Pregnancy is a beautiful and magical time, but it comes with challenges. Pregnancy introduces new risks for you and your baby, and it’s normal if you’re unsure – especially if you’re a new mother – about what you can and can’t do.
Exercising during pregnancy has many benefits for your physical and mental wellbeing, and helps to reduce many health risks during this time. This is where pilates and pregnancy go hand in hand: maintaining your fitness and strength to support the changes that occur in your body during pregnancy.
Both prenatal pilates and postpartum pilates are highly recommended by health professionals as they’re gentle on your body, are easy to modify, and feature plenty of exercises that strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. This is why one of Vaura’s workouts includes our Nurture class – pilates that’s designed for new or soon-to-be mums.
Now, let’s explore the benefits of pregnancy pilates, and which types of exercises are best for each stage of pregnancy.
The benefits of prenatal pilates
Pilates is one of the most popular forms of exercise recommended for pregnant women by doctors – although we still recommend getting clearance from your doctor before exercising while pregnant.
Below, explore the mental and physical benefits you can enjoy from performing prenatal pilates exercises.
Improves posture to reduce back pain
This is particularly important when the weight of the baby starts to affect your posture. Many pilates exercises strengthen your lower back muscles can ease back pain: helping you carry out daily activities more comfortably.
Strengthens your pelvic floor
Performing pelvic floor exercises during mat-based pregnancy pilates better prepares you for childbirth – and can even make for an easier labour.
Prevents diastasis recti
Diastasis recti is when the abdominal muscles separate to accommodate your growing baby, causing a bulging belly. This can happen during pregnancy and temporarily remain afterwards.
Pilates helps by strengthening your core. However, tightening your core muscles too much can actually lead to diastasis recti – which is why it’s important to avoid certain exercises in the later trimesters.
Improves mental wellbeing
Pilates for pregnant women is fantastic for stress release and endorphin production, which helps regulates hormones and aid the quality of your sleep. It’s also an empowering social experience to workout with others who have or are going through the same experience. If you’re nervous about attending a class, we recommend considering the benefits of exercising with a friend.
Maintains body composition
Low-impact prenatal pilates helps you maintain a healthy weight throughout pregnancy. This prevents long-term health effects and mitigates the risk of gestational diabetes.
Supports breath control
The breathwork in pilates can be helpful for learning how to breathe and remain composed during labour. High–energy pilates workouts like our Total and Fusion classes improve your ability to maintain a steady and strong breathing rhythm while under stress. Of course, nothing can fully prepare you for giving birth for the first time, but pilates breathwork can certainly help!
Is pilates during pregnancy safe?
Prenatal pilates workouts are safe, and pregnancy pilates is an excellent, reliable choice for pregnant women. However, modifications are required as not all exercises may be comfortable for you. This is why you should always let a trainer know if you’re pregnant, so they can make provide modifications and suggest adjustments to account for any discomfort you may experience.
Pregnancy pilates during each trimester: what to expect
During pregnancy, each trimester comes with unique changes to your body, general wellbeing, and – depending on your cravings – to your diet, too.
We’d like to emphasize that, although a regular pilates workout schedule is beneficial, it’s completely normal for you to break routine. How many times a week you should do pilates depends on how your body is feeling at the time, so be sure to respect your body – and only exercise when you’ve got the capacity. Below, we’ll take you through each trimester of pregnancy to explain how this might change the way you carry out prenatal pilates exercises.
First trimester
The first trimester of pregnancy is often characterized by nausea, fatigue and hormonal (as well as physical) changes.
While pregnancy pilates is safe at this stage, it is best to take it easy, avoid overheating, and steer clear of too much abdominal work.
During the first trimester, focus on core and pelvic floor exercises such as:
- Leg raises
- Half planks
- Hip rolls
- Bent knee fallouts
Second trimester
By the second trimester, you may be feeling less nauseous but are starting to feel the aches and pains of a growing body.
Be cautious around overstretching your inner thighs. During pregnancy the tissue between the joints can soften and some women can experience pelvic girdle pain, which makes separating the legs painful.
By this stage of your pregnancy, you may require modifications to your workouts, as some prenatal pilates exercises may be uncomfortable.
Here, you want to perform exercise where you’re lying on your side, as this will be more comfortable than doing so on your back or stomach. These include:
- Side planks
- Spine twists
- Squatting side bends
Third trimester
This is when your posture will be dramatically affected by the baby as it continues to grow. The same recommendations as the second trimester apply for the third trimester, except that you should now avoid all abdominal prenatal pilates work: including leg lowers, as well as inner thigh exercises.
Remember, you can exercise up until the day you give labour – just be sure to listen to your body and avoid pushing yourself. During your third trimester we recommend performing a range of seated back and arm exercises, as well as traditional pilates movements like squats and cat cows.
By merging your pilates and pregnancy journeys, you can improve your wellbeing and maintain your strength during this time. Prenatal pilates can feature gentle movements on either a mat or a reformer machine – if you’re unsure which to try, explore the case for reformer pilates vs mat pilates next.
*This article does not constitute, nor is it not intended to be a form of, medical advice. Please consult your doctor or physician when beginning any new workout when you’re expecting.