Tag: post natal fitness

Top 3 complications Post-Birth.

Priya Tew

Being pregnant, giving birth and then looking after a baby – it’s all particularly hard work on the body and comes at a time when you are more focused on the baby and less focused on you. However you need to look after your own body, you only get one and if it isn’t functioning as well as it should is makes life a lot harder.

Three of the key complications that can occur during pregnancy and postnatally:

1. Diastasis Recti.

This is a seperation of the tummy musclesDiastasis Recti that run vertically down the tummy (the Rectus Abdominus or 6 pack muscles). It can happen naturally but there are also things you can do to prevent it from becoming too large an issue whilst pregnant. After your 6 week check is then the time to get this checked out and to address it.

Top Tips: No sit ups in pregnancy and post-birth. Don’t go back to high impact exercise too quickly as it can make this worse and use safe postnatal Pilates exercises to fix it.

2. Pubis Symphysis Derangement:

Otherwise known as pelvic girdle pain or SPD. This occurs when there is movement in the symphysis pubis, and a misalignment of the pelvis. It leads to pain in the pelvis and groin region. This is usually worse on standing, walking, climbing stairs, getting in and out of a car and activities that involve having the weight on one leg. Pilates can help by strengthening the core (above the pelvis) and the thigh and bum muscles (below the pelvis). These strengthening exercises effectively help the body support the pelvis and take the pressure off. This can happen in pregnancy, during labour or after birth.

Pilates with Priya: The Pelvis

Top Tips: Your local obstetric physiotherapist may be able to help with misalignment. Then use Pilates specific exercises to help strengthen and maintain the correct posture and position.

3. Hunched Posture:

Being pregnant means heavier breasts, a bump and often rounded shoulder to compensate for the heavier load. Having a baby means you end up leaning forward a lot to play, pick up, feed and change your little one. Carrying a baby around leads to tense shoulders and feeding can be awful for the posture too. Having a rounded upper back leads to tight shoulders and neck, tight hamstrings, weak gluteals (bum) and tummy muscles. It also doesn’t look great.

Top Tips: Keep checking your posture in the mirror, think about it when you feed and carry baby. Make posture part of your everyday awareness.

For specific exercises and more top tips try “Beyond Your Bump”

Back to the Studio…What has Pilates taught you?

Priya Tew

It’s been 4 months since baby Judah arrived and the time has literally flown by. Our team of instructors have been amazing at covering classes and I’ve enjoyed every minute of spending time being a mummy. However I’ve also been itching to get back to the studio. What has amazed me has been the journey of working on my own body postnatally and seeing how much it needed strengthening. I’m not fully back to my usual strength yet but I’m certainly well on my way.

Weight wise I’m almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m back in my usual jeans, which are a little tight but are getting looser by the week and I’ve just got a bit of a muffin top left to shift 😉 however I see that as my breastfeeding stores.

I’m now back teaching 11 classes a week plus some one to one sessions and my dietitian work. So it’s go go go. However I’m extremely lucky to have amazing clients who know I have to work around my gorgeous baby. So he is sometimes in the studio with me and has even come in for a sneaky feed during a class.

Pilates for me has been amazing. It’s taught me body awareness which means throughout preganancy and now postnatally I am really trying hard to listen to it, work out what muscles are tights, which need stretching, which need working and when to stop.  For example I know I had a slight gap between by tummy muscles after birth which I’ve been ultra aware of, I’ve also got a clicky hip and shoulders from the relaxin that is kicking around my system still. It’s also the ideal exercise for me to do in between feeds as it it can be done in small chunks of time, it corrects my posture and it relaxes me. What has Pilates taught you?

 

Why is Pilates so beneficial for new mums?

Priya Tew

Pilates is still quite a new form of exercise in the UK.  Just to give you some background, Joseph Pilates, a German-born gymnast, circus-performer, boxer and anatomical-chart model, developed his training method during the 1920s, so it’s been around for quite a while.  He named his method “Contrology”, initially to rehabilitate soldiers during the war.  Later, it became popular in the ballet circuit, then went mainstream, where now it’s suitable for just about everyone.

You’ll hear Pilates Instructors mention your “core” muscles quite a lot during class.  The “core” is made up of several muscles which wrap around your spine – a bit like a cylinder.  There are muscles at the front of your body (transverses abdominus/hip flexors), side (obliques), back (multifidis), top (diaphragm) and base (pelvic floor).

To find your core muscles, you just need to tighten/pull/draw your abdominal muscles in slightly.  Start by breathing into your belly first, then as you breath out, drawing your tummy muscles in towards your spine and keeping that light tension switched on.  These muscles are slow to contract and slow to fatigue, so it means you should be able to hold your tummy muscles inwards with a low level of contraction, for a minute or two, then simply move an arm or a leg, or the spine, to create an unstable environment and therefore provide a challenge for the muscles.  Pilates is quite simple in design.

Pilates is particularly beneficial for postnatal women, because, put simply, it targets the very muscles which get weakened by pregnancy itself eg the pelvic floor and core.  It also helps you breathe better, puts your body in an optimal postural position and relieves tension in your neck, shoulders, hips and lower back from constant lifting, carrying, feeding and changing your baby.