Pre and Post Natal Fitness
June 7th, 2009 10:45 pmI was listening to an interesting radio programme about pre- and post natal fitness. One of the main points was that our core strength virtually disappears as the pregnancy progresses because everything around our abdominal area gets stretched so much that there is no strength left.
One of the main things to do during pregnancy are pelvic floor exercises. Do lots of them every day. It is like depositing money in the bank – you are building strength so it is easier to rebuild it all after the birth. After your baby is born you may feel that your core strength will never come back and that your pelvic floor will not return back to normal. Don’t give up – every muscle in our body responds to exercise not matter how weak it feels when you start out. You just need to persevere.
Yoga is great during pregnancy but you need to use your common sense – no strong twists, no strong side bends, no back bends and obviously you must not pressure on your abdomen under any circumstances. No holding of the breath and no inversions whatsoever.
I am very conservative with my pregnant students and I would prefer to have a special pre natal class rather than have the pregnant students mixed in with my other ones.
In case you are pregnant and considering going to a yoga class and have never done any yoga before you would be better off in a pre natal class. A lot of yoga studios and even gyms are offering special classes for pregnancy – take advantage of them if you can, it will be a much more pleasant experience for you and it is safer for you and your baby.
Till next time,
Connie
Your Yoga Partner
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As an aside back injuries were discussed as well and depending on the severity of the injury one of the first things to do is to start with pelvic floor exercises – they are gentle enough to be safe and yet they are very powerful to start reconnecting to your body and activate some of your muscles.
