Pelvic Floor Friendly Pilates!

I LOVE Pilates. Especially when it is Pelvic Floor Friendly! It is perfect for Mums. Calm, focused stretching, breath control and core work. Balance.

As a physiotherapist pilates instructor, I will give you lots of guidance on best technique, breathing control & suggestions of how to level up (or down) depending on your ability.  All the exercises I have chosen are back, neck & pelvic floor friendly pilates and avoid overstraining the abdominals.  

Mini class: 20 mins.

For complete beginners (or rusty returners!). Abdominals. The foundations.

Focus: Back Release: 6 mins

Feeling all over stiff & tight in your back and pelvis? Let me guide you through 3 great exercises, just 2 minutes each. Release tension in your muscles, get flexibility in your joints, gently stretch across the abdomen, tune into your pelvic floor and abdominals, feel energised. These are suitable for new mums, even in the early days. You often find these in your hospital physio booklet – but you might have lost it! And it is nice to have a physiotherapist take you through them. This is careful movement to Feel Good.

Focus: quick standing upper back stretch: 4 mins

4 minutes guided exercises. All in standing (no mat required). Find your core & pelvic floor to get energized for the day ahead!

Right not Risky: abdominals using handweights: 10 mins

Keep your back & neck supported, abdominals completely flat and pelvic floor engaged while working your abdominals incrementally harder & harder.  Same great abdominal work out as a set of sit-ups, no risk!

This is a sequence of  progressive abdominal challenge with pelvic floor friendly cues too.   Designed to suit all our mums from beginner to advanced – in this video we ‘circuit’ through 3 arm/abs exercises gradually increasing the load and the complexity.

• If you are new to Pilates or need to protect your back or a prolapse  stick to Circuit 1 & 2 and repeat them.
• Once you are more intermediate think of the first circuit through as your “warm up” then add variations 2 & 3
• When you are more advanced, have a quick familiarisation with circuit 1, but effectively jump to circuit 2 (starts at 3:33) for your warm up and add an extra repeat circuit yourself at the end.

Note:  My weighted balls weigh 0.5kg each (=1lb = a standard tin). Available to buy here: APPI Weighted Soft Balls 2 x 0.5kg (Amazon affiliate link)