[00:00:00] Welcome to Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. I'm Olivia, and I'll be your host. Join the conversation on Instagram @pilatesteachersmanual. Today's chapter starts now.

Hello, hello everyone. Welcome back. I've got some exciting information to share with you today. As I've told you in previous episodes, I've been able to do a lot of continuing education workshops while I've been at stay at home mode. And one of the classes that I took was with [00:01:00] Katrina Foe and she is a master trainer for Balanced Body, she's a Pilates studio owner and a mother of seven children, so already amazing. And she did this fantastic workshop on personalized pregnancy and postpartum. 

And that is definitely something that I felt, definitely my confidence in working with pregnant bodies was not the highest. I mean, I know the contraindications, but there's a lot of fear in working with pregnant bodies in that, you know the scary stuff and you're kind of afraid of either injuring the mom, or at least I was, or injuring the baby. It wasn't ideal. It's not great. You shouldn't be afraid of your clients. So this workshop presented a really incredible opportunity for me to learn more about working with pregnant bodies and I would love to share some of that information with you today.

Before I jump in, I've got some exciting news to share. One thing that's super cool is tomorrow, Saturday, June 13th, I will be releasing a sister [00:02:00] podcast to this podcast called Pilates Students' Manual. You can find it on Instagram @pilatesstudentsmanual. That podcast is similar to this podcast in that it is all Pilates all the time, but it's more from the student perspective. So if you found this podcast and you were like, Oh, yay. I love Pilates, but I'm not a teacher. The Pilates Students' Manual is gonna be great. If you are a teacher, it will also be great. I'm going to be talking about what is Pilates, the history of Pilates who was Joe, and what is the equipment? Is Pilates yoga? Why do we breathe the way we breathe? And what are the benefits of Pilates, all that stuff, kind of breaking it down. Definitely check it out. I will link it in the show notes for this show. I'm really excited to be able to share this with you all. 

So jumping to pregnancy, Katrina Foe is an amazing teacher. She has so much experience and so many stories, both from her pregnancies and her teaching adventures. She just is very knowledgeable on this subject. [00:03:00] I have not ever been pregnant. So I don't have that kind of personal information to draw from when I'm working with pregnant bodies, because I don't know what it feels like. And I think that, that course, I really recommend if you're interested in learning more about pregnant bodies, it is very comprehensive way beyond what was covered in your teacher training or what can be covered even in this podcast. I'm going to be giving you some of the highlights, but it was a 12 hour workshop and it was full of really useful information.

So I'm going to be going over today, specifically expanding on what I learned in my teacher training, which was the, do not dos and the contraindications of pregnancy, and also sharing what I learned from Katrina, which was specifically the why behind why we don't want to do certain things with pregnant bodies, and then also bust some myths.

There's so much more stuff covered in her course. If any of this stuff is remotely interesting to you, I really recommend that you check her course out because it was awesome. [00:04:00] Definitely one of the best things that I've done while in quarantine. 

There are two different kinds of pregnant people doing Pilates in your class. There are people who do Pilates and have done Pilates and are pregnant, and there are people who are pregnant and now would like to do Pilates. So you want to work with those two populations differently. 

There are definitely times when I have pregnant students in my group classes, or I did back when I was in person teaching classes, and whenever that happens, you do kind of end up teaching two different classes, because there are a bunch of things that don't feel good or aren't safe for a pregnant body, everything from, you know, lying on your stomach or lying on your back for a long period of time, that just isn't going to feel good or be good for that body. And so you're kind of on the fly trying to come up with these modifications. Is it doable? Yes, of course it is like, you're a Pilates teacher. You're definitely able to do those things. But it's really beneficial to work one on one with [00:05:00] pregnant clients. 

One of the cool things that Club Pilates offers is it offers a free 30 minute private assessment. And I always recommend my pregnant clients, especially brand new to Pilates pregnant clients that you start there so that we can really tailor a class to meet your needs so that you don't feel like you're doing kind of this watered down Pilates experience because the teacher's just adapting the class on the fly. If you really want a class that is for you and for stuff that's like specific to your pregnant body, you should probably consider doing privates. 

Ideally pregnant clients will have started doing Pilates before they're pregnant, because you want to know what your baseline is. There's a lot of changes that happen to a body hormonally, physically, emotionally, mentally. There's a lot of stuff that changes while you're pregnant and over the course of your pregnancy. And if you don't know what your baseline sort of flexibility, strength, body awareness, if you don't have that, when you start, it can be really difficult to begin Pilates as a brand new thing, when your body is also feeling [00:06:00] like a brand new thing.

So in a perfect world, your clients will have already done Pilates for a bit so that they know where their limits are and they know where to stay safely. I also want to say that it's really great, that as studios are beginning to open for one on one sessions or for smaller group classes, it would be ideal to have those private sessions in person, because it's a little bit easier as a teacher to see what's going on. And then also to be in communication with that client about what's going on in their body. 

The stuff that we've been doing at home is mostly mat Pilates, in my case, and mat Pilates, isn't great for a pregnant client. There's a lot of contraindicated things that happen in mat Pilates and the equipment can really, whether it's TRX, whether it's the springboard, whether it's the Cadillac, can really take some of the pressure off of the pregnant clients exercise. So they can still do things like safe core activation, but in a supported way, instead of if you're either doing a [00:07:00] plank here or you're not doing a plank at all, so it really helps you modify those exercises in a way that's safe. Definitely if you were considering doing private sessions, in person privates are going to be better. I mean, always they're going to be better because you can play with the toys. And especially in the case of pregnant clients. 

As a Pilates instructor, there are several contraindications that you had to know during your studio teacher training that were probably part of your test out. There are things that physically you don't want to do because it's not great for the body, but there's also things that just may not feel great in the person's body while they're pregnant. It may not be unsafe, but it may not feel good. Things like lying on your back, even when you're not in second trimester and you're elevating so that they maybe have a wedge or maybe they're lying on the jump board so that they're supine, but not totally flat. It still may not feel good in their body.

So when we're talking about communication, you really do want to talk to your clients. I mean, check in with your clients regardless of their pregnancy state, but do check in and just see how they're feeling, because [00:08:00] some things might make them feel gross and you don't want to do that thing, even if technically they're physically able to do it.

So a good rule is to follow all of the protocols, all those guidelines, as soon as you know that that client is pregnant. You don't want to start doing some crazy inversion sequence and then in second trimester be like, but now we're not inverting, like just maintain that protocol. And then that's going to help you in terms of transitioning, then you don't have to remember, Oh, are they allowed to do that in the first trimester? Can they do it in the second trimester? What about the third trimester? Just like stick to all of those things and then you'll be fine. 

Something that Katrina talked about in the workshop that I think is super important is the fact that you can still challenge your pregnant clients. They shouldn't be doing that "pre-Pilates" just because they're pregnant. If they're at that level and you're working on body awareness, then yes, pre-Pilates is fine. But just because they're pregnant, if they are someone who has done Pilates, who does have strength, who does have body awareness, you can still include challenging exercises safely so that Pilates doesn't become boring.

[00:09:00] So the big no-nos in the pregnancy sphere that you probably know, that have been burned into your brain, are working in extreme range of movement, intense adduction or inner thigh contractions, prone work where you're lying on your stomach, supine work, where you're lying on your back, inverting and intense ab work.

Those are the no-nos. We don't want to do those things, but we don't want to do those things maybe for reasons that you didn't know. But there's reasons why you can't do it. And that helps you kind of understand why you shouldn't do it. 

So things like extreme range of movement. That's really because during pregnancy, there's a hormone called relaxin and that's released. You want your pelvic floor muscles to be flexible because you're going to be pushing a baby out of your pelvic floor. As a result, your body gets more flexible and it doesn't just get more flexible in your pelvic floor. You can get more flexible anywhere on your body. So instead you want to maintain that normal flexibility. This is not the time to be pushing it because you will be [00:10:00] getting more flexible. And you want to make sure that you have the support for the flexibility that you have. 

For intense adduction, that inner thigh contraction, fun fact, your pelvis is not one bone, but many. And there is a little piece of cartilage, right at the front of your pubic bone, your pubic symphysis, which I always remember as synthesis because it's coming together, right? The two sides of your pelvis. You can dislocate that with enough force. So you, and again, you're getting more flexible, but as a result, we don't want to be doing intense inner thigh squeezing.

You can do some light adduction, like without resistance. If you're doing things like sideline work, that might be fine for the person's body. Of course, check in with them always. They have the final say, but you don't want to be throwing heavy magic circles between knees. 

Prone lying on your stomach, kind of goes without saying it can make clients nauseous, even in the first trimester where you're technically still allowed to do things lying on your stomach, but you can do extension beyond swan, right, beyond where you're lying on your stomach. You can do [00:11:00] extension standing and extension is something that moms should actually be working on. So you definitely want to do that. 

Supine work where you're lying on your back becomes a no-no because the uterus, as it is expanding as a child is growing inside, it can be putting pressure on some of the veins, your abdominal aorta right there. And you don't want to cut off blood flow to your body pretty much always, which is also, fun fact, why foam rolling isn't ideal while pregnant, You don't want to compress things. We want blood to flow very nicely. This is a reason why mat Pilates can be really difficult. Because there's a lot of supine work that happens on the mat.

No inversions, one of the big flags about that as an air embolism, you're just at higher risk for that. So you can do bridging, you could use an arc so that you're staying elevated. You're still working through that thoracic mobility and that thoracic extension, but you're not taking your hips higher than your heart.

Heavy abdominal work definitely is a [00:12:00] no, no, not only because of the increased flexibility that's happening, but it's also putting an excessive amount of pressure on your Linea Alba, which is that fascial structure that kind of runs vertically between your six pack that runs sternum to pubic bone. Relaxin is relaxing it. So you don't want to be putting a ton of pressure on it while it is in a stretchy state, you can focus on your transverse abdominis work. And one of my friends took a class with Shari Berkowitz, talking a lot about how to find your transverse abdominis and how to engage your transverse abdominis, that sort of gentle contraction, not like the hundred level of contraction, but this sort of pulling in. It's still a really useful thing. And you do want to keep working on that throughout pregnancy.

Hi there. I hope you're enjoying today's chapter so far. There's lots of awesome stuff coming up after three as well. Please share this episode with your friends and [00:13:00] followers and share the Pilates love. Now back to the show.

Here are some of the myths about pregnancy things that you want to know about so that you can tell your clients that Pilates is specifically really good actually for pregnancy. I was talking with my mom a little bit and she said, Oh, I don't know if Pilates would be great for you while you're pregnant, because it is such a core exercise.

There is this conception that Pilates is all about the core and you shouldn't be doing core work while you're [00:14:00] pregnant, so how could Pilates help? And I am here to tell you that Pilates is fantastic during pregnancy. 

Sometimes pregnant women have difficulty breathing while pregnant. And part of that goes to breathing mechanics and Pilates, as we know is all about the breath. So this idea that you can't breathe might stem from the fact that if you're breathing deeply into your belly, where you're focusing on your diaphragm, right, expanding downwards into that abdominal canister. As you're growing a child, there's less space for it press down, but that doesn't mean that you can't breathe. You can focus on, as we do in Pilates, that postiolateral breathing, that kind of leaves the abdominals out and really focuses on expanding the rib cage. You're not doing that belly breath where your belly is coming in and out, but you're really expanding the rib cage three-dimensionally. 

There's also an idea that your body is swollen while you're pregnant, you're holding water, you know, you have to pee all the time. Your circulation definitely changes, your blood flow, the blood that you have has [00:15:00] increase. Breathing is stimulating blood flow. The fluid can pool in your feet, or you can have varicose veins while you're pregnant and doing something like Pilates, where you are breathing deeply is stimulating that circulation, which can help with that swollen feeling. And exercises are going to really help with increasing the breath and feeling like you're circulating a little bit easier and feeling a little bit less swollen. 

The idea that childbirth is going to be painful. I mean, I don't know, this course is amazing, but I wasn't really convinced the childbirth wouldn't be painful, but you can hold tension in your body. We see it in our clients, regardless of whether or not they're pregnant, that there are holding patterns in the body, that there's tension that's being held in your body and you can turn off those fight or flight muscles. And you can release tension a lot of ways, mentally through relaxing what doesn't need to be working. We do that in exercises, but we can also do that in life. 

I know that I'm a person who holds a lot of tension in my left piriformis, and that's [00:16:00] just when I feel stressed or I feel anxious, that's just the muscle that I tense. I can consciously relax that up to a point. You can use that mind, body connection in Pilates to relax those muscles. 

This idea that you have tight calf muscles, you get Charlie horses, that your neck hurts, that your low back hurts, a lot of that's because the distribution of weight changes when you're pregnant, your weight overall can change when you're pregnant and any imbalances that you have can get exacerbated as a result of being pregnant and your body weight shifts forward. So if you're standing on the balls of the feet, it's like being in heels all the time. You have all of the weight in the balls of the feet and not weight in the heel. So just shifting the weight back, coming back to a more neutral spine, which of course is difficult for even run of the mill, regular people, not pregnant clients.

But shifting that weight back into the heels and bringing your spine into it's more neutral curve is going to alleviate a lot of those things. 

Something that I learned that was, I thought, pretty [00:17:00] cool. The idea that your feet expand that your feet get bigger while you're pregnant. Again, going back to the fact that you're gaining weight, your arches can collapse as a result, and especially if you have weak arches. 

But our friend, Joe, definitely has a foot corrector, has a toe corrector that helps with strengthening those arches. And those are exercises that you can really work with with your pregnant clients in those private sessions to strengthen those muscles at the arch so that the foot doesn't lose the arch as a result of this sort of shifting weight. And it is reversible. So if that had happened to you, you can tone those muscles in your arch and come back from that. 

And then another myth that we talked about was peeing when you laugh. Again, we're going back to this pelvic floor health, which she did another entire day on pelvic floor health and I'm just going to barely touch on right here. But this idea that your pelvic floor now has more pressure on it because you've gained weight and you're growing a child. That is a thing that happened. You can work to tone those pelvic floor muscles while you're pregnant and then [00:18:00] also after pregnancy. Finding that lifted sensation in your pelvis will help with incontinence and that can be whether or not you're pregnant. Any pelvic floor dysfunction can be addressed through Pilates, especially in private sessions. 

And if that's not something that you feel comfortable with as a Pilates teacher, you can also refer out to physical therapists who definitely work with those issues specifically, or find a teacher who has taken this amazing course who feels more confident working with those bodies.

This episode was such a whirlwind. There's so much more to explore. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I hope that gave you a little bit of information about pregnant bodies and about working with pregnant clients. 

I highly recommend that you work with Katrina Foe. Her studio is Personalized Pilates. I will link it in the show notes. The class was called personalized pregnancy and postpartum. I cannot recommend it enough. It was an incredible workshop. And I feel like my understanding has just grown in terms of what I [00:19:00] know. I encourage you to check it out. That's all for now. Take care. I'll talk to you soon.

Thank you so much for joining me for today's chapter of Pilates Teachers' Manual, your guide to becoming a great Pilates teacher. If you loved today's episode, subscribe and leave a review, you can reach out to me on Instagram @pilates teachersmanual. Or send me an email to pilatesteachersmanual@oliviabioni.com.

The adventure continues. Until next time.