The American Fitness Professionals and Associates report that in today’s job market, the total amount of estimated jobs for personal trainers is 279,100, and over 100,000 are female mothers who could have used a pregnancy personal trainer. And it’s little wonder that these dedicated and highly trained professionals are in such high demand among those who wish to improve their bodies, their health, and their lives.
Regardless of a person’s physical condition and reasons for wanting to exercise, whether they simply wish to lose a few pounds or are coping with the effects of a serious illness or injury, the able aid of a personal trainer can make all the difference in the attainment of one’s individual fitness goals.
This is especially true when it comes to the rewarding but physically challenging experience of pregnancy; a time in which the body undergoes many changes and performs beneath an entirely new set of demands. Your body must be strong enough to sustain a successful pregnancy and delivery process; all the while carrying out the daily responsibilities of your everyday life, as associated with your career, personal interests, and family life.
This is why, as you embark on your journey as an expectant mother, you may wish to explore the role of a pregnancy personal trainer near me; one who will walk beside you on this exciting and impactful life journey.
What is a Pregnancy Personal Trainer?
On a general basis, most people know that a personal trainer is a great aide and ally to anyone seeking to improve their health and enhance their physique. Trainers treat every client as an individual, assessing their physical condition before determining a course of action that will help them reach their fitness and health-related goals. Based on this assessment, he/she will prescribe a regimen of customized exercises and activities aimed at helping the client achieve their optimum level of good health and premium physical fitness.
A pregnancy personal trainer is someone who is certified to train someone during their pregnancy to make sure the exercises their client is performing will keep her and the baby safe and injury free. A pregnancy personal trainer will create a series of exercises that are customized to their client’s physical needs and assist them throughout the entire regimen of prescribed physical exercise. A certified pregnancy personal trainer will monitor both the client’s health and the overall success of the prescribed exercises in attaining all or most of the desired results. He/she will respond to and remedy any issues that might arise throughout this regimen and may be in communication with the expecting mother’s physician if these issues might impact their well-being.
Overall, the pregnancy personal trainer is an educated and highly capable fitness expert; an able assistant and facilitator who will get and keep you on track; partnering and collaborating with you to prepare you for the marathon of childbirth you are about to undergo.
Hiring a personal trainer during pregnancy
So now that we’ve established the considerable role and immense value of personal trainers, the question remains: What is the value of hiring a personal trainer during pregnancy?
Yet before we answer this particular query, let us first address an even more important question: Should a pregnant woman exercise? And is the matter of pregnancy fitness really that important?
The stereotypical pregnant woman, as history dictates, is everything but active. Indeed, via old movies and black and white TV shows, the expectant mother is often shown reclining back on her couch with her feet up and her pickles and ice cream in hand; kicking back and relaxing in anticipation of childbirth.
For today’s busy modern woman, however, this prescription for living simply doesn’t work. She is likely balancing the demands of pregnancy with the duties of her career and family life and has no earthly intention of sitting out her pregnancy.
In addition, it is an established fact that pregnant moms who exercise tend to be stronger, healthier, and better prepared to meet the physical and emotional challenges that come as part and parcel of pregnancy.
This is why more modern moms are considering the issue of pregnancy fitness. Exercise can help alleviate the chronic bloating and backaches, reduce pains and cramps, swelling and constipation that many expectant women deal with on a frequent basis; enhance the happiness, mood and energy levels of the pregnant woman, relieving stress and boosting blood flow; builds muscle tone, strength and endurance; improves posture and even sleep patterns. In many cases, regular exercise even will strengthen and prepare your body for the complex and often strenuous experience of labor and childbirth; hasten and facilitate your recovery period; and prepare you, furthermore, for those first days of your child’s life–those days when you will find yourself lifting your quickly growing child and chasing them endlessly around the house.
Recent studies have shown, in fact, that previously sedentary women who began exercising at the 12- to 14-week point of their pregnancy experienced enhanced fitness and delivery outcomes.
Furthermore, a University of Montreal study explored the immense benefits of partum exercise for the baby as well. Indeed, the study revealed that moms who practiced moderate exercise routines at approximate intervals of 20 minutes of moderate exercise at least 3 days a week, tended to produce babies with enhanced brain activity and more rapid cranial development.
In addition, this same regimen of moderate exercise will stimulate above average placental growth (Clapp, 2002) as well as long term increased fetal brain activity (Ellemburg, 2013).
And maternal exercise during pregnancy enhances the child’s offspring cognitive development into maturity (Robinson, 2013).
Indeed, the benefits of exercise on the fetus are seemingly endless. Staying active throughout the mid-pregnancy phase for 20 minutes, three times each week at a moderate to hard intensity level, stimulates above average placental growth (Clapp, 2002) along with long term increased fetal brain activity (Ellemburg, 2013). Maternal exercise during pregnancy even may result in fewer cesarean sections with comparable sized infants (Price, 2012) and increases offspring cognitive development into adulthood (Robinson, 2013).
In summary; if your fitness goals include a healthier, heartier pregnancy and a more robust and active postpartum experience, then you may very well wish to cultivate a pregnancy fitness plan.
Making a Pregnancy Fitness Plan
If you wish to cultivate a certified and reliable plan for attaining and maintaining your optimum fitness levels while pregnant, then you can choose from a number of options in pursuit of this objective.
You could attend any number of prenatal fitness programs, including exercise classes taken in person or online. Chances are your local community center, exercise studio or hospital offers fitness classes for expectant moms; plus Mommy and Me or baby exercise classes that might very well come in handy after the little one comes.
If you would prefer not to exercise in public, or can’t find a class schedule that facilitates and coincides with your own, then more private and time flexible options are available. You could check out online resources such as websites, videos and tutorials that display and demonstrate various exercise tips and techniques suitable for new or expectant moms. You could read books and check out exercise DVDs that outline similar techniques; resources that allow you to exercise at your own rate and pace, literally pausing, browsing past, and/or skipping those moves and maneuvers that make you uncomfortable or otherwise fail to suit you.
And in this digital age, you have another, even more amazing option available to you: The online pregnancy personal trainer.
That’s right. You now can seek personalized, individualized personal training services in the comfort and privacy of your own home, and at a fraction of the cost that it would take to procure a face-to-face pregnancy personal trainer.
There are, in fact, a vast number of benefits to hiring a pregnancy personal trainer during pregnancy.
Sure, you know what’s good for you; and you’ve always been well-versed in all matters regarding your own health and well-being. You also know as to what particular exercises best suit your body type, your fitness goals, and your overall profile of health and fitness.
Yet also as a knowledgeable and self-aware woman, you know that both your body and your health-related needs do shift a bit during pregnancy. Your weight, your flexibility, your energy levels, your stamina, so many things are likely changing during this time; and even the strongest and heartiest of women may want to seek the outside aid of a professional trainer or fitness coach.
Think about it. During this vital and highly pivotal time in your life, you don’t think twice about visiting your family doctor more frequently than usual, also seeking out the services of a gynecologist, a dietitian and especially an obstetrician in ensuring the healthiest and most successful pregnancy experience possible. You are indeed ‘living for two’ at this point, and you need the best care possible to ensure the optimum well being of you and your baby.
And part of this plan, of course, involves the maintenance of your physique and the building of your strength and stamina; the key elements that you require to achieve a successful pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum experience.
They say that if you want it done right, hire a professional; and now more than ever, you want to make sure that everything is done right. So at this point, you may indeed want to enlist the services of a professional pregnancy personal trainer.
The Benefits of Hiring a Personal Trainer During Pregnancy
A top-notch personal trainer comes well educated and prepared for their jobs; having completed studying, training and coursework toward the attainment of a pregnancy personal trainer certification. You do indeed want to ensure that your chosen personal trainer is trained and certified, and expertly qualified to guide and advise you in the formulation of your pregnancy fitness plan.
A veritable and comprehensive expert on the topic of pregnancy fitness, the person you consider your pregnancy personal trainer near me will indeed be the best person to have ‘near you’ during this important and pivotal time in your life.
Drawing upon their educational expertise and professional experience (often tempered in many cases with personal experience, as a good number of maternity-centered trainers specializing in pregnancy fitness are mothers and parents themselves), these trainers hold and display a great deal of knowledge regarding the best and most beneficial exercise moves, maneuvers and full routines for the new or expectant mom. They have a good deal of insider knowledge regarding the ways, the intensity, the methods and the techniques that define a sound and holistic fitness regimen for a new or expectant mother.
Your pregnancy personal trainer will know which exercises you should or should not do during each trimester of your pregnancy; and, furthermore, as to how many times you should do each exercise and at what specific intensity you should work out and exercise. They will be able to suggest adjustments and modifications to some of your favorite fitness moves; altering them so that they will be easier to complete at various points throughout your pregnancy.
Before considering a partnership with a pregnancy personal trainer, you may very well be prepared to surrender all attempts at exercise until after the birth of your baby. Or, at the very least, you might believe that you have to almost literally hit the pause button on your favorite exercise routines for the duration of your pregnancy; opting instead for super low impact, frankly, boring moves that just barely keep your blood pumping.
The fact is, however, that you can indeed continue many of your favorite fitness maneuvers throughout the course of your pregnancy; only perhaps practicing them more slowly and less frequently at times–or with your body positioned differently than normal. Indeed, modified exercises often can be performed in chairs, lying down, etc.; still benefiting the exerciser in a multitude of ways.
Your pregnancy personal trainer will enable and empower you to exercise, and in a way that supports and enhances both your and your baby’s health. And beyond relating general knowledge about the best exercises to facilitate this time of life, your pregnancy personal trainer will accrue and establish a far more personal knowledge base of you as a client.
Putting the Personal in Pregnancy Personal Trainer
You may already be familiar with the benefits of online or prerecorded exercise classes. You can exercise in the privacy of your own home, without having to take too much time out of your day to travel to an exercise class, or too much money out of your pocket to employ a face to face pregnancy personal trainer.
Yet do you ever chuckle a bit when you’re watching an exercise DVD and the instructor tells you how out and out amazing you look? Well, believe them because it’s true and you are bound to get even more in the way of positive affirmation from an online pregnancy personal trainer.
Your personal trainer knows and sees you. And they will base the development of your intricate fitness regime on a personal assessment of your physical condition. Your pregnancy personal trainer will take into account the overall state of your health, any illnesses or pre-existing conditions you might have, your age, your medical history, and the frequency and intensity at which you have exercised in the past.
An online pregnancy personal trainer can infuse your partum fitness regime with that same level of personalization and individualization; applying a highly valuable personal touch that is bound to enhance your confidence and motivate you to exercise. She will be able to indicate as to when you are weary, bored, or frustrated with your exercise routine, or when your regimen needs to be changed or altered to suit the changes in your body. This sometimes passes with the changing of trimesters, the advancement of the pregnancy, etc. She will be able to advise you to speed up, to slow down, to take a rest or to stay just as active. She will be able to take into account specific health concerns that you might possess; both those related to your pregnancy, such as bleeding, premature labor, ruptured membranes, anemia and pregnancy-induced hypertension, and other, pre-existing conditions such as heart and lung disease and gynecological issues.
In addition, by getting to know you and inquiring about your favorite exercises and fitness schedule, your pregnancy personal trainer will know as to which exercise plan is bound to suit you; cultivating a fitness program that is custom designed in accordance with your fitness needs and health-related requirements. They will be well acquainted with your likes and dislikes in regards to exercise and fitness, and will be able to tweak your plan and regimen in accordance with your wishes and comfort level.
Fitness class instructors do an amazing job of leading and inspiring their classes; now imagine personally benefiting from their boundless knowledge base, as they customize a fitness plan just for you.
A good pregnancy personal trainer will monitor your health throughout the course of your pregnancy, recommending basic but highly effective means of minimizing abdominal separation and discomfort; such as reducing intra-abdominal pressure, practicing deep core strengthening, stretching and relaxing in equal measure, rolling to your side before rising upward and laying down, etc.
An online pregnancy personal trainer really does represent the best of both worlds; applying professional knowledge to a therapeutic regimen of personalized fitness care.
In addition, a pregnancy personal trainer can monitor your method and frequency of running, jumping, performing deep squats, etc.
A quality personal trainer can offer modified variations of many of your favorite exercises, such as pelvic tilts:
- Lay flat on your back with a comfortable arch in your low back, knees bent and feet hip-width apart.
- Inhale, breathing deeply out to the sides and back of your rib cage allowing your pelvis and pelvic floor to relax.
- Exhale, gently do a kegel (drawing your pelvic floor lightly together and upward), and zip your belly upward through the top of your head, allowing your pelvis to tilt slightly.
- Inhale, return to start allowing your back to arch and pelvis and pelvic floor to relax.
Hip Rolls
- Continuing your motion with #3 of Pelvic Tilts, continue rolling your spine upward, one vertebra at a time. Doing your best to articulate your spine as best you can.
- Pause and inhale at the top.
- Then exhale slowly, articulating your spine as you roll back down on your mat.
- Inhale once your back is completely back on your mat, allowing your back to arch.
- Exhale to initiate your next hip roll, and continue for 5 to 10 reps.
Forward Rolls
- Begin on your knees with the ball positioned close to you.
- Exhale, tucking your chin towards your chest, while rounding your spine and slowly rolling the ball out in front of you.
- Inhale to lengthen your spine and hold, pressing lightly into the ball, while keeping your hips just behind your knees.
- Exhale as you press your arms into the ball; tuck your chin and hips to articulate your spine back to the starting position–all while continuing to lightly “hug your baby”.
Mermaid Stretch
- Seated with your right leg bent in front of you and left leg tucked behind you, place your right hand on the ground behind you.
- Reach your left hand back over your head, press your hips upward, bringing you up onto your knees. Hold the stretch and breathe into your side and belly.
- Place your hips back on the ground.
- Repeat on the same side 2 to 3 more times, then switch sides by positioning the opposite leg in front of you.
Post Pregnancy Personal Trainer
Another common misconception revolving around the pregnancy experience involves just what happens after the child is born; specifically, how your body bounces back postpartum. Having a post-pregnancy personal trainer to usher you through this stage will help you gauge a proper post-pregnancy fitness plan to make sure you are not doing too much too early.
While a steady and sensible fitness regimen during pregnancy will help your body bounce back faster allowing you in all likelihood to resume regular daily activities, as well as taking on the newly minted demands of motherhood, some people try to ‘bounce back’ too fast. They try to resume their favorite fitness activities, sports and recreational pursuits at their previous force, frequency and velocity; only to discover that their bodies and beings were not quite prepared to resume their previous lifestyle, at least not to the extent or at the speed that they did previously.
Indeed, it is generally not a good idea to resume the exact exercise routine that one practiced in college and pre-baby; or, for that matter, to automatically resume high impact activities such as contact sports like soccer, boxing and basketball, or activities that carry with it a high degree of fall risk, including downhill and water skiing, off-road cycling, surfing, gymnastics and horseback riding, scuba and skydiving, hot yoga and pilates. In an effort to strengthen and restore the vitality of your deep core and pelvic floor, it’s best to make a gradual return to one’s fitness routine; in the process avoiding conditions such as pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence, and diastasis recti. Click on the links in the previous sentence for more in-depth information from our pregnancy fitness blog.
Even the strongest and fittest new moms have to give themselves the time and space to recover from pregnancy and childbirth; but again, they should not simply park it on the couch and break out the ice cream and candy bars. They do need to stay active; and to this end, it may very well be a good idea to employ a post-pregnancy personal trainer.
In the life of a woman, there is perhaps no more personal experience than pregnancy and childbirth; and during this pivotal, vital time of life, a compassionate, highly skilled pregnancy personal trainer can lead your way to a healthier, happier future.
