Welcome back to our Pilates and pregnancy blog! This week the baby is around 2.9 pounds and 17 inches long. He is about the length of a small cabbage. We’ve officially begun the third trimester, which means that I saw our nurse practitioner this week. I’m happy to report that I passed my glucose test, my stomach’s measuring on track for 28 weeks, and the baby’s heartbeat sounded good.

I have noticed some more changes in my body. First, I feel warmer. Most of the time it feels like someone turned up the thermostat a few degrees, but every once in a while I start boiling. Many of my clients assured me that these “personal summers” only get better with age. Second, I feel like either the baby has moved or grown a bunch in the last short while because my belly seems to stick out more than it did just a few weeks ago.

This week Carey and I started on the Reformer. She had me sit at the end of the long box with my feet resting in a turned-out position on the foot bar. We started with gentle rounding and extension movements through the spine and then added some side bending. Next, I sat tall and gently straightened my legs to push the carriage out and then bent my knees to bring it in – giving me a nice hip opening stretch.

We also did the classical exercise Mermaid on the Reformer, with an added twist. As you can see in the picture, you start seated facing one side of the Reformer with one leg tucked up against the shoulder blocks and the other in front of you. You can always tuck that front leg under your other leg for more of a challenge. This position felt good on my hips and so we started there. Then, you press the carriage out with one hand on the foot bar and the other reaching overhead, giving you a nice side stretch. The twist that we added was a literal twist – rotating from the shoulders and ribcage to bring the top hand to the foot bar. We held that position for a few deep breaths to help stretch from the side waist all the way down into the hip.

We ended our workout with some squats in front of the Chair. To start, I faced the Chair – about a foot’s distance back – with my legs turned out wide. I reached my arms overhead and then did a roll down until my hands made contact with the paddle. I pushed the paddle down while simultaneously bending my knees into a deep squat, without lifting my heels away from the floor. To come back up, I straightened my legs and rolled up through the spine to standing.

See you next week!

-Cassie

Welcome back to our Pilates and Pregnancy blog. This week the baby is around 2.5 pounds and 16 inches long! He’s about the length of a head of cauliflower. It’s my last official week in the second trimester and so I’m trying to soak up as much movement and energy as I can!

Carey and I worked mostly on the Cadillac this week. She has been great about trying new pregnancy exercises with me. Generally these are versions of our classical Pilates work with a twist that focuses on something my body needs – like hip opening or side bending. We started our session with roll down on the Cadillac, except we used a heavy spring and I rolled back onto a half barrel. These small changes had three big benefits. First, the heavy springs made it easier to roll back up so that I wasn’t straining across my abdomen. Second, the heavy spring made it harder to keep my shoulders connected, which is an area that I constantly work on improving. Third, when I rolled back over the half barrel I got to do a small extension that felt great across my belly and back.

Next, we used the small half barrel to prop my head and shoulders up a few inches while doing our leg springs series. This small change made it more work for me to keep my hips connected to the mat, but also was more comfortable than lying flat on my back.

We also did a classical Pilates exercise called Spread Eagle. This exercise is traditionally done on the Tower or Cadillac, where you stand with your legs wide, feet turned out against the vertical poles. You hold on to the poles and start by hanging your body back away from the poles. Then, you do three deep squats with your knees out wide, which is great for most people, but especially pregnant women whose hips are tight! After your squats, you roll your body up into an extension while hanging away from the poles. The exercise combines two elements that most pregnant women could benefit from – hip opening and rounding/extension of the spine.

Finally, we ended with a Psoas stretch on the foam roller. In the picture, you can see that you start with your hips propped up on the roller with one leg extended toward the ceiling. Slowly – and that’s the key here – you reach that leg long toward the mat. It should feel like a stretch across the front of your hip, especially as that leg lowers closer to the mat. We repeated this 5 or 6 times before switching and doing the other leg as well.

See you next week for the start of the third trimester!

-Cassie

Welcome back to our Pilates and Pregnancy blog. This week the baby is around 2.2 pounds and 15 inches long! Instead of measuring from crown to rump (which they do at the beginning because baby is all curled up), they now measure from head to heel. For those of you who like to visualize, he’s about the length of a cucumber.

This week I’ve noticed that my workouts are really challenging. I commented to Carey that I could understand why some women stop working out at this point in their pregnancies! However, I always feel better after moving and this week was no exception.

Carey had me working on the Chair, which was wonderful. I’m almost to the end of the second trimester and so the focus of our private sessions has shifted slightly from core and total-body strengthening to preparing for labor. We did a lot of hip opening, including a few variations of squats. Instead of focusing solely on strengthening my body to carry this baby, we’re also focusing on learning to let go when it is time to deliver.

Some of the exercises that we did this week included a great piriformis stretch where I was seated on the Wunda Chair with my right foot on the paddle and my left foot crossed over my right knee. Instead of leaning forward to stretch, I simply let the spring of the paddle lift my right leg up, giving a nice stretch in the back of my left hip/glute.

We also did a fun variation of Standing Front Push Down. Standing in front of the chair, I took a wide, turned-out stance. I raised my arms and rounded my spine forward toward the chair, with my hands eventually reaching the paddle. Instead of leaving my legs straight (like the traditional version), I bent into a squat as I pushed the paddle down. At the bottom, my heels lifted away from the ground slightly and I arched into a small extension. Then, reversing that movement, I rounded my spine and straightened my legs to come back to standing. I could really feel the stretch in my hips as I went into the squatting position (which, Carey assures me, is a great position to labor in – uff da!).

Finally, we did a version of Low Frog with the bottoms of my feet touching and my knees out wide (see picture below). For Low Frog, you are lying on your back in front of the Chair with your feet on the paddle. Traditionally we have our heels on the paddle with our feet in a Pilates “V,” but this time I brought the bottoms of my feet to touch, which allows for more hip opening. The two pictures on the right show the starting and ending positions of the paddle. The picture on the left shows my ever-growing belly!

See you next week,

-Cassie