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Smooth moves: Pilates during pregnancy

Is Pilates the right exercise for your pregnancy?

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Originally published in Today's Parent April 2006

“Wow, you’ve got a spring in your step.” Margot McKinnon got that comment a lot when she was pregnant with her son. McKinnon practised Pilates every day and says it helped her maintain her posture throughout her pregnancy. “I would stand up [afterwards] and feel like my back was longer and the tightness in my sacrum at the base of my spine would be alleviated.”

McKinnon, studio director and founder of Body Harmonics Pilates, says Pilates can support the postural changes your body goes through as your belly grows and your back starts to sway more. “It helps stave off those sensations of feeling wobbly and loosey-goosey.”

Similar to yoga, Pilates was invented by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s to develop and maintain strength in the core area (abdomen, back and pelvic floor) of your body that becomes challenged as your pregnancy progresses.

Beth Evans, program director at Stott Pilates, says Pilates and pregnancy go really well together. “We’re always focusing on stabilizing and controlling movement, making it precise and fluid, and breathing as you do it. So people find it very relaxing, and that works very well for pregnant women.”

“My energy level is very high,” says Sarah Douglas, who is still practising Pilates 8½ months into her first pregnancy. “There are some days that I’m achy and feeling a little worse for wear, and I find that by doing some of the moves — the stretching and strengthening — I feel much more open and invigorated.”

And if that growing belly of yours throws your balance off, as it did for Linda Andross, the Pilates focus on stability and coordination may be the perfect antidote. “The one thing I really noticed during my pregnancy was how Pilates helped me keep my balance. I wasn’t expecting how much pregnancy affects your balance.”

Pilates can also help expectant moms prepare for caring for a baby. “You need to keep your upper body really strong because you’re going to be picking up and carrying a baby,” says Evans. What’s more, your upper body and your shoulders may tend to round forward as your breasts get larger and you breastfeed. Pilates can strengthen your upper body and help counteract those postural changes, says Evans.

In fact, Kim Bozak took up Pilates after her first child was born. “He was a big baby and I’d started to have bad lower back pain.” Practising Pilates relieved the pain in Bozak’s lower back, and she stuck with it when she became pregnant with twins. “I think continuing Pilates through my pregnancy and then post-pregnancy helped me get my body back faster.”

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