Pilates and Pregnancy – Week 29: A Sneak Peek into Our Workouts

Welcome back to our Pilates and pregnancy blog! This week the baby is around 3.1 pounds and 17 inches long. He is about the length of a butternut squash. For the past several weeks I have written about the workouts Carey teaches me. This week, we wanted to take it a step further and show you some of the exercises we’ve been doing. In today’s video, we use the Pilates Wunda Chair. Enjoy!

In addition to working on the Chair, we did some standing leg work. Similar to the side-lying leg series in the traditional Pilates mat routine, we did a series of leg movements while standing and holding on to the ladder of the high barrel for support. We worked on internal and external rotation of the legs, a bent leg kick backwards, and large circles where you reach the leg in front of you, around to the side, behind you, and finally back to its resting place. The nice part of doing the work standing is that your leg that isn’t moving is also getting a workout because it supports your weight and works to keep you in balance.

We ended the work with a variation on Pigeon stretch. Pigeon is a traditional Yoga pose that is usually done on the mat. One leg is bent while the other leg extends straight behind you. You can prop yourself up with your arms or let your body round over the bent leg. The stretch is usually felt in the outer hip/glute of your bent leg. To modify the stretch, we used the high barrel. I bent one leg in front of me on the barrel, while the other leg supported me in a standing position. Instead of rounding over my bent leg (which wouldn’t feel very good because my belly would get in the way), I leaned back and held onto the ladder.

See you next week!

-Cassie