The Birth Kweens sit down with Colleen Flaherty, NSCA-CSCS of Prokreate to discuss healthy movement in pregnancy and the postpartum period. Colleen is a strength coach for women during pre-conception, pregnancy, and postpartum as well as an educator for trainers and health professionals. She’s incredibly knowledgeable about women’s health and fitness, specifically how a woman’s fitness needs change during the childbearing cycle. Here’s an overview of what’s discussed in this episode:
- Colleen’s background and how she found her niche as a women’s strength coach with a specific focus on pregnancy and postpartum exercise
- What healthy movement in pregnancy looks like and what benefits you get from being active in a safe way throughout pregnancy
- How important it is to tailor pregnancy workouts to help prepare women for the unique challenges of labor, birth, and the postpartum period
- What unhealthy movement in pregnancy looks like and what negative consequences women can suffer from doing too much or too little physical activity in pregnancy
- How women can assess whether their fitness instructors/coaches know how to properly modify for pregnancy and postpartum
- Colleen’s rule of thumb for helping her clients know when a particular exercise/movement is harmful or inappropriate for their body
- Some general guidelines for how a workout routine should be adjusted during pregnancy
- A few tips on body mechanics and basic exercises for women who are returning to physical activity after giving birth
- An overview of the fantastic resource Spinning Babies. (Pregnant kweens – if you haven’t checked this site out yet, do it now!!!)
- How Colleen’s training regiments for pregnant women intersect with the concepts taught in Spinning Babies
- What diastasis recti is, how you can tell if you have it after pregnancy, and what to do about it if you do
- Katy Bowman’s website (as mentioned by Colleen)
- When it’s safe to return to physical activity after giving birth and what that might look like, including some do’s and don’ts
- An instructional video by The Tummy Team for how to check yourself for diastasis recti
If you’d like to connect with Colleen and check out all of the pregnancy and postpartum fitness resources she has to offer, you can find her website here. If you want to connect with her on social media, you can check out her Instagram and Facebook.
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The Birth Kweens get down to the nitty gritty of pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and women’s health. For more from us, visit birthkweens.com. Follow us on Instagram @BirthKweens and email us at birthkweens@gmail.com with your questions, suggestions and feedback.
