The importance of movement, specifically Pilates during pregnancy and the postpartum period

In your expert opinion, what's the best form of exercise to do while pregnant?  

For me personally I’m biased towards Pilates as it’s such a safe and nurturing practice. It served me so well during my pregnancy, labor and my postpartum recovery; It’s so important to ensure you’re looking after your body mindfully with movement that is nourishing you and Pilates does just that. Pilates focuses on working with resistance and with control whilst targeting the deeper and smaller muscle groups, and importantly, the link that is so powerful with pregnancy and beyond, learning to connect to your breath with each movement / repetition. There’s a lot of hormonal and physical changes happening during pregnancy so you want to find movement that’s working with you, assisting you to feel strong, energized and grounded.  In my 10 month prenatal program on The Birthing Class, you learn the importance of relaxing your pelvic floor to help you whilst you're in labor and you also learn how to strengthen it for postpartum recovery along with modifications to ensure you’re moving safely throughout each trimester as your body changes. Our mummas on the platform learn the correct techniques to prevent injury,  understand the functionality of their bodies, the importance of breathwork, movement and why they’re working that particular muscle group. Above all we teach our members to tune into their bodies on each particular day, because everyday is different, especially during pregnancy; we want women to feel confident, empowered and strong during pregnancy and nurture them back to the mat postpartum when the time is right. Of course sticking to a schedule is hard at any given day and during pregnancy it’s even harder so we offer a schedule to follow, however the classes can be changed to suit you on each day. The Pilates classes range from 10-50 mins and we offer different intensity levels; chilled, satisfying or intense, so there is always a class to choose that suits you, your body and your baby. 

Can exercise enrich your pregnancy and improve your birth experience? If so, how? 

Absolutely! I encourage our mummas to get strong during pregnancy so they feel confident and prepared during labor, birth and beyond. Labour and birth of course looks different for everyone and there are no two births that are the same, however labor in my opinion, was the biggest marathon I’ll ever endure!  For hours I was sitting in a squat, moving my body during contractions and connecting to my breath throughout;  everything I practiced on the mat during pregnancy came into play during labor and the birth of my daughter and it will do the same for all the mummas out there. 

What considerations should one have at different stages of their pregnancy? Are there different things to consider during each trimester if you're working out? 

Yes, definitely! There are a range of moves you need to start modifying when entering the second trimester. I could write a whole article just on these modifications, but just to name a few as an example you want to avoid doing any abdominal work, which is using your rectus abdominis, also known as your ‘’six pack’’. The rectus abdominis looks great to some, but really it doesn't serve much purpose for us, especially during pregnancy and postpartum.  It's the deeper abdominal muscles we want to work, which is exactly what Pilates focuses on. To avoid using your rectus abdominis we will take out abdominal curling or contracting of the spine and that’s basically because we want to avoid getting any diastasis recti, which is the separation of the abdominal muscles. As your baby grows so does your belly and your abdominal muscles start expanding and separating. Diastasis recti is when this separation doesn’t close back together post birth, which is super common, but there are ways to help avoid that or to assist with bringing our abdominal muscles back together, and Pilates is the best practice for this! In my Pilates classes we work the deeper abdominal muscles, which is your pelvic floor, transverse which sits behind your 6 pack, drawing your belly button to spine and sliding your ribs down to hips. When you learn this technique it will completely change your life and we have classes that teach you this exact technique. 

If you're into weight training, should you stop altogether? Or are there modifications that can be made that mean you can continue your training through pregnancy? 

You can absolutely continue doing weight training during pregnancy if you’re taking the correct modifications when needed. If you’re following a program or have a PT, I recommend ensuring you’re training with someone who has experience in prenatal workouts.

What advice do you have for someone who isn't usually that active but who wants to keep their body fit and healthy during and post pregnancy? 

Find a workout you like! There’s so much variety out there and working out should feel enjoyable and nourishing on your body, if you’re dreading your workout day after day, it probably isn’t the right movement for you and that’s okay, just find something else. Lastly, take off the expectations. You don’t need to be working out for 60 mins a day to see results, just commit to 15 minutes on the mat and see where it takes you! 

Do you have any other advice for how to stay fit, healthy and active during pregnancy? 

Join a community; we have an amazing worldwide community with members in 118 countries on The Pilates Class (my other fitness app) who meet up, take class together and keep each other accountable on a whatsapp group. Most importantly, listen to your body and tune into what you need on each particular day, whether that be a 10 min meditation, a 30 min Pilates class or a 5 min arm workout, be kind to yourself and enjoy the wonderful body that you have.