The female body is really something spectacular! As a mother to two children, I know first hand the roller coaster of a ride getting pregnant, growing a baby for 9 months (give or take) and birthing this gorgeous baby. We all know that many changes occur during pregnancy both physically, mentally and psychologically. Today I wanted to discuss a topic that many a mum has brought up with me, usually in my Post Natal Pilates classes, What has happened to my bum?
One lady yearned for her jeans to be filled out a little more around the posterior like before pregnancy, whilst another mum wistfully remembered her pert yoga bottom which postnatally had decided to go on holiday and not return!
Our bottom muscles (gluteals) are not just there to hold up our pants (although they do help!) and whilst a pert bottom gives us a more shapely figure, our gluteals have many really important functional roles which become even more important whilst looking after a baby or young children.
The glut muscles are our strong hip extensors and are used for squatting, lunging, walking and running. They also make up part of our deeper core stabilising muscles and help keep our pelvis and hip stable, for example when standing on one leg or going up and down stairs.
So What happened to my Bum? During pregnancy our posture changes. For a lot of women this will often look like an increased lower back arch, or lumbar lordosis, as a result of the increased weight of the baby bump. This will put the gluts at a physical disadvantage meaning they start to get lazy and in turn you have both muscle loss and weakness.
After giving birth, our bodies do not snap back to their pre-pregnancy state and often need help to relearn a correct posture, activate and strengthen weakened muscles and be able to use them functionally in their new and physically challenging role looking after a newborn.
How Pilates can help postnatal muscle loss - Pilates is a great form of exercise to help relearn how to adopt a good posture with correct breathing and core engagement. Pilates exercises such as shoulder bridge, swimming and side lying glut series really focus on strengthening the different glut muscles.
Pilates will help to engage and strengthen those weakened muscles to help you be stronger physically and be able to carry out functional tasks effectively and without pain and regain the bottom you were missing!
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