Hello and welcome back to our Pilates and Pregnancy blog. At six weeks postpartum I had another private lesson with Carey. I had been cleared by my doctor for exercise and Carey knew it! I titled this blog “No More Mr. Nice Carey” because all of the breaks and modifications she made for me while I was pregnant were gone! Instead, Carey fine-tuned my movements and gave me a real workout.

We started on the Cadillac. I noticed right away with exercises like roll down that I still had a long way to go in building back the abdominal strength I had lost. Rather than a slow, smooth, and controlled rolling back motion with my abs engaged, there was a point in rolling back where I couldn’t maintain the engagement and slid back quickly. We moved to Hundreds and Carey had me hold my legs at table top with my head down on the mat. Without realizing it, my knees drifted apart. When I was pregnant, it was impossible to hug my legs all the way together and so Carey let me keep them slightly apart. Not anymore! She cued me to hug my legs together and man could I feel it by the end of my Hundreds!

We used the push-through bar for Teaser and Shoulder Bridge next. On both exercises I noticed how different the moves felt from being pregnant but also from before pregnancy. One of the greatest benefits of Pilates is increased body awareness. I was aware of how my body changed during pregnancy but it’s even more clear now because I can compare my pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and postpartum bodies. Each version brought its own challenges and rewards. I am excited to use Pilates to achieve a strong and healthy postpartum body.

We ended our session with Monkey. Monkey is a traditional Cadillac exercise using the spring from below and a safety chain from above. You have to curl yourself into a tiny little ball and bring your feet and hands next to one another on the push-through bar. Traditionally, you would then push the bar up with your feet bringing your body into a “U” shape with your feet and hands at the tops of the “U”. Monkey can be challenging for a number of reasons. For me, it was especially challenging six weeks postpartum because I still had quite a bit of baby weight and wasn’t able to reach the bar with both hands. Instead of traditional Monkey, we did one-legged Monkey, which enabled me to hold the bar with both hands and one foot while the other leg stretched out toward the mat.

The stretches felt great and I was sore for a few days afterward. I can’t wait to see what Carey has in store for me next!

Hello and welcome back to our Pilates and Pregnancy blog. I am five weeks postpartum and feeling ready for some movement! At my doctor’s appointment next week my physician will hopefully clear me for all forms of exercise. For now, Carey prepared a safe session to ease me back into Pilates.

We started with a few Pilates fundamentals: arm circles, knee folds, and knee sways. Then Carey had me do Hundreds. I hadn’t done Hundreds since some time during the second trimester! To start with, I held my legs at table top (which was a lot of work) and pumped my arms with my head down instead of in an upper ab curl. The upper ab curl is great, but I need to work on tightening my abdominal muscles safely. To do that, Carey had me focus on three things: wrapping my abdominal muscles up and in, engaging my pelvic floor muscles, and mentally picturing my stomach muscles reconnecting.

Next, we used the Tower to do Chest Expansion. Chest Expansion is one of my favorite exercises, but I didn’t realize how much it works your abs! Carey had to remind me that I wasn’t competing with my pre-pregnancy self, but instead was trying to regain that strength in as safe and healthy a way as possible. We continued our ab work with single leg and double leg stretches with my head down. Not only was it challenging to engage my abdominal muscles, but my legs felt weak too. Still, it felt good to move.

At the end of our session, Carey gave me homework. Each day, I am to lie on my foam roller and breathe, do arm circles, and knee folds. I have done the homework for a few days now and it’s amazing how difficult it is to find five minutes to myself with a newborn (that aren’t used for brushing my teeth or performing other tasks that require two hands!). I have always been a good student, however, and so I do my best to find the time. The arm circles help to stretch the front of my chest, which gets tight from breastfeeding and holding Finn. The knee folds work my abdominal muscles. The breathing is the best part: for a minute I just lay on the roller and take deep breaths, letting the rest of the day go as my body relaxes around the roller.

Now it’s your turn. Try the homework for yourself. It takes less than 5 minutes and I bet you’ll be feeling better for taking the time to breathe and move.

See you next week,