As some of you know, I have a now 2 year old son and I’m here to share with you my pregnancy journey and why Barre 2 Barre plays an important role.
I was trying for a child for almost 2 years, after which my husband and I thought about IUI before IVF. In 2018, we got an X-Ray as per recommended by my doctor to check on my fallopian tubes, and it turns out one tube is blocked while the other was working fine. We decided to give it another 3 months to try naturally before trying IUI, and we were so ecstatic to hear that I was pregnant!
However, my pregnancy was met with a little bit of complication where I was bleeding throughout my first and second trimester, and had a low lying placenta (and not enough liquid). My doctor recommended bed rest – definitely no running, no bouncing, no high intensity workouts. I’ve been practicing barre since 2009 when I first introduced to it in the States. I knew I had to keep myself moving safely otherwise I would also not be in a healthy or good position to deliver the baby, so I decided to continue doing gentle barre workouts and did not skimp on my stretches starting my 2nd trimester. I stopped teaching and attending Barre Bounce and Bootcamp type classes, and focused on Barre Mixed, Barre Mama, and Barre Stretch classes.
I continued to teach and workout safely throughout my pregnancy until I gave birth, and I also decided on my doctor 3 days before I gave birth – as I wanted to get second opinions (I think it’s always a good idea to have 2 doctor opinions instead of 1.) I gave birth naturally, and as much as I did not want to use epidural as part of my birth plan, I could not walk by the time I reached the hospital to the point that they had to wheelchair me up to the birthing room. The doctor said I had no tear, and I definitely attribute that to my constant kegels and barre classes!
After giving birth, I wanted to get my core strength back. Losing weight was not so much a priority at first for me because I wanted to breastfeed for as long as I could, which I did for 13 months. My business partner Karen visited Singapore, checked on my diastasis recti and it was less than 2 cm gap, so I was clear to work on my core strengthening exercises. I definitely kept it slow, and I love Barre Mama (for the gentle core engagement), Barre Mixed (especially Under Barre work) and Barre + Pilates classes for getting my core strength back. I also started running perhaps about 3 months post natal, but injured myself as my pelvis was still not strong or stable enough and had to go to a chiropractor to fix the pain in the right side of my lower back after running, but after another 6 months of barre classes, I started running again every other day to build up my cardio stamina.
I know that each pregnancy is different, and I hope sharing this little tidbit about my first pregnancy journey gives you some sort of guideline of what exercises to avoid or to focus on in both your pre and post natal journey.
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What are some tips to prepare and commit to online livestream and Video On Demand classes?
Since giving birth, I made it a point to work out at home. It was a blessing in disguise as I was able to teach and work out from home while breastfeeding the first year I gave birth. It was so easy to exercise from the comfort of my own home because luckily I was prepared to work out throughout my pregnancy. I even brought my yoga mat to the hospital to do wide second exercises (a big no no if you’re not due yet) to help with my birth giving journey!
Here are some tips I would recommend:
- Prepare all your workout materials (yoga mat, strap, ball, weights, water bottle, towel) and make sure your wifi is strong with laptop / phone in good view
- Set aside time and space for yourself and commit to it
- Don’t cheat! Turn on your camera and be accountable for your exercise!
- Bring a friend to exercise with you! The more the merrier
- Don’t skip the stretch! Most people only want to sweat, but once you bulk up your muscles and strengthen your body, you want to make sure to stretch at the point where your muscles are warmed up – which is usually at the end of class. Enjoy the stretch and enjoy the relaxation.
We’ve gained so much regular online clients since we started offering livestream classes, and we’re so excited to offer this option to our clients, forever! We were able to maintain our expert instruction through Zoom, and hope to continue grow our online community, while shaking to change together!
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