My Top 3 Pilates Exercises for Pregnancy.

I’m a huge fan of Pilates during pregnancy, it really kept me strong, active and held my pelvis together throughout 2 pregnancies. In fact in my second pregnancy when I was teaching 11 Pilates classes a week and doing Pilates daily I had no lower back pain or pelvic pain. It  really does work!

So here are my top 3 Pilates exercises to do in pregnancy. These were filmed when I was 34 weeks pregnancy myself and are safe to do throughout all 3 trimesters of pregnancy and after birth too.

 

 

You can buy my “Bump to Birth” Pilates in Pregnancy DVD here.

Bump to Birth DVD Review from EDM fitness.

Here is a lovely review of our Bump to Birth Antenatal Pilates DVD that I recieved from Victoria at EDM Fitness:

“‘From Bump to Birth’ was very easy to follow (even if you are a complete beginner at Pilates) and could be done at home when you have a quiet moment. You do not necessarily need any special equipment, but if you would like a mat, and a swiss ball, but you can still do these exercises on a chair!

The exercises are clearly explained, and you can work to your own ability and trimester as adaptations for easier/harder exercises are offered. The beauty of this DVD is that all exercises are suitable for the complete duration of your pregnancy, so you don’t have to worry whatsoever about if what you’re doing is ‘okay!’

I would thoroughly recommend this workout, it targets the main niggles that women get during pregnancy.. (e.g. lower back pain, stress incontinence, stress) as well as prepare you for birth and after delivery. The whole workout is just generally is very relaxing and gets you to take some time out in your busy day.

Highly recommended, quick, easy and cost effective way of regularly doing some core strengthening exercises during your pregnancy. ”

The full review is here.

Or go like them on Facebook.

Antenatal Pilates Clothing Review.

I recently found Mums 2 be Fitwear on Twitter, perfect timing seeing as I’m now 20 weeks pregnant. Having chatted to them they seemed like a lovely company so I agreed to review their clothing. With the amount of classes I teach it’s important to have clothes that support me, show my body shape and make me feel good too.

Very quickly Mums to Be Fitwear sent me a top and some below the knee leggings in black. These clothes are lovely in terms of their look, feel and quality. I couldn’t want to try them out.

As a fitness instructor I currently teach Step Aerobics and Pilates (3 being antenatal) classes plus I attend ballet. So from cardio work to strength, core, dancing and flexibility, I’ve tested these clothes out.

Mums 2 B Fitwear

My verdict?

I absolutely love the leggings. They stretch very comfortably over my bump and I can tell these will be a staple in my wardrobe throughout my pregnancy. They feel soft to the touch and fit my calves nicely. They could also be comfortably worn just around the house or for a sport look out and about.

The top I really like the look of and the feel but I found it is slightly too high cut under the arms. I found this slightly uncomfortable for Step Aerobics but fine for Pilates. The rest of the top is very flattering and fits very well. I wonder if I just need a slightly larger size as although I am usually a size 8 my boobs have certainly grown a lot more than they did in my first pregnancy!

Overall I would highly recommend these clothes, especially the over the bump style trousers.

Happy Birthday Post Natal Pilates!

I’ve just realised that February saw the Birthday of my post-natal Pilates class. I know it’s now March but it felt like this needed marking.

This class came about because I had a baby…. which highlighted to me how difficult (but not impossible) it can be to exercise with your little one in tow. I knew I needed to get back into Pilates for my health, fitness and peace of mind, so why not do it with other mummies. Also having received an extremely poor information sheet  in hospital about how to do pelvic floor exercises, I felt I could do better myself!

Our first few classes were held in a community centre with the babies at one end of the room with Daddy day-care rocking them in their car seats. All except my little one who tended to fall asleep in the sling before class started and I taught with her attached. (Health and Safety Note – do not do this yourself unless you know what you are doing, it’s a lot harder!!). I’ll admit it, these first few classes were hard, I was tired, my baby was 3 months old and a breast feeding milk monster so sleep was not forthcoming, but I was also determined and teaching classes kinda keeps me going 😉

Moving venue in April to our new home based studio was such a relief. Even though my studio is tiny, we suddenly we had more space as the babies hang out in the lounge with Daddy day-care. We have access to lots of toys, all manner of baby bits so if anyone forgets anything we can help out and there’s no pressure to rush away so the kettle goes on at the end of class. This has led to lovely moments of mummies supporting each other, sharing tips, books, sling demonstrations, many baby cuddles and even weaning talks from the dietitian who happens to be there every week (thats me – Dietitian UK). It literally becomes a community of it’s own and many mummies transition into evening classes when they go back to work.

I have absolutely LOVED this class over the past year and look forward to many more classes, baby cuddles and cups of tea.