Fitness before and after giving birth: This is how you can stay fit
Is it possible to do fitness training while pregnant? Most definitely, because moderate exercise is particularly beneficial during this time. Customised personal training enhances your well-being during pregnancy and prepares your body for the birth in the best possible way. Fitness training after you have given birth is also very important.
Numerous studies have shown that individualised fitness training during pregnancy has a positive impact on your health. Doing carefully selected exercises regularly during pregnancy not only increases your physical and mental well-being, but training also relieves, or even prevents, back pain. This is because regular training improves posture and flexibility, increases your stamina and strengthens your muscles, which is especially beneficial in the late stages of pregnancy. Exercising also helps you to avoid gaining too much weight during pregnancy. A healthy level of fitness is the best preparation for childbirth!
Relieving pregnancy problems
Sport and fitness training has other positive effects during pregnancy. For example, regular exercise and eating a balanced diet reduces the risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy. When you exercise, you not only train your cardiovascular system, but also boost your immune system. The release of adrenaline increases the number of immune cells in your body. Moderate exercise raises your levels of oxygen, which is not only beneficial for you, but also for your baby. A customised fitness routine also combats common health problems during pregnancy such as swollen legs and constipation. Exercise also helps prevent you developing varicose veins and encourages regular bowel movements.
Exercise for expectant mothers
So what kind of exercise is suitable for expectant mothers, and for how long, or how intensively, should they exercise? It is very important that you respect your own physical limits and do exercise that takes your own unique needs and the stages of your pregnancy into account. During pregnancy, the body changes constantly, which means that, for example, the ligaments become more relaxed and the body’s centre of gravity shifts. The exercise programme has to “evolve” with the baby and be regularly adapted as the pregnancy progresses. For example, after the 20th week of pregnancy, you should no longer exercise the straight abdominal muscles, and starting from the 26th week, you should no longer do your exercises lying on your back.
Why Personal Training?
Exercise during pregnancy is beneficial and very important. However, if performed incorrectly, exercise can also cause problems. An experienced qualified trainer that specialises in pregnancy and postnatal exercise can identify your individual capabilities, limitations and needs, and advise you if you experience any physical problems, such as back pain, during pregnancy. The qualified trainer instructs you on how to perform the exercises correctly. A customised exercise program will keep you in the best possible shape, even if you were not very sporty before you became pregnant. You benefit from exercises that are tailored exactly to what you need.
Our pregnancy exercises are based on Functional Training; Functional Training is based on your everyday routine and uses “real” movements from your daily life without the need for specialised equipment. Doing these exercises as part of your daily routine encourages good posture and coordination and exercises a whole range of muscles and joints simultaneously.
Postnatal exercise: Strengthening the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles
Whether you have a natural birth or a C-section, postnatal exercise is very important in preventing weakness in the pelvic floor and reversing diastasis, a condition that means the abdominal muscles separate during pregnancy, as well as helping you to regain body strength after childbirth. The trainer gently increases the intensity of the exercises until you are able to do “normal” workouts again. Personal training significantly improves the efficiency of postnatal exercises and postnatal fitness training; thanks to individual exercises under the watchful eye of your trainer, you will soon get back into shape after the birth, in a gentle and stress-free way.
Toning your muscles and losing weight
We tailor your exercise programme to fit your own targets, taking your time constraints and physical fitness into account. It is important to give your body time to recover; it can take up to six months for the pelvic floor to regain its full strength. Losing weight also usually requires a little patience. You should not try to lose weight too quickly, especially if you are breastfeeding. Individual personal training gives you support in losing weight healthily.
Holistic coaching before and after the birth
For many years, Jacqueline Michaud has given women her expert support throughout their pregnancy and after childbirth. Her advice goes beyond customised fitness training as she provides coaching to expectant and new mothers on anything related to exercise, posture, health and nutrition.