Through the second and third trimesters, Pilates can help to build strength and balance to help carry the added weight of your baby while preventing varicose veins and swelling. Yoga can assist in releasing tension and controlling stress, helping you to sleep better and live more comfortably.
After the birth of your baby, Pilates can help you to regain your pre-pregnancy body faster while rebuilding pelvic floor and abdominal strength safely. Yoga will help new mothers cope with physical and mental stresses. Small infants are welcome in private and semi-private sessions, please bring carrier or stroller.
Pilates is the ideal exercise for pregnancy, with focus placed on the transversus abdominis and the pelvic floor. In Pilates, control and precision are a main principle of our movements making it the safest form of exercise during pregnancy.
The Transversus Abdominis wraps around the torso like a girdle and supports your spine and abdomen (including your growing baby). It is a key muscle used during tabor as it assists in “pushing.” This is also the muscle that creates a slim, toned abdomen and by keeping it strong you will more quickly regain your figure. Strengthening the Pelvic Floor helps to support the growing uterus and battle incontinence while improving sex. Pelvic Floor exercises (including kegels) promote circulation in the pelvic area to help with faster healing and reproductive health. In Pilates we learn how to fully contract and how to consciously release the Pelvic Floor, giving us a new level of control over our newly strengthened pelvic floor muscles.
Hormones released during pregnancy allow your ligaments to soften and become more elastic in preparation for giving birth. A side effect of this biological miracle is instability of the joints, particularly those surrounding the pelvis, leading to pain or discomfort. In Pilates, we strengthen the stabilizing muscles that surround joints to create better bone alignment to prevent or alleviate pain.
As your pregnancy progresses, the new weight of your baby and your breasts can cause pain and weakness in the tower and upper back by causing the pelvis to tilt forward and the shoulders to slouch and round. Pilates strengthens the core muscles that support our torso and spine, including the low back and deep abdominal muscles, and works with isolation exercises to safely and effectively strengthen the upper back.
When blood volume increases during pregnancy, hormonal changes can affect the blood valves, which can cause varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Deep, lower leg muscular exercises can boost circulation and help to alleviate or prevent this.
The deep, rhythmic breath used throughout Pilates sessions increases lung capacity, which helps with the shortness of breath caused by the ribcage elevating during pregnancy. Pilates uses breathing to assist in movement-control and to release tension and discomfort, which will be invaluable during and following delivery.
Many women experience Edema, fluid retention caused by an increase in lymphatic fluid, which results in swelling in the tower limbs. The safe and strong, muscular legs actions of Pilates can assist in lymphatic drainage and alleviate swelling.
As your center of gravity shifts it is common to feel awkward and unsteady. Pilates exercises safely challenge the deep muscles that control balance and incorporate movement techniques focused on using large muscle groups in harmony, helping you to be more balanced and graceful as your body evolves throughout your pregnancy.
I started attending the P+Y studio and seeing Kim for one-on-one sessions while I was pregnant. I knew I needed to do something, but I honestly didn't know what. I had no experience with a reformer and fell in love as soon as I started. Kim helped me become stronger as I continued through my pregnancy. Look, pregnancy is hard on a woman’s body, let alone someone who is not young and fit to start with. Kim was fantastic through each change and every trimester. She helped me become stronger and I worked with her until my 39th week. I would have been in a much different position without her. Post-pregnancy and working full-time, I still look forward to attending her classes or private sessions when the stars align. Working with her has made me appreciate myself and what I can do. She knows my limits and finds a way to extend them. I only wish I could figure out a way to get to the studio more often.
I’ve been a member of Pilates + Yoga for a year and a half. I was nervous for my first class, a class that ultimately changed not only my body but my mindset around fitness. From mat Pilates, to barre, to the reformer: every class has me feeling stronger, more confident, and completely comfortable in my body. Pilates was my first love; then came yoga! Now I’ve learned to focus on my mental and physical well-being, with the guidance and support of some of the most talented and educated instructors in Las Vegas. I’ve developed great relationships with the instructors and clients. Class variety, studio atmosphere, amazing instructors, cleanliness, retail…this studio has everything you need. I wouldn’t be anywhere else!
I loved the Pilates + Yoga studio while I was pregnant! All of the instructors offered modifications for me and the classes were a great in helping me prepare for childbirth by strengthening my pelvic floor and learning to focus on my breathing. I truly believe I had such a positive pregnancy and childbirth because I was able to continue exercising at this studio.
More than half-way through teacher training. Loving it. Jodi is a great instructor, very accommodating. I was worried about my work schedule conflicting with training, but she has worked around my conflicts. All of the instructors are there to help me when I have questions and Jodi has made herself available to answer all my questions. Learning mat, reformer, Cadillac, Wunda chair, ladder barrel, and spine corrector. Enjoying every class I have attended so far and feeling stronger every day!