Is It Best to Do a Prenatal Barre Workout?

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), with your doctor’s approval, physical activity is encouraged and is safe in pregnant women and should be performed at least 150 minutes per week. 

Physical inactivity and excessive weight gain have been recognised as independent risk factors for maternal obesity and related pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). 

Furthermore, exercise during pregnancy may lower the incidence of gestational hypertensive disorders, preterm birth, cesarean birth, and lower birth weight. If you want to keep your baby safe and healthy, exercising is definitely one of the ways to do this.

What is Prenatal Fitness?

Despite your growing bump, you can still feel your best by maintaining a regular exercise routine throughout your pregnancy journey. Exercising can help improve your posture and decrease backaches and fatigue. 

Aside from that, this may help relieve stress and build more stamina for labour and delivery. This may also help your postnatal recovery. Prenatal fitness classes Singapore can help you and your baby stay healthy during pregnancy.

Despite this, staying safe is still the priority in prenatal fitness. This is where choosing the proper exercise comes into play. For pregnant women, it is ideal to have moderate intensity-aerobic activities which move the muscles in your body and make you move enough to raise your heart rate and make you sweat. An example of this is the Barre workout.

What Is Prenatal Barre? Is It a Safe Prenatal Workout Routine?

Prenatal Barre is one of the best prenatal workout programs. It is low-impact and easily adjustable to accommodate every stage of your pregnant body.

Compared to other types of exercise, barre has no significant risk of falling and is generally safe and low-risk for you and your baby. It helps maintain the tone of muscle groups without putting extra strain on your joints. It is an ideal exercise during pregnancy, and you can even do it multiple times per week.

7 Benefits of Barre Workouts to Pregnant Women

• Improves endurance – Strength and endurance are two important things in pregnancy. By following the Barre Workouts, you stay consistent, you develop your stamina and ultimately, improve your endurance by affecting your muscles and other essential organs like the heart and the lungs.

• It makes your bones and muscles stronger – Barre workouts help you engage your core, and stabilize and support your changing body which carries the growing weight of your baby.

• Improves one’s balance, flexibility, and posture – It helps you stay mobile and improves your overall range of motion. It also improves your coordination and body awareness.

• Improves one’s breathing – When you exercise and move, you need to get plenty of oxygen in your body. Barre workouts help you focus on your breathing and get that oxygen that your body needs.

• Low risk – It is low impact so it puts less stress on your body which reduces the risk of injury.

• It helps you during the process of giving birth as well as the recovery – When your body is strong and is used to moving, it gets easier to give birth.

• Reduces pain – By building and maintaining your muscle groups, it leads to fewer aches and pains.

Tips Before and During a Barre Workout for Pregnant Women

1) Consult Your Doctor

You need your doctor’s approval before starting any exercise during your pregnancy. A doctor will recommend you have physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week during your first, second, and third trimesters. Barre studios even require a doctor’s note sometimes.

2) Inform Barre Instructor of Your Condition

Prenatal barre is a relatively safe method of exercising. It will help you move your entire body and prepare you when the baby arrives. A Barre practice is a high-intensity, low-impact fitness technique that involves small, isolated movements that gradually burn out your muscles and develop muscle tone. 

Despite that, if you have any condition, you should inform your instructor so they can modify positions for you.

3) Wear the Right Attire

When taking Barre class Singapore, the proper attire includes wearing maternity leggings. This gives support during a workout and provides comfort for you and your baby.

4) Breathe and Hydrate

Whatever kind of exercise you do, rest, breathe, and hydrate. Drink plenty of water to replenish the fluids and avoid becoming dehydrated.

Prenatal barre moves involve high repetitions of low-weight or body weight-bearing exercises. Focus on breathing in and out during the workout to ensure you and your baby get plenty of oxygen. 

5) Avoid Lying Flat on Your Back and Overstretch

During the first trimester, the weight of the uterus can potentially compress the vena cava and put too much pressure on it. This vein carries blood from your lower body to your heart, and compromising its flow might restrict circulation. 

Also, it is essential to note that hormonal changes happen during pregnancy. Hormones that cause an increase in flexibility, especially in the pelvic floor, may increase your likelihood of injury, so avoid overstretching and deep twisting!

6) Be Careful When Performing the Workout Routine

Remember that you have a growing baby bump. Do not do unnecessary exercises like using the stall bare or a set of vertical barres where students can hang from their hands to stretch their lower back and lower body. 

You can use props to help you feel comfortable with the barre workout, like balls and straps. Remember that pregnancy isn’t the time to explore and push your limits. By exercising regularly, your goal is to maintain gradual mobility and build strength through regular, mindful exercise. 

6 Barre Exercises Pregnant Women Can Try 

There are Barre studios that offer taking barre classes. These involve exercises that incorporate a set of light weights, a small inflated ball, a strap to help you stretch, and a mat. 

A standard barre class also incorporates a ballet barre for balance. If you enrol in a course, an instructor will guide you throughout the exercise and help you maintain your fitness goals during pregnancy. 

Expectant moms wear maternity leggings or yoga-like workout gear with grippy socks to avoid slipping. 

If you want to stay at home, you can try moving using any sturdy railing, countertop or bed frame in place of the barre. Just make sure to follow our tips before and during a barre workout. 

Here are some Barre exercises you can try at your home:

• Small V – This exercise improves your front, back and inner thighs and calves. This also works your deep core strength and your shoulders as they stabilise the position.

• Leg Lifts – By warming up your whole body, leg lifts lubricate the joints and increase circulation to the front and back of the thighs, hip flexors, glutes, upper body and lower backs, abs and shoulders.

• Glute Strengthener – This exercise works your glutes and your outer thighs. Just like in Small V, your abs and shoulders will stabilise you.

• Seated Abs – Seated Abs work your abs and hip flexors.

• Wall Plank – This is another excellent total-body exercise that works the muscles responsible for proper posture, including your abs and core. 

• Figure 4 Glute Stretch – As the name implies, this stretches your glute and outer thigh.

Will This Help Pregnant Women?

In conclusion, do the benefits of exercising during pregnancy outweigh the major risk?

Definitely! If you want to have fewer aches, smoother delivery, healthy pregnancy, faster recovery, you should follow the recommendations of ACOG and move that body and that baby bump!

Just remember, a doctor’s approval is a must, and your goal is to exercise regularly while keeping your and your baby’s safety in mind.

Who knows, you may be one of those who have loved barre following modifications in a pregnant body, that you’ll think of still taking new classes even after pregnancy!