Prenatal Prop Breakdown

Hi, I'm Wendy, and I would love to introduce to you some of my most favorite props that I find helpful to use during pregnancy when you're practicing Pilates or just exercising at home. So the first one is the small Pilates ball, and you can use this fully inflated or just sort of inflated medium or almost deflated for a variety of support during your pregnancy. So I like to use a deflated ball sometimes just when I'm sitting at my desk or even driving to put under my pelvis, just to help with that pelvic mobility and pelvic alignment during pregnancy. And of course an inflatable can really help for alignment, engaging your inner thighs, which can really help with your pelvic floor. My most favorite prop is the foam roller.

So I like to start every single exercise workout that I do with the foam roller to get me into my ideal alignment. And during pregnancy, this can be really beneficial as well. If you're feeling unsure about how to get on and off of the foam roller, especially in your third trimester, you're gonna want to check out one of our other videos that's coming up to show you how to exercise on the foam roller, or you can even use the wall and use it standing against the wall to get some of those same benefits. The TheraBand is a great exercise tool as well. And in fact, it's even recommended through ACOG, which is the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to specifically use a TheraBand during pregnancy.

It's great for building strength and it's safe as well. So you'll want a medium strength resistance band. And then of course the stability ball. The stability ball is something every mom-to-be and new moms should have somewhere in their home. It's great during pregnancy to help with spinal decompression.

Just by sitting on the ball can be really beneficial. It can also help you just to activate your core to stay on the ball. And postpartum, it can be fabulous for just bouncing baby gently and rocking them to sleep. And then the Magic Circle. So the Magic Circle is also great for upper body strength that you're going to need after you have that baby, to carry and lift and hold.

And also it can really help with your inner thigh strength, outer thigh strength, which can also help with that pelvic floor engagement and pelvic floor alignment. So I hope that you have at least one or two of these tools at your disposal. And I look forward to working out with you using these Pilates props.