Pilates Ante & Post Natal (pregnancy up to 12 weeks)
Pilates trains your body to be strong, flexible and balanced. It involves a series of movements and positions that help to improve your strength and coordination. Deep breathing and relaxation are important in controlling how you do the exercises.
The movements focus on your tummy, pelvic floor muscles and back muscles, which are all key to good posture, balance and strength. They also help your back and pelvis to be supported.
If you strengthen your muscles, you’ll develop a stable core. Pilates builds on this strength through a series of controlled, increasingly challenging movements that won’t put your body under strain.
How can Pilates help you in pregnancy (up to 12 weeks)?
Pilates strengthens your tummy, back and pelvic floor muscles without straining other joints, so it's a great exercise to do when you're pregnant. Some research suggests that doing Pilates regularly can be as effective as doing pelvic floor exercises.
Pilates postnatal
The main benefit of Pilates is that it targets the exact muscles and functions that can be a problem during pregnancy and after birth, in a safe way.
Doing regular Pilates will help to:
Strengthen your tummy muscles, which equips your body better to cope with the strains caused by the weight of your growing baby. Hormones make the tissues (ligaments) that connect your bones more pliable in pregnancy, making you more prone to injury.
Reduces back pain, by exercising the deepest tummy muscles that stabilise your back and pelvis. Weak muscles can lead to back or pelvic pain.
Strengthen your pelvic floor, which will help to support your bowel, bladder and uterus (womb) as your baby grows and moves down. This may prevent you from leaking small amounts of wee when you cough or sneeze.
Helps with balance, as you may feel a little more clumsy, or that your balance isn’t as good as usual, in pregnancy. Pilates exercises strengthen your core and may make you more stable when you walk as your bump grows.
Takes the strain off your back and pelvis, by using positions such as going on your hands and knees, which is a great position for pregnancy. Towards the end of your pregnancy, it may also help to get your baby into the right position for birth.
Relax and control your breathing, which is important for pregnancy and labour.
Exercise is good for you during pregnancy. You should aim to do both aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking or swimming, and muscle-strengthening exercise, such as Pilates or yoga.
Pilates is often one of the recommended forms of exercise up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and is known for its gentle yet effective movement and its ability to improve posture and reduce stress and pains. However, not all Pilates exercises are appropriate during pregnancy. Exercises that are done on your back or stomach may cause discomfort or potentially cause injuries to your body.
Supine Exercises
The rectus abdominus, or the six-pack, tends to separate during pregnancy. Therefore, it is important for pregnant women to prevent any further damage to this area of their abdomen. Many Pilates exercises that contract the rectus abdominus should be avoided. These include exercises where you are lying on your back, such as the double leg stretch. This and other similar exercises require that you lie on your back and bring your knees and head together over your chest.
Then, while pulling your abs in to your back, extend your legs out in front of you and your arms over your head. You then use your abdominals to circle back around to the starting position.
Lying Face Down
Pilates exercises that require you to lie on your stomach or engage in some form of face-down plank positions are not recommended for women who are pregnant, as lying on their stomach is not an optimal position. These include exercises such as the X, which requires you to lie on your stomach and extend your arms and legs, as if you are forming an X with your body. As you inhale, lift your arms and legs up. As you exhale, bring your elbows back towards your waist while you simultaneously bring your legs together. It is better for pregnant women to modify these poses by lying on their side and performing a similar movement, one side at a time.
Deep Stretching
While gentle stretching can be soothing and relaxing during pregnancy, deep stretching may cause injuries and should be avoided.
This includes the common Pilates hamstring stretch, which is executed while lying on your back and bringing one leg perpendicular to your body. You would then take hold of your foot, shin or hamstring to pull your leg further towards your chest. Instead, sit upright on the floor with your legs stretched in front of you. Wrap a Pilates or yoga strap around the sole of your foot and very gently pull on the strap until you feel a comfortable stretch in your hamstring.
Exercises to Avoid
Unless you are at an advanced level of Pilates instruction, you should avoid certain Pilates exercises during your first trimester. Dizziness or feeling faint are normal symptoms of pregnancy that are more common during the first trimester due to lower blood pressure and changing hormone levels. You should avoid the following Pilates exercises as they could exacerbate symptoms of dizziness and nausea: inversions, such as Short Spine, Jackknife, Tower and Roll Over; extreme balances; spinal flexion exercises in which you bend forward over your legs, and strenuous abdominal exercises, such as Stomach Series. You also should avoid stretching joints to their maximum capability to avoid straining joints and ligaments.
Wear comfortable clothing that helps you stay cool, and a supportive sports bra. Consume the amount of calories that are recommended for your pregnancy and drink enough fluids to keep you well-hydrated during your exercise sessions. Each session should begin with a warm-up period that lasts between five and 10 minutes to prevent injury.
Stop exercising and seek immediate medical advice if you notice warning signs such as vaginal bleeding, dizziness or chest pain.
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