Looking your best

This is a bit off the subject of Pilates, but it's about looking and feeling great, so it goes along with the spirit of the blog. As a new mom, time is a commodity that you don't have a lot of, and often, your own image suffers. I am not saying that you should spend an hour each day trying to look nice, but taking the time to get dressed in clothes that fit well and look nice on you, put on a spot of make-up, and quickly fix your hair will help you feel more together all day long.

The Importance of Rest

Today is one of those days where I don't know if I could possibly drink enough coffee. I'm just plain exhausted. I had an incredibly busy week last week, complete with very late nights and very early mornings. Plus, as you know, I'm a mom, so all of the busyness of my life just gets compounded when you add in my amazing daughter, who, by the way, learned to walk last week!

Besides feeling just generally run down today and a bit crappy, there are some real problems with being too tired and it can cause long term problems. This story on 60 Minutes confirmed what I had long suspected about the connection between sleep and weight- it is about more than being too tired to exercise.

When I was in college, I worked a full time job that required me to work overnights 2-3 nights a week in addition to the 2:30-11pm shift three nights. I had a full-load of classes (15 or more hours) and I worked a 10 hour per week internship. To make all of this happen, there were times when I would have to essentially stay awake for 24-36 hours at a time and I was miserable. Despite my best efforts to exercise, I gained weight. I tried to eat well, but I developed stomach problems and felt sick a lot. I attributed my weight and stomach problems to stress, but it seems that they may have been more sleep related.

As a new mother, you are going to be severely sleep deprived. You may have heard the advice "Sleep when the baby sleeps." It is hard to heed that advice because that's when you can actually get things done, but you MUST get some sleep. Enlist your husband, friends and relatives for help. It's okay if your house isn't immaculate, but if that drives you nuts you won't be able to sleep anyway, so go ahead and ask for help. Ask if someone would come and clean once or twice a week. Your friends want to help, let them. If your relatives all want to come see the baby, stagger their visits and let them know that you will be taking a nap while they visit. They won't mind, they aren't coming to see you anyway, they're coming to see the baby. Uninterrupted cuddle time will be just fine with them. And don't worry if you're breastfeeding, the child will not let you sleep through a feeding :-)

Finally, don't be afraid to set boundaries that allow you to get the sleep that you need. Whether that is boundaries in your work: limit the number of at-home hours you will work, and make sure they end early enough that they don't effect your ability to sleep; your family: anyone who is awake after 10 is only allowed to have the TV at a minimal volume; or yourself: write down everything that is swirling in your head, keeping you awake when you lay down. Deal with the to-do list when you get up, by writing it down, you will know you won't forget, so you can sleep peacefully.

Exercise and meditation can help you sleep, as can good food decisions. Make sure you don't exercise or eat too close to bed time as that can keep you awake. Learning to quiet your mind through meditation can help you achieve the peace that you need to slumber.

Resources

I wanted to share a few of my blog/podcast resources:

Jennifer Gianni's blog has amazing, anatomically correct information for working different areas of your body.

Pilates on Fifth is a video podcast produced at a great studio just outside of Times Square in New York City. This is a great, no cost way to learn exercises when you can't make it into a studio.

Pilates Digest & Pilates-Pro are both great online magazines dealing with every aspect of Pilates and studio ownership. There are also discussion forums on each site.

When you don't have time for a class

As a mother, it seems like some days getting a shower and a meal or two is a feat in and of itself. I know that it isn't always possible to make it to a studio to take an hour long class no matter how much you want to. So, here are my 5 favorite at-home sure-to-make-you sweat moves. Oh- and this entire series can be done in 10 min or less.

Single Leg Stretch:
Lie on your back with your legs in tabletop, head lifted to the base of your shoulder blades. Place your right hand on your right ankle, left hand on your right knee. Extend your left leg out parallel to the floor. Exhale, and switch legs (left hand to left ankle, right hand to left knee, right leg extended). This is 1 rep. Complete 7-10, keeping your back in neutral and your transversus engaged.

Single Straight Leg Stretch:
Lie on your back, both legs extended to the ceiling, head lifted. Grab your right leg behind the calf, lower your left leg towards the floor. Scissor the legs to switch, grabbing your left leg and pulling it towards your body. Complete 7-10 reps. Your upper body should be still with your legs coming to your hands. No bouncing.

Criss Cross:
Lie on your back with your legs in table top, hands behind your lifted head. Rotate your torso to the right and reach your left shoulder toward your right leg. Your left leg will extend out towards the floor. Switch sides. Complete 7-10 reps.

Double Leg Stretch.
Lie on your back, hugging both knees to your chest, head lifted. Inhale, extend your arms over your head and your legs out on an angle. Exhale, circle your arms around to hug your knees into your chest. Repeat 7-10 times.

Double Straight Leg Stretch (or Leg Levers): Lie on your back with your legs extended towards the ceiling, hands behind your lifted head. Keeping your inner thighs firmly pressed together, lower the legs towards the floor only as far as you can go WITHOUT MOVING YOUR BACK. This should be right around 3-6 inches. Exhale, and raise the legs back to the ceiling. This is a TINY movement. Less is more.

From Pilates-Pro.com

A link to a great article about Pilates during Pregnancy. I have trained with Debbi, she is wonderful!

http://www.pilates-pro.com/pilates-pro/2008/8/18/pilates-and-pregnancy-safe-ab-exercises.html

Pilates for Stress Relief

Almost everyone has heard of the stress relieving benefits of yoga, but did you know that Pilates provides many of those benefits also? Three of the Pilates Principals are Breathing, Focus and Flow. Joseph Pilates believed that in order to exercise correctly, you must be fully present and aware of what you are doing. When you are focused like that, you don't have any space left to worry!

Post Pregnancy Pilates- How soon???

First of all, I am not your doctor. The circumstances surrounding your birth experience will be a large factor in determining when you can get back to exercise, but in general the rule of thumb is:

For vaginal birth with no complications: 6 weeks or whenever you stop bleeding and feel up to it.

For C-Sections: 6-8 weeks depending on your surgery, stitches, pain, etc.

HOWEVER- there are 2 very important things that you can begin doing literally the moment the baby is out (or whenever you feel up to it): TRANSVERSUS & PELVIC FLOOR PULSES!!!!

These two exercises (described in detail here) can help get you feeling great long before your body is back to normal. They are also important because:

1) Contracting the Transversus Abdominus will help pull your Rectus Abdominus (6 pack muscle) back together faster, closing the diastasis recti.

2) Your pelvic floor is put under a lot of strain while you are pregnant supporting the weight of your baby while your organs are being shoved up against it. And then, during the actual birth...well, we all know what happens then- it stretches a whole lot to allow the baby to come out. Pulsing your pelvic floor (also known as 'doing kagels') will help prevent you from experiencing the incountenance that plagues so many women after they've had children.