Julien Bertherat | Pregnancy

PREGNANCY

CORE & FITNESS TRAINING

The arrival of a newborn child is a life-changing experience and an upheaval. Between the marks left by pregnancy, the sleep deprivation and this very new role of parent, every new mum’s mental health is put to the test.

Looking after yourself is no longer a priority for you; however, your overall health and fitness are essential at this time and so fitness training benefits on your overall health are all the more vital during this sensitive period.

But it is hard to remain motivated at such a time, I hear you say! Hence calling on a personal trainer may help you in regaining some discipline; you have an appointment with a PT, a programme is agreed upon, objectives set, all of which are tailor-made - and above all, you are not alone in the training process.

Beyond the physical well-being that derives from such physical training activity, working with a PT is like taking a breath of fresh air that can also help you in feeling and becoming more confident in your everyday role as a young mother.

CORE TRAINING

DURING PREGNANCY

& POST- PREGNANCY

During pregnancy, many changes will happen to the mother's body. Those that affect your spine, shoulder, and pelvic stability will have an impact on posture and core strength.

Especially if this is your first pregnancy, you might also experience a reduced sense of balance as your 'bump' gets bigger. You are also likely to be more vulnerable to back pain during this time.

Plus, there is more.

Over nine months of pregnancy, your hormones will feel as if they have been turned upside down. This imbalance will increase the elasticity of your connective tissues, affecting your joint stability.

I can help you to focus on stability and postural strength, making sure to not over train yourself and especially not the joints of your spine and hips. In so doing I will guide through pilates exercise or specific and an adapted core training programme.

Before we start, you should seek initial guidance from your doctor or midwife.

This programme will help you to:

Strengthen the muscles of your pelvic floor, transverse abdominis, hips and lower back to assist with delivery.
Increase your hip and spinal stability.
Release back pain and tension.
Reduce neck and shoulder tension.
Accelerate the recovery of your core muscles after birth.

This programme will also change through the different stage of the pregnancy:

First trimester (0 to 12 weeks).
Second trimester (13 to 26 weeks).
Third semester (27 to 40 weeks).

POST- PREGNANCY

(6 WEEKS AFTER BIRTH)

The baby has been delivered and what a journey it has been for your body.

Months of inactivity and overstretched stomach muscles may have damaged the abdominals during this period. You are also probably experiencing back pain during this time.

It is important to be careful if your diastasis recti are enlarged (diastasis recti is the separation that occurs along the centre line of the rectus abdominis muscle). This weakens the abdominal area, causing lower back pain and a possible risk of hernia.

You should talk to your doctor concerning the above and we will follow his guidance on that matter moving forward.

There is exercise to avoid here, to not create more distention and I will walk you through exercise options in this area at this juncture.

I will also help you to recover your pre-pregnancy strength moving forward. The best way to do this is to focus on stability exercises at this point.

The benefit of this post-pregnancy programme will be:

Strengthening your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles.
Improvement of your posture.
Stability exercises (to ease the return back to 'normal' life).
Activation and foundation level exercises before gradually building up core strength over 9 months.

As with the pregnancy programme, we will set goals and talk about what we should focus on at each step moving forward from this point.

If you have had a caesarean section, you must seek your doctor's approval for such exercises ( as the damage caused by caesarean surgery can result in complications) as caesarean section interventions involve cutting through the abdominal muscles.

I will guide you through these different programmes, to help you get back your abdominal strength.

If you contact me after your pregnancy, it is not a problem at all, and we can structure your training programme from this point.

Ultimately, the ambition behind this programme is to leave behind the previous you; the physical trauma of the pregnancy, so you can become a healthy mother, ready to energetically raise your child the best way possible.

The post-pregnancy programme will be structured around four stages (with each stage seeing the difficulty of the exercises increase):