Archive for Female Specific
Top 3 Rules to Safe and Effective Pregnancy Health & Fitness
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are still struggling to get to the gym three times a week for your weekly dose of exercise, you can stop beating yourself up about it right now! Most of us can’t The Safest and Most Effective Route to Pregnancy Fitness
By far the biggest worry for us pregnant mums is the safety of our little ones. Most of our energy during pregnancy is focussed on providing a safe and nurturing environment for our babies to thrive and develop and the biggest fear in our hearts is doing anything to harm or disrupt our baby’s development in the womb.
But pregnancy can be a confusing time. There is an absolute minefield of pregnancy health and fitness information out there and unfortunately a lot of it is conflicting, inaccurate, misleading and sometimes even potentially harmful to your pregnancy health and the development of your baby. So it’s no wonder that the forums are full of confused pregnant women with pregnancy information overload; looking for a straight and definitive answer to their truckload of pregnancy questions…
“Is it safe to exercise during pregnancy?”
“My midwife said I should only do gentle cardio exercise, but X said it’s fine to do spin/body combat/pump class during pregnancy?”
“What do I do if I can’t eat because I’m so sick? I’m scared that the baby is starving? Someone suggested I use protein shakes…are they safe?”
So here are the Top 3 Rules to Safe and Effective Pregnancy Fitness:
1) Any exercise is not good exercise
Exercise during pregnancy needs to targeted, specific and relative to both your fitness level and the week of your pregnancy. What works for you in weeks 5-9 will not work for you in weeks 20-24 or 36-40.
Your pregnancy fitness program should be based on results, not doing exercise for the sake of doing exercise, (otherwise what’s the point, right?).
A good pregnancy fitness plan will focus on short pregnancy workouts which target the pregnancy and labour muscles and expose your baby to controlled amounts of physical stress to increase her tolerance to labour.
It will also focus on metabolism boosting pregnancy exercises that will keep you burning calories for at least 24 hours after your pregnancy workout session and keep excess fat OFF of your body.
2) Sleep is highly underrated
Too many women these days squash pregnancy into their already hectic lives; ask any pregnant woman if she naps daily in the day and the answer is more than likely, “no” or “sometimes”.
Sleep is the only way our bodies can recover, regenerate and repair from physical and mental stress and daily wear and tear and a daily deficit in sleep adds up and eventually wears down the critical processes you need to maintain your pregnancy health.
Sleep is also the only time that we get to balance hormones. Now hormones are not talked about enough when it comes to pregnancy health as they are VITAL to the physical, mental and psychosocial development of your baby. They are also a major factor in controlling pregnancy symptoms, food cravings and pregnancy weight gain.
Aim for 8 hours every night and a daily nap of 30 minutes to keep you alert, energised and in balanced pregnancy health
3) Your BABY is what you EAT!
You may think that pregnancy is a time when you should be able to relax and enjoy the sweeter things in life, but think about this. Every mouthful of food that passes your lips determines the development and future health of your baby.
That may seem extreme but it is absolutely true. Put junk in, guess what you get out?
A pregnancy diet which includes a lot of sugar, refined carbohydrate and processed food is deficient in nutrients, which means that your baby does not have the tools she needs to grow strong healthy cells.
Base your diet on clean, nutrient dense fresh and organic foods with allowances for the odd treat and both you and your baby will thrive.
Nisha is a leading expert on Pregnancy Fitness and the author of The 9 Month Club Pregnancy Fitness Coaching System. For a FREE comprehensive guide to safe and effective pregnancy health and fitness get the complete set of 20 videos ” 20 Rules to Safe and Effective Pregnancy Health and Fitness” for FREE from The 9 Month Club – The Home of Pregnancy Fitness
Nisha is the UK’s leading Prenatal Health and Fitness Expert and is the author of The 9 Month Club Pregnancy Fitness Coaching System. For more information on the safest and most effective plan for your pregnancy fitness join Nisha’s free Pregnancy Fitness Community at http://www.the9monthclub.ning.com
12 Days Gift: Top 20 Rules for Safe and Effective Pregnancy Fitness
Are you confused about what’s safe and what’s not during pregnancy? How to exercise safely? What to eat when you can’t face the thought of food? What’s the best thing for pregnancy acne? And what about that nagging question that saps your motivation for anything..what’s the point, I’m gonna get massive anyway?! The Top 20 Rules for Safe and Effective Pregnancy Fitness gives you 20 short videos with straight facts and practical solutions to all these questions and more!
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Negative Pressure Core Exercises for Perinatal Women
Posted by: | CommentsWould you like to learn a way to facilitate uterine contractions in case labor slows down so you can avoid pitocin/oxitocin?
How about learning a way to “unpush” during the expulsive phase of birth that puts a lot less pressure on the pelvic floor?
Did you know Kegel exercises only work 5% of the pelvic floor musculature? Would you like a way to work the other 95% postpartum?
Negative pressure core work has many uses around pregnancy and childbirth. These exercises can be used to facilitate uterine contractions (Braxton Hicks and labor), help during the expulsive phase by being gentler on the pelvic floor than traditional pushing, and most importantly, using these exercises is the best way to recover postpartum. They are the most efficient way to stimulate the involuntary muscle fibers which make up 95% of the pelvic floor.
Negative pressure abdominal work has its roots in some yoga practices before being picked up by obstetrical physical therapy. The king of the research and practice in this method is Marcel Caufriez. He is a Belgian physical therapist specializing in perinatal women and has done extensive research into this technique. He has created an entire routine of postures that facilitate creating a negative pressure within the abdominal cavity.
The basic premise behind these exercises is that creating a vacuum within the abdominal cavity decreases intra-abdominal and intra-thoracic pressure, decreases the activity of the diaphragm and stimulates the involuntary fibers of the pelvic floor and deep core. Typical exercises used to recover postpartum, Kegels for example, work the voluntary fibers only. Voluntary fibers make up only 5% of the pelvic floor musculature. Negative pressure core work stimulates the other 95% of the pelvic floor.
Doing these exercises also stimulates the nervous system. This connection can be useful for birth as doing negative pressure abdominal exercises stimulates the uterus. This is also why these exercises are contraindicated during pregnancy until week 37 when they can be used to facilitate Braxton-Hicks contractions which prepare the uterus for child birth.
Negative pressure core work can be used during active childbirth in case labor slows down and the uterus needs to be stimulated to contract more regularly. This is a great way to avoid having to use synthetic hormones (pitocin, oxitocin) which can have serious side effects. These techniques can also be used during the expulsive phase of birth. This way of “unpushing” is much gentler on the pelvic floor than traditional methods. Postpartum negative pressure core work is the key to recovery. They are the most effective way to rehabilitate the pelvic floor and to get a flat belly again.
Kaisa Tuominen is a perinatal fitness specialist and corrective exercise specialist based in Spain. She owns and operates a studio focusing on pregnant women, postpartum recovery, and mom and baby exercise. She is the author of Postnatal Body Fix, an 18-week postpartum fitness program to help women get their pre-baby bodies back.
12 Days Gift: Negative Pressure Core Exercise Video Series
5 part mini video series explaining the use of negative pressure core exercises during the perinatal period. Video 1 = Basics of these exercises. Video 2 = How to use these exercises during the last month of pregnancy Video 3 = How to use them during active labor. Video 4 = The uses of this method during the expulsive phase of child birth. Video 5 = How to use these exercises in the postpartum period. They are the key to complete recovery of the pelvic floor and deep core muscles.