Summary: Different Pilates exercises are used for each trimester of pregnancy. Learn to exercise with Pilates when pregnant with expert tips from a fitness instructor in this free workout video.
Ashley Ludman, OTR and ERYT, is co-owner and director of Seaside Yoga. She has been leading yoga teacher trainings and retreats since 2002. Ludman has over 500 hours of study in...read more
"Hi, my name is Ashley Ludman from Seaside Yoga and I'm here to talk about Prenatal Pilates, specifically, how do you do it? Well first of all, anytime you're beginning an exercise regimen in pregnancy, you want to make sure that your doctor has given you prior approval, especially if you're beginning a new form of exercise. So I would also recommend seeking out a trained professional to support you along the way, it's crucial. The second thing, depending on when you, how far along you are within your pregnancy, you're going to have to modify your workout. In the first trimester, because you're not as, as large in this area, you might just have increase fatigue and you may have to rest often throughout your Pilates practice. In the second trimester, you might find options such as the ball or the ring more beneficial. You want to decrease your work with twists, okay. So, you don't want to go too far into you're twistering in the second trimester and modify anything because of your growing belly, you want to use support. So here I'm using, instead of reaching as far forward as I can reach, I'm actually pressing down into the ball, engaging the pelvic flooring crane support from the deep abdominal musculature. You don't want to squeeze too hard, but it's just more of a strengthening from the pelvic floor, similar to a kegel exercise. The same thing as you're working on side bending, you can use the ball for support, to help give you a little, a little greater resistance. The Pilates rings are very beneficial because they are creating some resistance. So you can use these for your arms in different ways, pressing down using strength from the shoulders. The key in Pilates is breathing and creating precise effect of movement. So if all you take from a Prenatal Pilates program is learning how to create an effective kegel exercise, then that's perfect. So that's how you might do a Pilates pregnancy class."