Pregnancy Fitness

Description

Your journey through a comfortable, safe, and confident pregnancy begins with Pregnancy Fitness. This practical guide answers your questions and delivers the information, exercises, and workouts you need to maintain your personal fitness and enjoy the best possible experience in welcoming your baby to the world.

Written by three experts in prenatal and postpartum fitness, pelvic floor exercise, and core restoration, Pregnancy Fitness covers all physical and physiological aspects of pregnancy, birth, and recovery so you can enjoy peace of mind throughout your pregnancy and long after delivery.

You’ll get complete need-to-know information about hormones, body and posture changes, and common pregnancy aches and pains, along with critical information on diastasis recti and pelvic floor health, which aims to support and protect your body from core dysfunction.

A full spectrum of stretching, strengthening, and functional exercises provides the focus, description, safety tips, and variations that allow you to progress safely through your pregnancy and to be physically prepared for birth and optimal recovery. The sample workout programs guide you through each phase of pregnancy, including postpartum, to help you establish and meet your personal fitness goals with comfort and confidence.

Author description

The authors are three highly qualified women's health professionals who are passionate about helping women improve their prenatal and postnatal fitness. After years of training individuals and running successful independent businesses, they started Bellies Inc., a global company dedicated to helping educate and empower women in their pregnancies, births, and recoveries. They bring to this book both their shared interest of helping women understand prenatal and postnatal fitness and their unique professional experience. Julia Di Paolo, Reg. PT, received her physiotherapy degree from the University of Ottawa in 1997. Her practice is focused on the preconception, prenatal, intrapartum (labor and delivery), and postpartum stages and on all types of pelvic floor dysfunction at any stage of a woman’s life. Over the years, Di Paolo has established herself as the go-to physiotherapist in Toronto for pelvic health and recovery from diastasis rectus abdominis (DRA). Di Paolo teaches courses on diastasis rectus abdominis for personal trainers, allied health professionals, and pelvic health physiotherapists. She has presented on DRA and the pelvic floor at the conferences of the Association of Ontario Midwives, the Ontario Physiotherapy Association, canfitpro, and the Certified Personal Trainer Network (CPTN, formerly Canadian Personal Trainers Network). Samantha Montpetit-Huynh received her fitness leadership certificate from Seneca College in 2002. She has been a personal trainer for over 15 years, focusing on pregnancy and postpartum fitness. She is also certified as a fitness for fertility specialist. Samantha is known extensively in her field and has appeared on Breakfast Television, CTV News, Canada AM, CHCH, and Rogers Daytime. She was also the resident fitness expert on the Marilyn Denis Show, an award-winning lifestyle show seen across Canada, from 2013 to 2017. Samantha also helped to create the Today’s Parent Healthy Pregnancy Guide. Kimberly Vopni holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Western Ontario and a postgraduate diploma in health and fitness from Simon Fraser University. She has more than 15 years of skilled experience and is certified as a personal trainer, prenatal and postnatal fitness consultant, and fitness for fertility specialist, and she is a hypopressive method instructor. Kim is a passionate speaker, educator, and promoter of pelvic health and is known as the Vagina Coach.

Table of contents

Contents Exercise Finder Preface Acknowledgments Part I. Understanding Your Body Through Pregnancy Chapter 1. Effects of Pregnancy on the Body Chapter 2. Get Fit for Birth Chapter 3. The Pelvic Floor: The Foundation of the Core Chapter 4. The Abdominals: During Pregnancy and Beyond Part II. Exercises to Prepare and Recover From Birth Chapter 5. Stretching Techniques Chapter 6. Strengthening the Core Chapter 7. Strength and Endurance for the Upper Body Chapter 8. Strength and Endurance for the Lower Body Chapter 9. Functional Movement for Motherhood Part III. Sample Programs for Each Phase of Pregnancy Chapter 10. Choosing Your Program and Level of Fitness Chapter 11. First Trimester Workouts Chapter 12. Second Trimester Workouts Chapter 13. Third Trimester Workouts Chapter 14. Fourth Trimester Workouts References Index About the Authors