Get Your Body Back After the Baby!

It’s great DURING pregnancy, too! Why?

Because every Pilates exercise combines strength-building and stretching. You can even add cardio by doing your Pilates routine in a rigorous way, especially on the mat where you can develop a routine of one exercise after another without pause for 20 minutes or more!

And the mat routine allows you to do Pilates in the comfort and privacy of your own home where you can resume exercise at your own speed. It’s perfect! And this author has a free program for you!

Take a look!

Postpartum bellies. If only we could have the same joy about our post-baby bellies as we do for the beautiful newborn we now hold in our arms. After pregnancy our abdominal muscles have been stretched and weakened, and our joints are loose and unstable. But we have the cure—and it’s called Pilates. Here’s why I think Pilates might just be the perfect postpartum exercise.

1.      Regain alignment. Combine 40 weeks (or more!) of carrying baby with pregnancy hormones galore, and more than likely you have a pelvis that feels like it’s constantly on the move. Pilates not only lengthens and tones abdominal muscles, it also focuses specifically on alignment of the spine relative to the pelvis. Learning to identify and understand the difference between a neutral pelvic position, an anterior pelvic tilt, and a posterior pelvic tilt will help you properly train your core muscles, and in turn re-stabilize the pelvis. Your hips and back will thank you!

2.      Stabilize the pelvic floor. Let’s not forget about the pelvic floor—the hammock of muscles and tendons lining the basin of the pelvis that become overstretched and weak after pregnancy and birth. Lucky for us, Pilates integrates all of the muscles and joints that were taxed during pregnancy and that are responsible for re-stabilizing your core, including the pelvic floor. If you have sneezed since giving birth, you know why the pelvic floor is so important…..

The best part? You can still be with your baby. As all mamas know, in the early weeks and months it can be difficult to get away for a class. But you don’t need a gym membership or special equipment to regain your pre-pregnancy belly…..

For 2 more reasons and a free trial of an at-home program by author Alicia Fedewa, a Ph.D. school psychologist by day, and a Pilates, Spinning, and Yoga instructor by night who needs to stay fit to keep up with her daughter Vada, age 2, go to http://mamaseeds.com/blog/postpartum/rebuild-your-body-after-baby-pilates.