PILATES PREGNANCY EXERCISES
This is the last in our series of six Pilates exercises that will give Mums-to-be some options for staying active during pregnancy.
The Pilates Method is one of the most appropriate exercise modalities for pregnant women, offering endless options for mums-to-be to stay in condition, to address the changes that pregnancy brings, and to aid in preparing for labour and post natal recovery. This series of exercises are aimed at keeping you active day-to-day with movements that will help you feel your best throughout your pregnancy.
THIGH STRETCH
Lengthen and strengthen your thighs and abdominals
The quadriceps and hip flexor muscles will do a lot of work for you during pregnancy. They should be appreciated. They also should be kept long and strong so that they don’t just shorten and cause you to curse them when they are actually trying to help.
One lovely way to keep them actively lengthened and strong is to do the Thigh Stretch. Now – it’s not as easy as it looks, so go gently and work in a small range. You can progressively increase the range of movement once you know your limits, but to start with – very small and test out your capacity.
It may seem strange to offer this exercise as also working the abdominals, but as you will notice when you do it, the abdominals pull very effectively as they hold onto the torso. A great secondary benefit.
Set up position: start kneeling on a cushioned mat with all joints stacked upright – hips above knees, shoulders above hips, head centred on the shoulders.
- Arms can be low or stretched out in front
- Keep your shoulders stable and wide, eyeline forward
- If your knees strain at all, cease doing the exercise
The movement:
Staying upright, aim to draw your tailbone under to ‘set’ the position of the pelvis and abdominals holding. Exhale to lean your whole body back from the knees, hold for an inhale, then exhale to return to upright again. Do 3-6 … or 1 if that’s enough!
This exercise makes the quadriceps and some of the hip flexor muscles actively contract as the muscles lengthen. Different to a contraction where the muscle fibres shorten to contract. So think about how the muscles have to work hard and lengthen at the same time – it’s very strengthening and great training, but progress slowly and pay attention to how your knees, and quads cope.
