Pilates for postnatal recovery

There's a reason we've chosen to include Pilates in our complete postnatal recovery programme. 

The general health and wellbeing benefits of Pilates apply to the postnatal mama, while also working on key components of fitness that are essential for postnatal recovery.

Firstly the teaching of 'piston breathing' in the Pilates method is essential for making the connection to the diaphragm, deep abdominals and pelvic floor - all areas which undergo significant change and strain during pregnancy and birth.

Commonly, we see women sometimes years after their babies were born who are still struggling to feel they have any strength in their core. This might be despite doing regular exercise. Often we discover that they haven't retrained their core to function properly after pregnancy, and so it is simply not joining in while they exercise. 

Pilates ensures that you retrain and rediscover the deep connection to your core, while also promoting good posture and building strength. 

See a further demonstration of the piston breath here:  

Pregnancy is notorious for switching off or reducing the function of your glutes (those muscles that give your bum shape). In fact, many women report seeing a noticeable change in the shape and appearance of their bum after pregnancy. 

The reason for this is that your posture changes, particularly the position of your pelvis, making it harder for the glutes to engage and fire-up. Our bodies are brilliant at making compensations, so you can form habits or movement patterns during pregnancy, and never resolve them afterwards unless you make a concerted effort to do so. 

Pilates focuses you on form and body control, meaning you are able to correct these compensations or movement patterns and relearn how to engage your muscles properly. Jumping back into high intensity or fast exercise classes can often mean you bypass this stage of your recovery and your body continues to work with the poor movement habits you formed during pregnancy. 

This is often the issue when women wonder why they do not see the results they had expected. 

When done properly, movements that look very simple can still provide a real challenge. This is the beauty of Pilates, the load and strain on your body is reduced, but the exercises are still working your body. 

During your postnatal recovery, it's essential to recognise that your body is often running low on energy stores, and exercise that drains those stores further will often be detrimental to your health and wellbeing in the long-run. 

Using any time to give your body gentle movement that can release tension and tightness, relieve aches and pains and gently correct posture and restore strength, makes a lot more sense. This is what Pilates offers. 

As with any exercise - it will be important to start from the beginning again after pregnancy, so whether you practised Pilates regularly before or during pregnancy, or are a complete beginner, the initial few weeks will be about relearning how your body feels now. 

Listen to what it can cope with and support your healing process. 

Breath-work, deep abdominal and pelvic floor activation and stretches to mobilise the back, chest and shoulders will feel good to do and start to build the foundations for a positive return to other exercises in future. 

We've included some Pilates videos in our course, with the aim to give you confidence in how to engage and strengthen your core, rebuild your glutes and even how to modify and adapt if you're worried about a prolapse after your delivery. 

Combined with our Yoga routines for stretching, releasing tension and relaxation, we've got you covered for those early days and weeks. 

For more information, click here.

To find out more about our Pilates expert - click here.