Childbirth as an athletic event

This post welcomes Lora, a wonderful baby girl who appeared in the world on October 25, after only 3 hours of labor! Warm and fuzzy congratulations to Nada and Stoiko! We are so happy and thrilled to have a healthy mom and baby and I am looking forward to meeting her in a couple of days!

Her mom is my client and friend and she spent her whole 9 moths of pregnancy being active and enjoying movement! We initially started working together getting Nada in shape to relieve low back pain and gain good control of posture and core stability, but in a couple of months she found out she was pregnant. At the time I was leaving for the US, so we carried on with an online program and she both did regular exercise in her home and met with one of my very talented colleagues at the gym.

To be honest, while I am absolutely aware and awake to the multiple benefits of training during pregnancy, it's not until I hear how the actual birth went, that I can say I am pleased and relieved. On the phone, Nada shared how much better she felt giving birth now, compared to giving birth a few years ago, when she wasn't physically preparing for the event. I heard the same from Milena a couple of months ago, who gave birth to her second child and said her recovery time was amazingly short and she felt way better than she expected (mind you, she is a professional figure skater, so she was in shape for her first baby, she just didn't keep her activity levels up the same way she did with the second pregnancy when we worked together).

Katie Bowman, one of the most inspiring professionals I have ever met, posted this video on Facebook a couple of days ago! Please watch it and let me know what you think! 



Other than being grateful I don't have to supervise training programs in the heavy skirt outfits these nurses in the video are wearing, I was absolutely stunned at the superb logic and program design involved. The other thing that floored me is how close to gymnastics and ballet this approach is, compared to what is conventionally included in most prenatal exercise programs. Spines are elongated, glutes are strengthened, hip mobility is promoted, and a light and almost joyful interaction with gravity and gait is present. Nothing is taken tooo seriously and there is even time for tea at the end - a celebration of training being a daily event, very much like tea time!