Prenatal
Many women find Pilates to be one of the best exercise programs to do during their pregnancy. Pilates and pregnancy fit together so well because Pilates is great at building core strength while remaining verstaile. Practicing prenatal Pilates will allow you to stay in shape and relaxed during this important time in your life. If your abdominal muscle groups, back, and pelvic floor/Kegel muscles are toned, they will support a more comfortable pregnancy and delivery.
Pregnancy can be a very beneficial time to tune inward and connect with your body. The core of Pilates philosophy focuses on: balanced muscle development, centering, concentration, control, precision, breath and flow. Working with these principles will optimize your workout experience and offer skills to bring to the birth of your baby.
You will also be able to get back into shape faster after your delivery if you stay in shape during pregnancy with prenatal Pilates.
Postpartum
The Body Gallery always encourages a healthy recovery from pregnancy so please have your doctor’s consent before beginning any kind of exercise routine.
Pilates is especially good for a post-baby body because it works the muscles directly affected by pregnancy, it focuses on strengthening the abdominals, the pelvic floor muscles, and the back with little or no impact. Pilates will stabilize your core, tone your abdominals, renew your endurance and stamina levels, increase your flexibility and mobility and help to prevent common postpartum injuries.
Postural alignment alters throughout the pregnancy, and many muscles become imbalanced, spinal curves become more exaggerated, ribs flare, and the abdominal muscles are stretched and have often lost much of their strength and tone. This can cause a new found stress on the back, pelvis, hips and feet. Women may be more susceptible to back injuries because of the physical demands: lifting and carrying a newborn, prolonged periods of standing, sitting, rocking or swaying, loading the car seat in and out of the car on a regular basis, and feeding continuously, all of these physically impacting your body repeatedly.
On average it takes most women, even extremely fit women, around six months to one year to regain full strength of the abdominals. Abdominal strength is based on postural alignment and balanced muscle development. It's important to respect the slow process of proper training, hasty abdominal strengthening can jeopardize the joining of the rectus abdominals and leave women with a chronic central core weakness and unable to reach their optimal strength.
As you try to get a new routine down, exercise may be the last thing you feel like doing. Now, it's more important than ever because it also helps increase metabolism, lose extra weight, provide much-needed energy and strength, and help to reduce stress and tension.