Lets take a look at some reformer exercises for the prenatal client today. There are many reasons why I like the reformer for this population.
One reason is that most of the exercises can remain light and easy due to the movement of the carriage, control over spring tension and one exercise can flow into the other without moving the client too much. (Ok so this is true of all the other pieces of euquipment too!)
I love doing arm work on the reformer for my pregnant clients. Using the box can make it more comfortable for the later stages of the pregnancy.
For the 1st trimester, most arm work can remain the same- either sitting or kneeling depending on the capability of your client. All arm work is necessary, but if you only have time for one or two exercises try and include exercises for the shoulder adductors and external rotators.
Shoulder adduction sitting on the short box
Footwork becomes a challenge in the later stages of the pregnancy too, as a pregnant woman will feel uncomfortable on her back for too long a time. We have continued to use the short box for footwork with great results.
Footwork on the short box
Warm ups and stretches are an important part of any session whether the client is pregnant or not. Here we use the short box for comfortable positioning during our prenatal warm up.
Bend and stetch with the short box.
All these exercises are featured in our book-prenatal pilates on the reformer. Our beautiful model is faculty member Mindy Catron, now a mother of two little girls.