Teaching Pilates During Your Own Pregnancy

I received this great question the other day and thought it deserved its own blog post:

"Hello, I teach Mat Pilates and recently found out I am about 4 weeks pregnant. I have continued teaching and plan to atleast for a while... Do you have any suggestions for teaching while pregnant?"

As a matter of fact... I do.

Sit on a Ball While Teaching
This is one of the best things you can do while you're teaching. In fact, you can do this at home, too. The more often you sit on a ball, the more your lower back and hips will stay fluid and pain-free. You're never perfectly still on a ball, your deep core muscles are constantly working to keep your balance (its really subtle, but they are working and keeping toned core muscles in pregnancy is so helpful in the long run). While teaching, you can do small pelvic tilts, pelvic circles, little bounces- all of these will help keep low back pain away and keep your posture under control.

Minimize Physically Assisting Clients, Demonstrating, and Changing Springs
Basically, minimize the amount of times you bend over. The added extra weight of assisting a client or changing the reformer springs can go straight to your low back. Since your body is changing every day, and the relaxin is making all your ligaments looser, you may not realize that changing your clients reformer spring is going to throw your back or neck out until its too late. This is a great time to teach clients how to change their own springs.

Demonstrating Exercises is another thing to avoid, for the same reasons.

Avoid Teaching a Exercises That Take a Crazy Amount of Balance
During pregnancy, our sense of balance is off and we can sometimes feel like we're about to fall when we would otherwise normally feel no fear whatsoever. I remember when I was pregnant, standing next to a docked boat bobbing up and down made me feel like I was about to fall into the sea!!

When teaching, avoid teaching a lot of exercises where the clients are in a precarious position, such as Side Splits on the reformer, or Front Splits with both arms in the air. Let's say your balance is thrown off for a second due to watching them- your reaction to feeling like you're going to fall could throw them off, as well. Maybe its different exercises for you that make you feel off balance- whatever it is, it might just be worth avoiding for safety's sake. Its only for 9 months, after all!

Lunge and Squat
Not only will lunging and squatting strengthen your body for childbirth, it will also save your back during pregnancy. Anytime you need to pick up a prop, assist a client on the floor, change a spring (though of course you're keeping these to a minimum anyway)- do so by lunging or squatting so that your upper body remains as upright as possible. In fact, to come up to standing again from a lunge or squat will require your core muscles to work, so that's an added benefit.

Wear MBT Shoes
I wore MBT shoes throughout my whole pregnancy and I think that was one of the best things I could have done to prevent low back pain (of which I had none!). They held me upright in perfect alignment so that my increasing large abdomen didn't pull my lower back forward, I couldn't lock my knees while standing, or inadvertently put my weight in my heels.

Keep Snacks, Water, and Candies on Hand
I know during my pregnancy, I was incredibly nauseas 24/7. One of the only things that helped me get through teaching while feeling extremely ill was to suck on hard candies and stay hydrated. Don't allow yourself to get too hungry, especially to the point where you feel light headed. Either eat a snack right before you start teaching, or keep a snack nearby so you can grab it at the first sign of hunger.

Hope these tips are helpful! Feel free to share your tips for teaching while pregnant, or working in general while pregnant. Read more!

Mommy and Me Pilates Class- Starting March 22!

Rhinebeck Pilates is now offering Mommy and Me Pilates! Mommy and Me Pilates is specially designed for new moms and their babies (from birth to walking). As new moms ourselves, we know how difficult it can be to fit exercise and socializing into our schedules while still taking care of all the baby's needs. Our Mommy and Me Pilates Class is the perfect answer!

This class will help new mothers rejuvenate and tone their post pregnancy bodies, bond with their babes, and meet other new moms, too!

Classes teach Pilates exercises that will gently restore core strength, pelvic floor, and postural alignment. We will work on the mats with various pilates props, including the Magic Circle, Physioball, hand weights, foam rollers, and therabands.

Exercises are safe for moms with diastatis recti & c-section delivery. Moms must be at least 6 weeks post-partum to join class.

Classes are taught by Jill DiGiovanni, certified Pilates Instructor & pre- and post-exercise specialist. To learn more about Jill, check out her fun and informative blog at: http://www.longleanmama.wordpress.com/! And view her complete bio on our studio webpage: www.rhinebeckpilates.com/studio.html.

Mommy and Me Pilates Class
8 week class- March 22-May 3
Mondays, 12:30-1:30pm
$225 for all 8 classes
$35/single class

Bring-a-Friend Discount- Come with a friend and you can both take all 8 classes for $200!

We will begin another series of Mommy and Me Pilates Classes in May, so please help us spread the word! Read more!

Pre-Natal Pilates Tower Class- Starting March 22!

Rhinebeck Pilates is now offering Prenatal Pilates tower classes!

Our Prenatal classes are designed to be a safe and highly effective form of exercise for expecting mothers, which allow them to stay strong and fit throughout their pregnancies. Classes include a combination of mat exercises, the use of tower apparatus and a variety of Pilates props, which assist in safe modifications for all stages of pregnancy.

Benefits of doing Prenatal Pilates:
-Strengthens abdominals, back, and pelvic muscles to assure that pregnancy and labor are more comfortable
-Increases muscular strength and flexibility to relieve pregnancy discomforts
-Improves posture & alignment
-Increases blood circulation throughout the body
-Develops/improves breathing habits
-Develops/improves balance & stability
-Offers safe abdominal strengthening to avoid/repair diastasis recti (abdominal separation)
-Pilates is also famous for helping new moms get their figures back after baby is born!

Our Prenatal Pilates sessions will leave you feeling energized, encouraged and also making new friends!

Prior to starting Prenatal Pilates classes, you will be required to provide a note from your Ob giving medical clearance.

Classes are offered by Jill DiGiovanni, certified pilates instructor, certified personal trainer, and Pre & Post Natal exercise specialist. To learn more about Jill, check out her fun and informative blog at: http://www.longleanmama.wordpress.com/! And view her complete bio on our studio webpage: http://www.rhinebeckpilates.com/studio.html.

Prenatal Pilates Tower Class
8 week class- March 22-May 3
Mondays, 6:30-7:30pm
$225 for all 8 classes
$35/single class

And... we are also offering a Bring-a-Friend discount- come with a friend and all 8 classes are $200!

Contact us to sign up and reserve your place in class, space is limited to 5 students.

We will also be offering this 8-week class again in May, so please help us spread the word! Read more!

Exercise of the Month- Rolling

This month, the Exercise of the Month is Rolling- or more specifically: Rolling Like a Ball, Open Leg Rocker, and Crab. Swan dive and Rocking might find their way into the mix, too.

The rolling exercises in pilates are interesting because they don't really use a neutral pelvis the way most of the other pilates exercises do. Instead, the movements are created by pelvic tilting, along with the abdominals drawing in and spinal flexion to roll the body back and forth.


Purpose:
When Joe Pilates created the rolling exercises, his intention was that they massage the spine. This month at the studio, we'll experiment with different ways to find that masssage element, different ways to find a more round back, and different ways to find the deep core work in rolling!

Benefits of Rolling:
-core work, balance, spinal massage, balanced spinal flexion






Rolling is good practice for other pilates exercises:
-Short box
-Roll ups
-Stomach Massage
-Knee Stretches

It is very easy to do these rolling exercises incorrectly. Some common mistakes are:
-falling back onto the mat instead of rounding the spine
-rolling back onto the head
-rolling up and touching the feet to the mat
-throwing the head back to initate the movement
-thrusting the head or legs forward to roll up again
-not using the breath

So, we'll work with fun techniques for rolling correctly, and play around with cool variations on the rolling exercises, too!

Looking forward to getting things rolling! :)

Here's a good video of Rolling Like a Ball:


Here's Ellie Herman demonstrating a cool version of Rolling Like a Ball with the Rollback Bar:



Here's a bizarre video... and an excellent example of how NOT to do Seal:




Here's an older post I wrote about Open Leg Rocker:
http://headsuponyourbody.blogspot.com/2008/02/open-leg-rocker.html Read more!