As most members of the Lotus Fitness Studio community are aware, the amazing Allison Sipes, aerial queen and instructor, is pregnant! And at thirty-two weeks, she is still going strong. A few of our students and instructors have continued their pole and aerial fitness routines through pregnancy, so we decided to have a conversation with instructors Lora and Allison, and students Maurie and Paige (yours truly) to give you a glimpse of what it’s like to be a pregnant aerial athlete!
Pregnancy changes women’s bodies in profound and often unexpected ways, which sometimes means big changes to the workout regimen. Lora shared that due to mild complications with her pregnancy, she wasn’t allowed to lift anything over twenty pounds, so she was limited to light weight lifting and low pole flow. Likewise, I had to skip a lot of training in the early part of my pregnancy due to severe morning sickness, and then stopped training at around eight months due to just being completely wiped out! On the other hand, Maurie said she actually trained more while she was pregnant! “Without being able to go out and party like I was accustomed to,” she says, “I needed to do something fun, so silks and lyra was it.” She also says a lack of hangovers helped her go to more classes. Allison, our current in-house preggo, has continued to teach seven classes per week, plus private lessons!
However, even for those of us who continue training throughout our pregnancies, alterations become essential. Allison has been using pregnancy-friendly modifications for things like core exercises (laying on your back is not a great plan once that baby starts putting on some bulk!) and using assistance from advanced students and other teachers for demonstrating some moves. Lora says squats were super awkward, and I remember a lot of wide legs for forward bends, child’s pose, or anything else where I had to make room for my belly. Maurie felt a lot of discomfort during straddles and splits due to pressure on her pelvic bone. And obviously, we all start avoiding any sort of belly contact with our apparatus, like lyra hip holds!
As our pregnancies progressed, Lora and I had to step down the intensity. I went from advanced classes and working on my Iron X, down through the levels the bigger I got. But it was really great to brush up my intro level foundations and flow! What I did not expect was the profound shock to the system of coming back after delivering! Maurie had a very similar experience to mine: “Coming back after Isaak was born was harder than continuing to train when I was pregnant. The lyra class I took two days before he was born was about as difficult as my first lyra class back two weeks later. It took a few months for my inverts to feel normal again with everything having shifted around in there so suddenly.” Personally, I waited a full six weeks before coming back, and I had stopped training about a month before delivery, too. So I had to come back very very slowly, but the sudden change to my center of gravity totally screwed me up at first!
Regardless of the bumpy road of coming back to your pre-pregnancy level of fitness, we all agreed that training while pregnant probably helped tremendously during delivery, and helped us bounce back faster! In fact, my midwife told me that my pelvic floor was in great shape just from all the ab engagement I was getting from pole workouts! She also said being upside down would help the baby turn into good delivery position. I don’t know if that’s true, but it made me feel better. Lora says a family member told her she “would never perform, compete, or get back to pre-pregnancy weight again. I had a friend tell me to forget about fitting into my old clothes. I was on a mission to prove them wrong!”
No matter what you do for fitness during or after pregnancy, it is almost destined to change your relationship to your body in some way. Lora, Allison, and I all agreed: pregnancy is not our favorite state of being. It’s awkward and cumbersome and we all just wanted our bodies back! Allison, after thirteen years of pole and aerial fitness, is really feeling the changes in her body, and is no longer wearing her “beloved eight inch heels in class because of safety reasons,” and because she does not “like the aesthetic of pregnancy in platform stilettos.” I went the opposite direction, and went from more trick-focused training to lots of heel flow, anything to feel slightly sexy when I felt anything but. Maurie loved taking Allison’s sexy pole class at eight months pregnant!
The reactions we all got from health care providers, friends, and family members were pretty positive overall. I know a lot of studio members were completely floored at how long Maurie kept swinging from those silks, big belly and all, but she says that while people called her crazy, it was not in a negative way. Allison has had a similar experience, and people have been super supportive and impressed at her continued level of skill. I did have a few raised eyebrows from medical personnel at first, but once I explained that I was being very careful and listening to my body, they grudgingly agreed it was probably going to be a good thing when all was said and done.
Listening to your body during pregnancy is always essential, but especially if you are continuing any athletic training, and especially aerial. It is never recommended to start new workouts while you are pregnant, and Allison says that should extend to new tricks, as well! My rule was the bigger I got, the closer I stayed to the ground. If you decide to take the plunge and enter the wild world of parenthood, you do not have to give up on aerial! Just be careful and remember you’re training for two. Plus, toddlers on aerial equipment is flippin’ adorable. See you (and your munchkins) in the air!
