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Monday, November 1, 2010

Pre-Natal Fitness Exercise Videos...Cheap and Cheerful Fitness! (Week 24)

I just hit my sixth month this week, and I have to say, I really have no complaints. Since my tummy now protrudes further than my chest, my hip pain is still gone, I'm sleeping well (apparently, not for long), and my energy is moderate to high (thanks to the iron supplements), I'm feeling pretty darn good. I am still training clients, walking, hiking, swimming, and now have added prenatal workout videos to my repertoire. I've also done a bit more reading on how to work on concerns about diastasis rectii (see my Sept 7th, 2010 entry on how to train your abs for pregnancy).

Why Exercise Videos Instead of the Gym?
As a personal trainer, it makes a lot of sense that I should visit the gym and train using a prenatal fitness program. So why am I not going? It's simply the psychology of it: when I go to the gym, I go there to work hard. It's what I've been doing for years. The problem is, I shouldn't be working hard now. It has taken me months to come to terms with the changes my body has undergone, and that I can't train the way I used to. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that the hip pain I had a month ago was because I pushed my body a bit too hard.

By following exercise videos, I am relinquishing control over the intensity and duration of my workouts to someone else. Frankly, it's a nice feeling. Heck, if that woman on the screen says I only need to do 15 reps of squats with no weights, then I will!

Exercise videos for pregnancy also introduced new exercises to me, and made my workouts more interesting. When you exercise for any length of time, it's important to keep things interesting so that you keep doing them.

Training Abs to Reduce Diastasis
When you are further along in your pregnancy, it becomes a good idea to use a device to support your abs while you do crunches. Whether it be a belly band, a tummy splint, or a towel, a device that wraps around your tummy while you perform a crunch will decrease the lateral force on your rectus abdominus. The least expensive tool is the towel. (see picture)


Although the woman above is clearly not pregnant, this is how you would use it to do crunches. You can increase the intensity of the crunch by lying on a stability ball. Whenever you do a crunch, make sure to pull in your belly button to engage your transverse abdominus. This will also reduce the lateral force on your tummy.

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