There are many changes to your body when you get pregnant. Some women breeze through the months of pregnancy and others are in torment due to growing pains they feel in their body.
Aileen a Physiotherapist felt the need of postpartum care. Everything was highly focused on the babies and their health, and naturally, many mothers became solely focused on this and often forgetting about themselves.
Aileen is dedicated to empower women to get fitter, stronger and healthier to enable them to have an active life and a happier family. Propel Physiotherapy Moonee Ponds aims to bridge this gap and to provide outstanding, professional and affordable physiotherapy services to both women and men.
Are you able to keep up a workout routine while pregnant? What does your workout schedule look like?
Absolutely yes! I am a mother of 2 kids, with my second child being 3 months old and I worked out 5 times per week, and had to change my workout routines due to the lockdowns that occurred in Victoria :( My workout schedule consisted of 2-3 low impact cardio workouts, which included going up/down hills and spin cycling. On the days that I did not do cardio, I would do a pilates strength workout on the reformer to keep my core, glutes and I worked out a lot on my arms as well to ensure that I had strong arms and a good posture to lift my baby!
I also completed 1-2 self-modified body pump sessions a week. It was great as it was low resistance but high reps, so, I definitely felt the burn in my arms and glutes too! And I tried my very best to include pelvic floor exercises during my drive to and for work as well. I used an app which would guide me through my exercises during my drive, so don't worry, it was super safe! :)
It is important to remember that pregnant women will need to modify their workout as required, and it is very important to listen to your body during pregnancy as it can be tricky to workout as you can often feel rather tired, swollen and bloated too!
What’s your favourite workout and did you have to adjust it for pregnancy?
Reformer pilates is definitely my favourite! I could adjust my springs and make it hard for myself despite being pregnant, and the reformer is such a versatile equipment. There is so much that variety with reformer exercises, so it keeps exercising interesting and fresh!
Unfortunately, I had to adjust my reformer pilates workouts as I was getting groin pain from 20 weeks onwards. Thus, I did a lot of glutes exercises in side-lying and squats to get the glutes stronger. I avoided doing lunges or any uneven or unilateral weight bearing exercise to avoid aggravating my groin pain. I also did most of my workouts in side-lying instead of laying on my back as there is a need to avoid laying my back from 20 weeks onwards to prevent any compression of the vena cava during exercise.
What workouts should you avoid when pregnant? And Why?
1. Avoid high impact exercise or running. The pelvic floor gets fatigued quite easily during pregnancy due to the hormone relaxin which softens the ligaments of the pelvis and the ligaments holding the pelvic organs. Whilst running/doing high impact exercise, the pelvic floor needs to further shock absorb the ground reaction force, thus further weakening the pelvic floor, and it could lead incontinence during pregnancy and postnatally as well. In addition to that, the weight of the baby, amniotic fluid and uterus will impose further pressure on the pelvic floor during high impact exercise as well. Thus, it is rather important to avoid high impact exercise or running during pregnancy to maintain the strength of the pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy.
2. Avoid any chest lifts/crunches/sit ups Based on research, most pregnant women will have a tummy separation by the third trimester. Movements such as chest lifts/crunches/sit ups can worsen, widen and deepen the tummy separation and this would complicate the recovery of the tummy separation during the postnatal phase. Thus, we encourage core exercises such as exercises sitting on a fitball or in 4 point kneeling to aid with core activation without compromising their tummy separation.
What are your top 3 workouts for pregnancy and what are their benefits?
1. Side-lying glutes exercises with a band around the knees: clams, side-lying leg lifts, side-lying circles Glutes are so important and fundamental with compressing and stabilizing the pelvis during pregnancy, and it can really help with minimising pelvic girdle pain and low back pain during pregnancy and postnatally. I truly believe that everyone (not just pregnant women) should be doing these exercises!!!
2. Squats Again, it activates your glutes. But.. it is such a functional movement, and it helps you to get off a low couch or in/out of the car. Squats also helps with getting baby down to the pelvic outlet for giving birth and some women actually deliver their baby in a squat position! Woohoo!!!
3. Pelvic floor exercises There is so so so much research to recommend that every pregnant woman should be doing pelvic floor exercises. Simple exercises eg: 10-15sec endurance holds or quick pelvic floor squeezes. The research indicates that it would help to prevent and cure urinary and/or fecal leakage and pelvic organ prolapse symptoms during pregnancy and in the postnatal phase as well:) If you are struggling with your pelvic floor contractions and exercises, please see a pelvic health or womens' health physiotherapist, as we can help to point you in the right direction:)
Do you have any nutrition/diet tips for pregnancy?
Hmmm... I think my best tip is...
1. Eat well enough to prevent constipation. Constipation can be very common and uncomfortable during pregnancy, thus, get some medical help if you are eating well but remain constipated.
2. Don't be too hard on yourself when it comes to food. It is normal to gain weight, as it is sign that your baby is growing. Thus, enjoy your food and enjoy your pregnancy journey:)
In addition to women’s health physiotherapy, lactation treatments, mums and bubs reformer exercise classes, Aileen also provides clinical pilates exercise classes , injury rehabilitation and musculoskeletal physiotherapy.
If you want to reach out to Aileen follow her for some great tips and advice you can find her details here:
Womens' health and pelvic health physiotherapy
Individualised clinical pilates (virtual or face to face) for pregnant and postnatal women
Propel Physiotherapy Email: info@propelphysiotherapy.com.au .
Contact: 0421 739 214
Insta: @propelphysiotherapymelbourne @physio.aileen
Facebook: @PropelPhysiotherapyMelbourne
Address: 6 Evans Street, Moonee Ponds 3039
