Pre and Post-Natal Pilates
Pre and Post-Natal Pilates
With so much physical change happening to the body pre and post-natally, it is important to give your body the love and care it deserves to thrive during pregnancy and beyond.
From mobility and flexibility, to maintaining muscle tone and strength, to cardiovascular work for healthy hearts and lungs, there are many focus areas to keep yourself and baby happy and healthy.
At Body Smart Health+ we pride ourselves on being innovative and industry leaders in the delivery of pre and post-natal exercise, ensuring you receive the safest and most effective exercise options and evidence-based education available.
BODYSMART PRE-NATAL PILATES
Pre-Natal Pilates: Why you should consider it.
The female body experiences many changes during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. In particular, women may experience reduced core and pelvic floor strength and stability, changes to posture, ligamentous laxity and general muscular tightness and weakness.
Pre and Post-natal Pilates is one of the best ways to teach and develop optimal pelvic floor function, the key muscles that are often left stretched and weakened during delivery.
Undertaking Pilates regularly throughout pregnancy will assist in strengthening these core muscles, and prevent incidences of back and pelvic pain, incontinence and prolapse.
Providing all is going well, you can do Pre-natal Pilates right through until 40 weeks.
Undertaking regular exercise throughout your pregnancy will also contribute to a faster recovery following the birth of your child.
Pre-natal Pilates prepares you not only for the big event of giving birth but the extremely physical job of having a newborn baby to lift, bath, feed, push and carry.
Pre-natal Pilates at BodySmart Health+ is supervised by Exercise Physiologists and Physiotherapists, University trained experts equipped with specialised knowledge to deliver safe and appropriate exercise interventions and evidence-based education. You can feel confident knowing that your program is safe, specific to your needs and backed up by the best information available.
Never done Pilates before? Don’t worry!
Whether you were previously a runner, dancer or sedentary, the benefit of joining a Clinical Pilates class at BodySmart Health+ is that your exercise program is tailored to your individual needs. Exercising in small groups under the supervision of an Exercise Physiologist means your program can be modified as your body changes throughout each trimester so you can keep coming right up until the big day!
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What you can expect from BodySmart’s Pre-Natal Pilates:
• Comprehensive screening and assessment.
• A tailored Pilates program supervised by your Women’s Health Exercise Physiologist that will be modified as you progress through your pregnancy.
• A wide variety of exercises utilising mat, gym ball, reformers and other equipment.
• The most up to date evidence-based education and advice regarding pelvic floor health and exercise guidelines pre-natally and postpartum.
Expect to improve your technique, feel and work muscles you didn’t know you had, strengthen your body, improve your flexibility and have some fun! Book a BodySmart Pilates Session today!
BODYSMART POST-NATAL PILATES
Post-Natal Pilates. Get moving again after having your baby!
BodySmart Health+ offers new mum’s the chance to return to regular exercise safely while targeting the muscles most affected during pregnancy and child birth. With sleepless nights, breastfeeding, bathing and focusing so much time on your little one, the thought of getting back into exercise after having a new baby can be very daunting!
Many women feel a lot of pressure to get back into shape quickly in the early stages after giving birth.
The most important thing to remember is to be kind to your body and allow it adequate time to recover. It is recommended that you wait a minimum of 6 weeks following the birth of baby (vaginal birth) and 8 weeks following a caesarean prior to stating back at Pilates. After this time you are usually ready to get moving again, however, clearance from your Obstetrician or Midwife is essential.
Post-natal Pilates is an excellent first step to strengthen and tone the pelvic floor, deep abdominal and pelvic muscles, helping you to recover following birth, to regain your fitness and pre-pregnancy body.
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The advantages of Post-Natal Pilates at BodySmart Health+
• Pelvic Floor Retraining: Unfortunately, pelvic floor complications are very common postpartum with 1 in 3 women suffering some kind of incontinence following birth.
• Core Muscle Retraining: This includes the deep abdominal and gluteal muscles to help improve and prevent back or pelvic pain as well as transitioning you into the activities you were doing prior to pregnancy.
• General strength and energy improvements to help you cope with the demands of being a new mum
• Instruction and supervision by Accredited Exercise Physiologists with expertise in Pre and Post-natal exercise.
• Reduce and manage rectus diastasis (abdominal separation).
What to Expect from Post-Natal Pilates at BodySmart Health+
• An Initial Pilates Assessment to discuss your medical history, delivery and any complications or abdominal/pelvic dysfunction
• A measure of rectus diastasis (abdominal separation) and specific exercises to assist in ‘closing the gap’
• An individualised program of suitable exercises prescribed, monitored and progressed by your Exercise Physiologist
• A wide variety of equipment-based exercises utilising the mat, gym ball and reformer
• Modern up to date advice and education regarding pelvic floor health and how to safely transition back into higher intensity exercise (i.e. running)
You can start Post-Natal Pilates any time after your 6-week Postnatal checkup. But of course, it is still beneficial to start even 6-12Â months or more after having your baby!
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Professional Assessments and Supervision
All new BodySmart Health+ clients undertake an initial Pilates Assessment with an Accredited Exercise Physiologist. Your Exercise Physiologist will guide and supervise you through individual sessions to make sure you are safe, confident and comfortable with the reformer before joining small group classes (max 7 people). The exercises provided in classes can be modified to any level of fitness to make sure you get the most out of each session.
As registered Exercise Physiologists and Allied Health Professionals, BodySmart Health+ practitioners are fully qualified to provide exercise and Pilates instruction before, during and after pregnancy. So you can be confident that your program and all classes have been designed in the safest manner possible, specifically tailored for each stage of pregnancy and beyond.