Regular physical activity during pregnancy has health benefits for both the mother but her unborn children. Prenatal exercise also helps to prepare your body for childbirth. Most types of exercise, including running, Pilates, weights, yoga and swimming, are safe to perform during pregnancy as long as you exercise with caution and do not overdo it. If you’re a Pilates fan and expecting a baby, celebrity fitness instructor Yasmin Karachiwala has some great tips for you. BTW, Kareena Kapoor Khan swears by Pilates too.
“Pregnancy affects changes in nearly every organ & system in the body. These changes are relatively rapid and unseen in the 1st trimester. Physical changes become more apparent in the 2nd & 3rd trimester. The changes are brought about by hormonal & fetal growth influences,” wrote Karachiwala on Instagram.
Asking pregnant women to keep these changes in mind, the balanced body master Pilates instructor demonstrated a few exercises that they can do in the 1st trimester.
She also cautioned that flexion exercises- sit ups, crunches – that focus on working the “Rectus abdominis” are not good for pregnant women. Instead she suggested focusing on “working your transverse abdominis, which is the deepest layer of your abdominals which is part of your core along with your diaphragm, pelvic floor and multifidus.”
Let’s check out the prenatal Pilates moves you can do during the 1st trimester of pregnancy.
Bridging on the mat
This exercise mobilizes the spine, strengthens hamstrings and tones pelvic floor.
How to do it: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your legs hip-width apart. Your knees should be bent at about 90 degrees. Keep your arms straight and down by your sides. Press into your feet and lift your pelvis and trunk up into the bridge position, while your head, shoulders, and arms continue to touch the mat. Your body should almost form a triangle with the mat. Pause at the top of your bridge, slowly return to the starting position, with your body resting on the mat. Yasmin Karachiwala suggests completing 15 reps.
Single leg bridge
This Pilates move strengthens obliques and balances the two sides of spine
How to do it: Follow the above steps to come to the bridge position. Then slowly raise and extend one leg while keeping your pelvis raised and level. Pause and return to the starting position with knees bent and back resting on the floor. Then perform the lift with the other leg. Do 10 reps on each side.
Bent knee Windshield Wipers
According to Karachiwala, this exercise strengthens the lower abdominals and also stabilizes the hip abductors, when a small pillow is placed between knees.
How to do it: Lie on your back with your arms straight out to your side. Bring your legs up and bend your knees so that they are at a 90-degree angle. Rotate your knees down to the left, going as low as you can control. Then, rotate them back up and down to the other side in one fluid motion. Keep rotating them back and forth until you complete 10 repetitions.
Straight leg Windshield Wiper
This exercise can help strengthen your lower abdominals and stabilize your hip abductors.
How to do it: Follow the same steps as bent knee Windshield Wipers. But don’t bed the knees. Instead, lift your legs, straighten and squeeze them together. Complete 10 reps.
Push ups
This is another prenatal exercise suggested by the celebrity fitness instructor to strengthen the upper body and stabilize the shoulder girdle. She suggested pregnant women in their 1st trimester to do wall, incline and knee push ups, completing 10 reps each.
