6 Benefits of Third Trimester Pregnancy Exercises with Pilates

Exercising For Pregnancy and Childbirth

Exercising is an integral part of living a healthy lifestyle, and also for maintaining a healthy pregnancy. There are so many benefits to regular exercising, such as reducing stress, managing fatigue, building strong muscles and healthy bones – just to name a few. All benefits of daily exercising are so helpful when you are caring for your newborn baby and your postpartum body.

Pregnancy and childbirth greatly impact the female body, both internally and externally. During pregnancy, nearly every system in the body is affected including respiratory, musculoskeletal, hormonal and biomechanical. These body changes can create shortness of breath, fatigue, swelling, back pain, diastasis recti, and pelvic pain. During the third trimester of pregnancy, the body is most affected by the weight gain of the growing baby bump, shifting of internal organs, and joint pain as hormones relax them for childbirth preparation. It is often challenging for our bodies to cope with the changes, to be mobile, and to be comfortable doing daily life tasks.

This is why it is so important to stay strong and mobile by practicing pregnancy core exercises during the first and second trimesters. By doing so, this will help you reap the benefits of third trimester pregnancy exercises as you continue your Pilates and other workout routines. It may even be possible for you to reach your due date without serious aches and pains.

Are Pilates Pregnancy Core Exercises Safe During the Third Trimester?

This is a common question that not only comes up in the third trimester, but all throughout pregnancy. The short answer is – Yes, Pilates is safe throughout pregnancy. However, once you enter the second trimester, modifications to exercises will need to be made specifically for core exercises. These modifications are put in place to avoid putting extra pressure on the abdominal wall and laying on the back. Prenatal Pilates modifications would continue throughout your third trimester pregnancy exercises, and additional adjustments may need to be made depending on your unique pregnancy. It is absolutely possible to continue Pilates at home up until your due date, you just need to listen to your body. When you feel up to it, push through that darn prenatal fatigue, grab your exercise mat, and stream PILATESBODY On-Demand for Pilates and Prenatal workouts designed for third trimester pregnancy exercises.

Important Things to Consider with Third Trimester Pregnancy Exercises

1. Always consult with your doctor when incorporating something new during your pregnancy.
2. Although Pilates is typically gentle and moderately paced, be mindful to not over exert your body. Your body is already in overdrive, so make sure to adjust to your tolerance level.
3. With the relaxin hormone highly prevalent in the body, especially during third trimester pregnancy exercises, it is important to not over stretch the ligaments as they are already being stretched to prepare for birth.

Does Pilates At Home Help With Childbirth?

Pilates requires an immense amount of breath control which greatly impacts labor and delivery in a positive way. Due to Pilates being heavily core focused, continuing to do pregnancy core exercises will increase your overall body awareness and strength during labor and delivery.

Although every birth is different, and you never know what to expect, having a strong, mobile body is always a good thing to have in the labor and delivery room. Pilates at home offers the benefits of flexibility and complete body control and these are very helpful for when you find yourself in uncomfortable positions during labor and delivery. The practice of Pilates at home will help guide you through a more relaxing, positive, and controlled mind-body state in the delivery room. You will learn breathing techniques, flexible movements, and be able to use these to make yourself more comfortable in childbirth.

6 Benefits of Pilates Third Trimester Pregnancy Exercises

1. Strengthens Core Muscles

As the baby grows, the abdominal muscles stretch and separate to make room for your little bundle of joy. Because of this stretching and separation, the rectus abdominis is greatly compromised and is essentially non-functionable beyond the second trimester. During this stage, it is even more important to focus on the deeper transverse abdominis muscles to improve stability in the trunk to be able to support the extra baby weight. Strengthening the deep core muscles with pregnancy core exercises will help you when it comes time to push, as well as healing in postpartum.

2. Strengthens Leg and Glute Muscles

Third trimester pregnancy exercises become more modified and often focus on strengthening the legs, hips, and glutes to help you manage your prenatal body pains and changes. Pilates at home helps to improve hip stability, pelvic stability (which minimizes leg cramps), fluid retention and injuries. This will maximize your lower body endurance for labor and delivery. After all, labor is a marathon so we need our lower body to step up to the challenge!

3. Minimizes Lower Back Pain

With the benefits of strengthening the core muscles, legs and glutes, this will help stabilize the back and pelvic regions. Pilates is known to help correct posture, and posture is greatly compromised during the third trimester when your body is in the home stretch of growing your baby. Stabilizing the back and pelvis while correcting poor posture will result in reducing back pain.

4. Teaches How to Strengthen and Release the Pelvic Floor

Pilates helps you build a relationship with your pelvic floor, which many of us are not very in-tune with prior to pregnancy and postpartum. Due to the immense amount of downward pressure the baby puts on the pelvic floor, Pilates strengthens this area to support the uterus, bladder, and bowels. Pregnancy core exercises will also help teach you how to release and relax this area. This comes in handy when the baby is descending down the birth canal. At this point in delivery, we want to open, relax, and allow room for the baby to move down and out.

5. Improves Breath and Balance

Breathing is a key element of Pilates and is a useful tool to continue to practice during third trimester pregnancy exercises. Stiffness and tension often builds in the upper back and neck as the baby bump grows, hindering deep breathing. Along with additional pressure in the diaphragm and ribcage, this makes it challenging to take full inhale breaths. Pilates helps improve flexibility in the lungs to ease the breathing patterns.

Performing Pilates at home with specific core pregnancy exercises will help you stabilize and improve your balance. This is most helpful when your center of gravity shifts with the growing baby bump, and helps to create a new and improved mind-body awareness.

6. Controls Weight Gain

Any and all exercise will help prevent excess weight gain during pregnancy. Specifically, pregnancy core exercises can minimize extra weight gain in the abdomen.

Pilates At Home For Each Trimester of Your Pregnancy

Prenatal Pilates is all about strengthening your muscles during each of the three trimesters to prepare you and your body for childbirth. Pilates at home will improve balance, breath, coordination, core strength, muscle strength, and keep back pain and weight gain at bay.

If you are planning to take up Pilates during your pregnancy, find an experienced instructor who has worked with pregnant women before, and as a bonus, has even done Prenatal Pilates herself – Lucky for you, I am one of those experienced instructors and mothers!

3 Favorite Prenatal Pilates Classes on the PILATESBODY On-Demand App

PILATESBODY On-Demand offers unlimited access to Pilates and Prenatal workouts designed to help you during each trimester of pregnancy, labor & delivery, and postpartum recovery. Use the code FREETRIAL at checkout to enjoy your first month FREE with PILATESBODY On-Demand – Click here to subscribe today!

• Prenatal Pilates Strong Class #125
  Kayla Brugger has a full body circuit workout that is going to trim your thighs, sculpt your tush, and tone your shoulders in this 20-minute Prenatal Pilates workout. This Prenatal Pilates class is pregnancy safe for all trimesters.
• Pilates for the Pelvic Floor Class #116
  Join Kayla Brugger in this circuit style workout focused on strengthening and releasing the pelvic floor. This workout can be done daily to prepare for an easier birth, faster recovery after birth, and to help prevent leaking when you sneeze, cough, or laugh.
• Daily Core Flow Class #106
  This class is the perfect warm up for a quick, daily core flow. Kayla Brugger will lead you through 5 abdominal focused exercises starting with abdominal breathing, then moving into spinal mobility, and ending with progressing into some gentle planking.

Have You Done Prenatal Pilates Yet?

Share your experience below in the comment section! If you haven’t yet, I’d love to chat with you on how to start!

Your Friend & Pilates Expert,

Kayla Brugger
Founder of PILATESBODY by Kayla
Founder of PILATESBODY On-Demand

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