PILATES PREGNANCY SERIES

These six Pilates exercises 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.

Stabilising, strengthening and great for proprioception

Firstly it must be said that the Ball isn’t a piece of Pilates specific apparatus. However it’s use within the Pilates repertoire and with Pilates concepts is very effective. This is very much the case for pre natal exercise. I’m sure Joe Pilates would have happily embraced the Fitball for it’s many benefits!

This Seated Ball exercise is perfect for pregnant women. It activates the pelvic floor muscles and deep abdominals, and integrates use of the hip extensor muscles (ie: hamstrings, glutes). All these muscles are so important for supporting the growing baby and for enduring the birthing process.

One of the many constant changes during pregnancy is the continual adaptation of the centre of gravity, so it’s important to give the body exercises that allow it to reprogram the proprioceptive system. Proprioception tells you where your body is in space and is very much related to balance and control. This exercise offers great proprioceptive feedback in a safe way, simply by nature of doing the exercise on an unstable ball.

Set up position: Start seated on the ball. Choose a ball that is relevant to your height – you should be able to sit on the apex of the ball with your thighs parallel to the floor.

• Press your feet into the floor to engage the leg muscles
• Make sure your posture is upright
• Eyeline forward
• Shoulders relaxed
• Hands either on your hips, hanging by your sides, or behind the head

The movement:

1. Start by simply balancing on the ball -Trying to keep the ball still, your hips level, and your position stable. Exhale to deepen your abdominals and draw your sit bones together. Inhale to maintain position and allow the sit bones to move apart
2. Add a bounce – The small, gentle bounce should be initiated by the movement of the sit bones and aided by the hip extensors. It is a small, sometimes imperceptible movement that will build into more of a bounce on the ball. Avoid getting too carried away and bouncing off into the furniture! Use your breath and visualization of the sit bones moving as you did in 1
3. Pelvic Clock – There are many variations on the clock – you can try any clock version you like. I suggest starting with 12-6-3-9 and then alternating directions around the clock face. Imagine that you are sitting on a big clock face and aim to tilt your pelvis forward to 12 o’clock, back to 6 o’clock, then to 3 and 9 on each side of the clock face. Only move in a comfortable range and control the movement from low abdominals.

These movements will be appropriate throughout all trimesters and, not only do they help with stability and strengthening, they can often be very relieving for women who find their low back taking strain. Activating and mobilising the pelvic muscles and abdominals is like magic after a long day or as a warm up in the morning.