Client Conversations: Germaine

This month we speak to Germaine! She first joined Breathe as a preggie belly and has since delivered a lovely baby girl. She’s now back in the Mums & Bubs class. We speak to her about how Pilates has helped her pregnancy and delivery and why she came back after!

 

1) How did you first encounter Pilates
Breathe Pilates was my first experience with the reformer. I tried a couple of matwork group classes in previous years – once during my uni days, and once a couple of years ago when my colleagues engaged a trainer for lunchtime group exercise sessions – but didn’t particularly enjoy them.

2) How did Pilates help during your pregnancy and delivery
I have a wonky back due to mild scoliosis, diagnosed when I was a child but deemed too mild to require treatment. I was also that kid who consistently failed the sit-and-reach component of the annual fitness test.

When I was pregnant my ob-gyn advised me to tone down my regular gym routine, and almost immediately I started developing aches and pains in my lower back. Prenatal Pilates kept my backaches manageable, and also helped me build strength and improve my flexibility – which was great for carrying the extra weight and dealing with my ever-shifting centre of gravity. Being in a class full of fellow preggos was also great for morale. At my gym I was the elephant in the room, but at Breathe’s Preggi Bellies class, everyone’s lumbering about in the same boat!

I had an epidural-assisted delivery because I’m quite pathetic when it comes to pain. And when you’re numb from the waist down, it definitely helps to have strong core muscles that remember how to engage even when you can’t quite feel them.

3) What made you decide to come back for post natal and how has it benefited you?

My daughter is now just over three months old; it’s a really cute age, but she’s getting hefty and constantly demanding to be carried. Every day I bend down and pick her up dozens of times, and that gets pretty hard on my (still-wonky) back.

Right now, Pilates isn’t my only regular exercise since I’m able to go back to the gym. But unlike strength training and cardio, which mostly leave me feeling exhausted, after each postnatal Pilates session I feel both looser and stronger, and more energised on the whole. It’s a constant amazement to me that such small and controlled motions can have such a huge effect on my physical well-being.

 

May 9, 2014 by breathepilatesstudio Categories: About Pilates, Interview, Prenatal PilatesTags: babies, mums, pilates, postnatal, pregnancy, prenatal Leave a comment

Pregnancy and Pilates

You’ve probably already heard that Pilates is great during pregnancy, seen results from lots of celebrities who swear by Pilates and are now wondering what exactly Pilates does during pregnancy. For those who are expecting or know someone who is, we explain the science behind prenatal Pilates.

Pregnancy is an important time in every woman’s life and should not be a state of confinement. Pregnant women with uncomplicated pregnancies should be encouraged to keep active and continue to engage in physical activity. However, it is important to note that exercise in pregnancy is to improve or maintain muscle tone and not to control weight gain or to correct posture.

There are numerous physical changes happening during pregnancy, including the production of relaxin, a hormone that causes your ligaments and muscles to become more lax, resulting in unstable joints. In addition, the additional weight of the foetus can result in increased curvature of the spine, altered posture and maladaptive muscle patterns. In summary, these symptoms predispose pregnant women to back pain.

Pilates helps to manage these symptoms by strengthening the deep core muscles, hamstrings and deep gluteal muscles to provide muscular support. Having good muscular support will reduce the stress on the joints, resulting in less maladaptive muscle patterns, thereby helping to reduce or even completely eliminate pain. Stretching and mobilization exercises done in Pilates to release the overactive muscles will also help reduce soreness and discomfort.

In addition, pelvic floor exercises, which are an important component of Pilates, will help reduce the additional pressure from the foetus on the pelvic floor. This will in turn reduce the occurrence of pre- and post-natal urinary incontinence.

A developed pelvic floor and deep core control will also help during labour. Plus, strong muscles have a good blood supply which will also help to speed up post-delivery healing.

Another common condition that occurs in pregnancy is distasis recti, which is the separation of the rectus abdominus (the six-pack muscle). This is due to excessive exertion of tummy muscles that are stretched during the natural course of pregnancy. In Pilates, the focus is on using the deep core muscles, which help to act as a corset to support the abdomen during pregnancy, thereby decreasing the separation of these muscles during and after pregnancy.

Perhaps the most important part about pregnancy is realizing that you’ll soon be bringing a new life to this world. With the help of Pilates, your journey into the next phase of life will be made easier as studies have shown that exercise during pregnancy promotes the release of hormones that reduce the risk of pregnancy complications as well as to help combat pregnancy related depression by improving body image and increasing self esteem.

Originally written for InTheLoop – Singapore’s first online lifestyle magazine for yoga, pilates, health and fitness.

January 13, 2014January 13, 2014 by breathepilatesstudio Categories: About Pilates, Prenatal PilatesTags: benefits of pilates, pilates, pregnancy, prenatal 1 Comment