BYOB (Bring Your Own Baby) and Get in Shape
Mommy & Me classes at Mind the Mat are the best thing for new mamas since daytime napping! I teach a 50-minute Mommy & Me Core Yoga class twice every week, Mondays at 11am and Fridays at 11:15am. If babies cry, need to be changed, or fed, we roll with it.
Six weeks after labor and delivery, with doctor’s permission, new mamas come to Mommy & Me Core Yoga with their babies to strengthen their pelvic floor and abdominal muscles in a safe way. C-sections and diastasis, pelvic floor issues, incontinence, and low back pain are just a few of the conditions new mamas face. I am glad when a mama tells me what is going on with her because I can assure her that she is in the right place. Mommy & Me Core Yoga is not only safe for all of the conditions above, but helpful as well.
The Mind the Mat post-pregnancy team recommends that mamas take Mommy & Me classes for at least three months after birth before going back to their regular workout routine. As experts in post-pregnancy exercise, we incorporate some education into our Mommy & Me classes. There is a “fourth trimester,” and it’s called “recovery.” What new mamas aren’t always aware of is that even when they feel good and are itching to get out of the house for a run or a workout at the gym, their internal organs, abdominals, pelvic floor, joints, and uterus are still healing on the inside. Our bodies change so much during pregnancy and through labor and delivery that they must to go through a re-education process, which requires expert instruction and takes some time.
Here are a few key exercises for new mamas.
Squats
Squats are a functional movement that mamas can take into their every day life with baby. They should use the Squat to pick up and put down baby, as well as car seats, stroller parts and diaper bags. Squatting, with proper alignment, utilizes the largest muscles groups in the body (gluteus and quadriceps), and is the most efficient, highest calorie burning and safest way for new mamas to move when picking up and placing down.
Squats should be done with feet more than hips distance apart, parallel to one another, hips back, weight in the heels, and arms forward or holding baby at center with shoulder blades engaged. Start with 20-30 Squats.
Post Pregnancy Plank and Modified Side Plank
These are mommies in Mommy & Me Core yoga working the waistline in a safe way post pregnancy.
In Mommy & Me Core Yoga we work the abdominals in safe ways. Doing sit ups is not safe post pregnancy until the abdominals have been properly re-educated. Placing direct impact on the rectus abdominis (superficial six-pack muscles), as done during a sit up, can worsen diastasis (separation of abdominals), whereas the exercises we do in class target the deep core stabilizing muscles (transverse abdominis) and the pelvic floor.
An example is the Modified Side Plank (shown above) or Post Pregnancy Plank (below) which is done on the forearms with hips slightly lifted and the tailbone tucked. Hold planks for 30-60 seconds each. Do three times on each side and in center.
Arm Slices
During pregnancy, weight increases on the front of the body due to larger breasts and bellies. After birth, mama carries baby and sometimes breastfeeds. Due to these changes, there is a tendency for mama’s shoulders to start slumping forward. Carrying baby is a workout for mama’s biceps and shortens the chest muscles, so in Mommy & Me Core Yoga, we counter that by working the back and triceps with Arm Slices.
When doing Arm Slices, arms should be higher than shoulders, tops of shoulders (trapezius) should be relaxed, shoulder blades should be drawn together, and arms should draw back to open chest. Slice thumbs up and back, then turn hand and slice pinky finger up and back. Do 20 slices each way.
While Mommy & Me Core Yoga is for mamas to get in shape, babies have fun, too!
Click here for the Mommy & Me Class Schedule:
Mommy & Me classes are for mamas and babies before crawling age.
Mommy & Me Core Yoga | Mondays, 11am
Mommy & Me Pilates | Tuesdays, 11am
Mommy & Movers Core Work | Wednesdays, 11am (for crawling babies)
Mommy & Me Barre | Thursdays, 11am
Mommy & Me Core Yoga | Fridays, 11:15am
Mommy & Me Pilates | Sundays, 3pm
I also teach a Post Pregnancy Core Yoga Series on Thursdays from 8-9pm that’s for mamas to come alone after baby has gone to bed! Join now, a few spots are left for the one that starts tonight!
Mamas, Try Mind the Mat’s New Student Deal, 4 classes for $40!
- About the studio
Mind the Mat Pilates & Yoga was founded in 2008 by Megan Brown, Doctor of Physical Therapy and Polestar Certified Practitioner of Pilates for Rehabilitation and Sara VanderGoot, Nationally Certified Massage Therapist and Registered Yoga Teacher (e-RYT 200, RYT 500). In their private practices as physical therapist and massage therapist respectively Megan and Sara observed that many of their clients were coming in with similar needs: relief for neck and shoulder tension and low back pain as well as a desire for more flexibility in hips and legs, stability in joints, and core strength.
Together Megan and Sara carefully crafted a curriculum of Pilates and yoga classes to address needs for clients who are pregnant, postpartum, have injuries or limitations, who are new to Pilates and yoga, and for those who are advanced students and are looking for an extra challenge.
2214 Mount Vernon Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22301
703.683.2228
