4 Tips to Keep Your Perinatal Clients SAFE during Pilates Sessions.
The #1 concern I hear from Pilates teachers about teaching pre and postnatal women is the fear of hurting mom or baby.
So I created this guide to help you navigate through a class with a pre or postnatal client-or clients!
SAFE Exercises - How to keep your perinatal clients safe through your Pilates session.
Using the acronym SAFE, these tips will help you guide your pre and postnatal clients through the exercise, safely and with benefit.
Support
- Emotional - Use of positive language and demeanor - more of what to do, then what not to do. Smile and encourage your client with the language you like using to encourage others:
- Ex: Here are some that I use: Awesome! Beautiful! Perfect! Love it!
- When you see your clients as already being the best version of themselves; powerful, positive, full of potential, they start to step into that role (vs. seeing them as fragile, weak, little potential.)
- Physical - Hug the Baby/Belly - transverse abdominal (tva) contraction at 60-80% capacity through the exercise, and pelvic floor lift;
- Allow the spine to lengthen, using opposition to create room in the joints.
- Use of pillows, boxes, balls to help position the body optimally .
- For pregnancy - heart above baby, putting the body at an incline.
- For postpartum - ball under hips for shoulder exercises, or under the head for flexion exercises.
- Keep movements CLOSE TO THE MIDLINE. The further away the limbs go, the more pressure is exerted on the abdominal muscles.
Awareness of movement
- Executing/performing each movement through each exercise with precision, hugging the baby or belly from the lower abs up, exhale, THEN move. Involve the whole-body; from the feet to the fingertips, to the head.
- Focusing on precision through the transitions. Clients tend to lose form when going from one exercise to the next.
- The moment a client begins to lose form, encourage making the movement smaller and closer to the midline.
Feeling - Moderately challenged rather than straining
- The exercises should feel good, and not cause any unnecessary discomfort. Tell your clients to let you know IMMEDIATELY when something starts to ache, other than the ‘feel-good burn’.
- Pregnancy and postpartum is NOT the time to “push through” or “do 1 more”
- Work at a moderate level of intensity
- Watch facial expressions for feedback.
Exhale on the Exertion
- Exhale on the most challenging part of the movement. Lift the pelvic floor and lower abs on the exhale.
- Begin each exercise with an exhale (which sets up for a great inhale), THEN inhale to prepare, and exhale to move.
- !! I recommend all women see a pelvic floor physical therapist at least once to get an assessment of the condition of their pelvic floor.
- Because, if a woman has pelvic organ prolapse, and the cause is tightness in the pelvic floor, or if she has tightness in-general (which tends to show up as painful intercourse,)
She will need to practice INHALING into the pelvic floor, releasing the tight myofascia.
Most of all… Have fun!
