Featuring Tamarah Calyniuk, MPT, CAFC

Video Title: Pregnancy Physiotherapy - Resistance Training Duration: 2 minutes, 5 seconds

During pregnancy, about the sixth week, relaxin is in your body, and it changes the joint mobility and flexibility.

Therefore, your body and center of gravity is changing continuously, and this may compromise certain postures and curvatures. So strength training is actually a good thing to maintain through pregnancy. It helps in assisting your upper body strength for postpartum period and also maintaining your core and overall strength through your lower body.

If you were doing a strength program prior to your pregnancy, it is still a good idea to consult your specialist or personal trainer who may specialize in pre and postnatal exercise to ensure that you are doing the right things and progressing appropriately through each trimester.

In pregnancy, extra attention must be paid to postural stability, therefore, every exercise should involve engaging the core, pelvic floor, transverse abdominals throughout the strength routine.

Traditional weights are okay, otherwise you could use cables and Thera-Bands. You want to choose a weight that allows you to lift about 10 to 20 repetitions comfortably. You don't want to be holding your breath, as this will increase the intra-abdominal pressure, and that will deactivate a lot of the core muscles that you're trying to develop.

It's probably best to challenge your stability with balance boards or stability balls or even just standing on one leg. You want to avoid heavy lifting, especially above your head, and focus is on technique, not necessarily gaining more strength, but just technique and maintaining.

You want to address a specialized personal trainer who works with pre and postnatal women if you are going to require a strength and stability program. It's very important as they do know the restrictions that you may have.

Presenter: Tamarah Nerreter, Physiotherapist, Surrey, BC

Local Practitioners: Physiotherapist