12 Tips for Pregnancy and Pole (FREE)
Hi there. As I mentioned in the video, I’m not providing pole tricks for you to work on while expecting, this would not be wise. Also THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE! Instead I’m sharing all kinds of workouts that could be done to maintain your strength and flexibility and overall wellness during pregnancy. Best of all the majority of these do NOT require a pole!
If you’re postpartum and ready to start pole dancing again here’s the link for my 30 day Take Off Program
I have 3 week long VIP PLANS you can use:
NO POLE Body Waves VIP Plan
NO POLE Feet (strong pretty lines) VIP Plan
NO POLE Save our shoulders VIP Plan
NO POLE Hips and pelvis routine
NO POLE Shoulder conditioning routine
NO POLE Lower body conditioning routine
NO POLE Yoga block lower body routine
NO POLE Beginner No pole workout
NO POLE Ball core workout
NO POLE Foot and ankle routine
NO POLE Active shoulder routine
NO POLE Flowmotion stretching routine
NO POLE Active front split routine
NO POLE Active middle split routine
NO POLE Easy beginner warm up
NO POLE Walking mediation
POLE Basic warm up
POLE Pole massage Self massage using your pole!
POLE Level 1 pole strength routine
POLE Sexy pole strength routine
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING Individual exercises: https://www.studioveena.com/categories/conditioning-exercises/ Most of the exercises here are suitable for women who are pregnant but NOT new to pole. I would skip these exercises:
- Pistol squat
- Leg Hook Crunch and other heavy ab focused pole work or planks if you have any abdominal separation.
- Pole shoulder press
STRETCHING individual stretches for all muscle groups: I would avoid any of the back bending stretches as many are a bit intense unless your body is already use to back bending.
Last The ab switch is awesome for the first trimester and postpartum.
Now speaking of Postpartum here are some general rules to follow if you have Abdominal separations (diastasis recti). First don’t stress if you have this, I had it (4 fingers wide) with the last 2 of my 4 pregnancies and I was able to close the gap to a single finger. The trick is to understand how to work with it so you don’t make it worse.
Things to avoid:
- Crunches
- Planks
- Sit Ups
- Back Bending
- Forced twisting
- Pole Hold
- Side Pole Hold
- Climbs
- Pole Deadlifting in to Inverts and Choppers
- Fan legs
- Shoulder mounts
- Twisted grip lifts
- Side sit ups
- Pole Crunches
- Pole Pike leg positions
- Twisted Ballerina
- Body waves (in some cases)
- Spins where the knees are lifted up
As you can see, you should not jump into a beginner pole work class if you have diastasis recti. Instead you should take several weeks or longer, to work on training your core first. Targeting the transverse abdominals, and cautiously rehabbing the rectus abdominus (six pack). Talk with a PT if you need guidance.
Here’s a quick and easy test to see if an exercise is going to aggravate your separation and worsen it! Watch your belly and if any exercise or movement causes the belly to dome (stick out). If it does, that’s not a good exercise for you. Use this test to see how the above listed exercises and pole work affects you. The key is to be able to control your rectus abdominis (six pack) in a way where it doesn’t dome out.
These exercises can help you rehab your abdominals after baby.
- Pelvic tilts
- Hip lifts (glute bridges) Don’t do the body wave option.
- The ab switch (with feet on the floor)
- Bird dog
- Clamshells
- Pole Plie
- Pole squat Both hands on pole
- Pole Push Keep the feet close to the pole
- Pole Row Keep the feet close to the pole
- The hover
If you come across something you want to try but you’re unsure if it’s ok, please reach out and ask me!
Thank you for this Veena <3
You’re very welcome 💜