Pregnancy Pilates

CLINICAL PILATES – ANTE & POSTNATAL

Many women find Pilates to be one of the best exercises to do both during and after their pregnancy.

One of the top reasons Pilates is great at building core strength and endurance. If your abdominals, back and pelvic floor muscles are toned, they will suppport a more comfortable pregnancy and delivery. Pilates is also famous for helping new mums get their figures back after baby is born.

Pilates is very adaptable. Most Pilates exercises can be modified as your body and abilities change. The modifications help you keep the intent of the exercise, but adjust the form to work for your body. Pilates strengthens and tones the abdominals, pelvic floor and back safely a quickly. It does a great job with keeping core and stabilizing muscles fit.

The ability to modify exercises so that they work for changing body and the focus and control, precision, and appropriate levels of exercise intensity all come together to make Pilates a safe choice for exercise during pregnancy. Combine that with the inward focus of other Pilates principles like, centering, breath and flow and you have a system that can work throughout a pregnancy. With good instruction, a Pilates session can be an integrative time for body, mind and baby.

Pilates is a wonderful form of exercise for pregnant women. Through Pilates, women can stay strong and fit throughout their pregnancies. Pilates can help women stay connected to their changing body, improve posture and reduce pregnancy aches and pains.

During the course of pregnancy, the abdominal muscles will stretch by over 50 percent of their original length. Strengthening the abdominal muscles is critical during pregnancy to help support the growing uterus, decreases lumbar compression and reduce pelvic pressure. Women who practice safe abdominal strengthening during pregnancy have less lower back pain, less pelvic pain, better mobility, easier deliveries and faster recoveries.

During pregnancy, a hormone is present, called relaxin, which helps to increase laxity of all the muscles, joints, ligaments and joint capsule The purpose of this hormone is to increase mobility of the tissues so that the body is able to accommodate the rapid foetal growth and prepare the body for delivery. The abdominal muscles are most directly affected by the growing foetus and have the ability to stretch significantly as the foetus grows.

At about 20 weeks and often sooner for a second pregnancy, the rectus abdominals will begin to seperate along the linea alba with the two rectus halves moving laterally. This is called diastasis recti. This is a normal occurrence during pregnancy, and this will occur in almost all women. However, when the diastasis occurs, there is less support for the lower back, which often results in an increase in lower back pain or other discomforts. In addition, women who do not control the size of the diastasis may have difficulty closing it post partum and maybe at risk for an umbilical hernia, especially if there is subsequent pregnancy without proper closure of the seperation.

Avoid any moves that require the rectus abdominals to contract strongly and against gravity.

Focus on internal obliques and transversus abdominus (TVA). Contraction of the TVA directly suports the uterus, and well toned TVA will help keep the rectus halves closer together and prevent disastasis from opening excessively. TVA training can reduce size of disastasis and help prepare for delivery, as one of the roles of this muscle is to assist during forceful expiration (i.e. pushing).

Gental supine abdomen exercises, knee fold, heal slides, pelvic tilts and head lifts can be used to help strengthen TVA.

Saw, spine twist, modified roll up/roll down, mermaid, spine stretch, modified hundred, swimming and shoulder bridge are good in all trimesters.

Ante-natal Pilates

Many women find Pilates to be one of the best exercises to do both during and after their pregnancy. One of the top reasons Pilates and pregnancy go together so well is that Pilates is great at building core strength and endurance. If your abdominals, back and pelvic floor muscles are toned, they will support a more comfortable pregnancy and delivery. Improving your posture throughout pregnancy can help reduce pregnancy aches and pains. Pilates is very adaptable and most exercises can be modified as your bodies abilities change making Pilates one of the safest forms of exercises to do.

Pilates is also famous for helping new mums get their figures back after the baby is born.