a widely cited cohort study (Sperstad et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016), prevalence was 60% at 6 weeks postpartum, 45.5% at 6 months, and 32.6% at 12 months.
60%
45.5%
32.6%
Source: Sperstad et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016.
Read that curve as a planning tool. The change happens across months, not weeks, which means the deciding question is not which program is most impressive in week one. It is which one you will still be opening in month six. For a realistic sense of what belongs at each stage, our month-by-month postpartum core plan lays it out. Results vary from mum to mum.
The gap neither product fills
Neither Sweat nor Mumma Glow can examine you. Neither knows how wide or how deep your gap is, whether you have a hernia, or whether you have prolapse symptoms. A video cannot feel your abdominal wall and a PDF cannot either.
So do the free things first: run the at-home diastasis recti self-check, and if you have heaviness or dragging, read up on what prolapse symptoms feel like and book a women's health physiotherapist. That appointment beats both products, and it is what we would tell a friend.
And if you are heading back to work while all this is still settling, the day itself is its own challenge. We wrote a separate guide on getting through a work day with diastasis recti.
The verdict
Sweat wins on progression, variety and video quality, and if you want a proper 28 week training block with a library behind it, subscribe. Mumma Glow wins on price, simplicity and finishability: one payment, no renewal, short sessions, and deep-core work before load. If money is tight or your time is measured in ten minute blocks, the one-time guide is the safer bet. Neither replaces a physiotherapy assessment.
Start with the core, not the workout
The Core Reconnect Program is our $15 one-time guide for rebuilding the deep core after birth: breath first, then gentle progression, no subscription and nothing to cancel. Use code GLOW20 for 20% off.
Frequently asked questions
Is Sweat's postnatal program safe for diastasis recti?
Sweat states that you should get clearance from your healthcare provider before starting PWR Post-Pregnancy, and Kelsey Wells holds pre and postnatal certifications. That said, no app can assess your abdominal wall, so if your belly domes or cones during a movement, that is your signal to regress it and speak to a women's health physiotherapist.
How much does Sweat cost?
Sweat is an ongoing subscription billed monthly or quarterly, and the price varies by country and by current promotion, so check the figure shown in the app or on sweat.com rather than trusting any blog post (including this one). There is a 7 day free trial for new users.
Can I use both?
Yes, and plenty of mums do it in sequence rather than at once: start with a short deep-core guide while everything is still settling, then move into a longer structured program like PWR Post-Pregnancy when you are ready for real load.
Is 28 minutes too long in early postpartum?
For some mums, yes, and that is a scheduling problem rather than a program flaw. If you cannot reliably find 28 minutes, choose something built for shorter blocks so that consistency is realistic. Doing ten minutes four times a week beats doing 28 minutes twice and then stopping.
Do I need equipment for either?
Not really. Sweat lists equipment as optional and suggests household substitutions, and the Mumma Glow guides are written for no equipment at all.
Sources: Sweat, PWR Post-Pregnancy with Kelsey Wells program page; Sperstad et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016; ACOG, Exercise After Pregnancy; NHS, your body after the birth; Cleveland Clinic, Diastasis Recti.
This article is general education, not medical advice, and Mumma Glow is not affiliated with Sweat, Kelsey Wells or any other program named here. Results vary from mum to mum. Please see your GP, midwife or a women's health physiotherapist before starting or changing postpartum exercise, especially if you have pain, heaviness, leaking or a suspected hernia.