Interview with MoofitMoofit - pre and post natal fitness

Company Name: Moofit Moofit Pre & Postnatal Fitness

Creator: Jess

Description: pre and postnatal fitness coach

Tell us a bit about you and why you created your women’s fitness business?

Hi, my name is Jess and I am the founder of moofitmoofit. I’m an IVF mum to a 2-year-old little boy and currently pregnant with baby number 2 and due in august. I love health and fitness and am a passionate advocate for women’s health. I started moofitmoofit in 2017 after my own postpartum journey. I saw a huge gap in education and awareness when it came to women’s pre and post-natal health not just through my own experiences but from other new mums around me. From here I decided I wanted to help, educate and support women to achieve their fitness goals and exercise safely and confident during pregnancy and postpartum.

Why do you think women’s health and having a physiotherapist assessment is so important and would you recommend pre and post-partum or just post?

Pregnancy is such a gift and our bodies are truly amazing. It takes 9 months to grow, support and nourish a human and during this time our bodies are constantly changing not just physically but physiologically. The weight from baby alone during pregnancy adds pressure to pelvic floor along with the hormonal changes that soften the muscles and ligaments causing them to stretch. Labour and delivery both complicated or uncomplicated and regardless of whether your birth was vaginal (assisted or non-assisted) or via C-section (major abdominal surgery) all add additional risk factors and independent healing factors to consider for postpartum recovery.

Either way it’s important to understand your body takes time to heal after pregnancy and birth for any woman regardless of their pregnancy, type of birth, age or fitness status. Just because you may be symptom free doesn’t mean everything is ok with your postural alignment, pelvic floor and core.

It’s very common to see your midwife or obstetrician 6 weeks after your birth and for you to be cleared to exercise or resume having sex again but unfortunately you have not been properly assessed to see if it is in fact SAFE for you to do so! A women’s health physiotherapist will take a thorough and detailed medical history covering things related to your gynaecological history, obstetric history, surgical history, bladder and bowel function, fluid and fibre intake, lifestyle factors as well as sexual function. Then with your consent may be required to do an internal assessment or use ultrasound to determine the function of your pelvic floor and core. They can also assess if you have any abdominal separation and ensure you have the correct breathing patterns connecting to the pelvic floor as well as assess your movement and postural alignment.

It can be as equally important to see a women’s health physiotherapist during pregnancy. Again, having that proper feedback on whether you have good postural alignment, breathing patterns and pelvic floor activation can help with common symptoms during pregnancy. Sch as lower back pain, incontinence (any leaking of urine or faeces), misalignment, pressure or heaviness in the pelvic floor, pain during sex, haemorrhoids or difficulty emptying the bladder and bowels. In fact, even if your not pregnant or postpartum it may be beneficial to see a women’s health physiotherapist particularly if you are lifting weights, running or training hard just to see how your pelvic floor and core are functioning. You don’t need to have symptoms to make an appointment and the feedback you may receive can be beneficial long term.

You mentioned you disliked the term “bounce back” why is that? Do you think there is unrealistic expectations for women post-partum to regain their body very quickly?

Yes, I think there is a huge amount of pressure to “bounce back” from birth. I feel like the term “bounce back” carries negative connotations and assumes that there is something wrong with the body you have now. Your body is not and will not be the same. Your body changed because you carried and birthed a tiny little human. This doesn’t mean you can’t aim to lose weight, gain muscle or look a certain way after birth. But it’s important to work on your functionality first and build a strong foundation from the inside out. There should be no rush to return exercise and its important to focus on Spending time with your baby, your family and giving your body time to heal.

If you tore a knee ligament you would be told you had at least a 9 to 12-month recovery ahead of you and that you would need to work with allied health professionals to achieve a good recovery. Why is the expectation of birth recovery any different to this? Knowing what to do in those early weeks and seeing a women’s health physiotherapist can certainly help you achieve an optimal recovery. Key things to consider whether you are early postpartum or if it’s been several years since you birthed are postural alignment, the pelvic floor and connection breath and doing exercises that promote healing and recovery not potentially hinder it. If you are unsure of what to do, where to start or when to start its best to see a women’s health physiotherapist or a certified pre and post-natal coach to help you design a program that is suitable and individualised for your recovery.

Give us some pregnancy and fitness myths that no one talks about?

There are so many myths surround pregnancy and fitness. Its this misinformation that unfortunately leads to confusion, women being unsure of what to do, where to start or even causing them to avoid exercise altogether. Here’s a few I often hear -

Your heart rate can’t go over 140bpm whilst exercising during pregnancy

False - Although it’s fun to measure your heart rate whilst exercising and you can predict a maximum heart rate based on your age and then work out a work load percentage (i.e. Moderate exercise 55 – 70% of heart rate maximum) it’s not the best way to measure exercise intensity. This is because heart rate maximum is just a prediction and does not consider factors such as the individuals gender, activity, fitness, health status or use of medications. Meaning heart rate maximum is different for each individual.

Fact - A good way to measure and monitor intensity is to use the Borg scale Rate of perceived exertion scale (RPE). The scale allows individuals to subjectively rate their level of exertion during exercise or exercise testing. An appropriate scale during pregnancy would be working at around a score of 12-14 which means the exercise is somewhat hard, but you are still able to maintain talking throughout. To view the whole chart and gain further understanding of how exertion is measured please see the following link ( https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/measuring/exertion.htm). In simpler terms simply a “talk test” where you can maintain conversation without becoming out of breath is an ideal exercise intensity level.

You can’t lift anything heavy whilst pregnant

False - I hear this a lot and have been told myself many times I shouldn’t be lifting “heavy” objects whilst pregnant. Think about our day to day activities like lifting shopping bags or carrying toddlers. It seems impractical to simply avoid this because you are pregnant. Of course, again each of us are individuals and what I consider heavy may not be what you consider heavy or vice versa. What is important when lifting whilst pregnant is that you try to do it as safely as possible.

Fact- If you can safely lift weight and you feel strong, capable, comfortable and don’t experience any symptoms associated with lifting then there should be no reason to avoid lifting the weight. Some symptoms to watch out for may include low back pain, downward pressure on the pelvic floor, pain in the abdominal or pelvic region, urinary incontinence or the feeling of bulging or something falling out of the vagina. If you experience any of these please stop and seek assessment from a women’s health physiotherapist.

Exercising whilst breastfeeding will dry up your milk

False – This I heard from a fellow trainer at the gym before I had done my certifications and it has stuck in the back of my mind ever since.

Fact- The current evidence shows that moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity and sports will NOT negatively affect your breast milk volume, composition or affect infant growth AS LONG as you have: Adequate nutritional intake (Not eating in large calorie deficit) and Adequate fluid intake.

What are the current pregnancy and exercise guidelines recommended in Australia? Do they differ overseas?

The current Australian guidelines as per Sports Medicine Australia are as follows

For Women who were not active prior to pregnancy – 150 minutes per week or 30 minutes per day commencing at low intensity and working towards a moderate intensity on most days of the week. This might include activates like walking, cycling, swimming or strength training.

For women who were previously active prior to pregnancy and are experiencing an uncomplicated pregnancy physical activity 150- 300 minutes per week and 30-60 minutes per of moderate to vigorous activity day most days of the week. Exercise is encouraged to be continued until it becomes uncomfortable to do so or unless advised by your healthcare practitioner.

The current guidelines for strength training during pregnancy recommended by sports medicine Australia are:

Frequency: minimum 2 sessions per week.

Intensity: Sub-maximal intensity using own body weight, light weights and/or resistance bands (exhale on effort).

Type: Work all large muscle groups

Programming: 1 set of 12-15 repetitions of up to 8-10 exercises.

Most guidelines are similar worldwide and all support moderate physical activity during pregnancy and indicate a specific duration and frequency. All guidelines rule out specific sports such as those with a high risk of falls, injury or trauma. There are small discrepancies between guidelines for example the Australian guidelines by sports medicine Australia recommend it’s safe to lay supine (on your back) during exercise up to 28 weeks whereas the Canadian guidelines recommend exercise in the supine position be modified after your 4th month (16 - 20 weeks) of pregnancy.

Some research has shown that a woman is safe to lie on her back as long as, she doesn’t experience any signs or symptoms from doing so.  This is a great example of where guidelines are great but it’s important to know what symptoms to look out for when exercising. Considering that the time frames are broad between guidelines and each woman is an individual, using common sense and looking for signs and symptoms that a certain position or exercise may be impacting her health is more important than a hard and fast rule.

Signs and symptoms from laying on your back during late pregnancy include feeling uncomfortable, pain, numbness, tingly sensations, dizziness, feeling lightheaded or out of breath. If you experience any of these symptoms you can first try to modify the exercise and/or exercise position or simply stop.

In general, do you think women are in good shape going into pregnancy or do you think there is some key awareness that needs to be raised?

I think most women who are trying to fall pregnant are aware that they need to try and stay active during pregnancy and try to maintain a healthy lifestyle or make changes if they need to create a healthier lifestyle. However, there is still a lot of fear, old wives’ tales and misinformation that causes many women to avoid either continuing to exercise or start exercising altogether. I have heard so many mums say if you weren’t exercising before falling pregnant than you can’t start once pregnant and this is simply not true. If you have medical clearance to exercise you can start exercising. Research shows that MOST exercises are safe during pregnancy however depending on your pre-pregnancy fitness level and experience it may mean you need to start slowly and build up overtime and this is Ok! It’s certainly better than no exercise at all.

Knowing where to go for the right support and help for the most current and up to date information on exercising during pregnancy is also important. It starts with your primary health care provider (your obstetrician/midwife) who will assess if you are cleared to exercise. Then seeing a women’s health physiotherapist or a certified pre and post-natal coach to help you form an exercise program that suits you and can be adapted for each trimester of pregnancy.

Try to avoid Dr google, listening to others (unless they are specifically educated in that field of advice) and educate yourself, so you can make informed decisions not just in relation to exercise during pregnancy but your entire care and management.

Talk to us about ab separation. It happens quite often; do you think there is misguided info around exercise in pregnancy that is causing this?

Diastasis recti or abdominal separation occurs when the connective tissue (the linea alba) between the abdominal muscles (six pack muscles) stretches to allow for the growth of a baby. It’s in fact a normal part of pregnancy with some studies showing all women will have some degree of abdominal separation in the later parts of pregnancy. Our bodies are amazing and incredibly smart and by this tissue stretching and the muscles moving it helps to make room for a developing baby.

Your muscles don’t rip apart, tear apart or physically separate. They remain very much together but just widen more than your pre-pregnancy state. I think it’s important to note that not only pregnant women suffer from abdominal separation, athletes and even men can! I think misinformation around this topic and not understanding what occurs physically has meant that diastasis recti has become something many pregnant women fear. It’s not something women need to fear however, is certainly something to be aware of.

There are a few ways to reduce any unnecessary load and stress to the abdominal area. This includes:

Being aware of your postural alignment “ribs stacked over hips”

Getting up and down by moving onto your side first and pushing up or lowering yourself down with your arms

Avoiding or modifying any exercises particularly past your second trimester that places additional front load on the abdominals like crunches, sit ups, leg raises, push ups, planks etc

Doing exercises that will strengthen the core without causing harm pre or during pregnancy such as practicing the core and pelvic floor connection breath, kneeling palloff press, bird dog or farmers walks.

One more thing: what is one piece of advice to give women around health and fitness in pregnancy or going into pregnancy that no one tells you?

Prepare for your postpartum recovery whilst trying to conceive and during pregnancy! This will significantly help your recovery post-partum. You can do this by ensuring you have proper postural alignment and core and pelvic floor connection. If you are unsure of how to achieve this, please see a women’s health physiotherapist. Try and maintain a healthy weight range and eat foods to nourish your body and work with your physiotherapist or a certified pre and post-natal coach to develop a pregnancy safe workout plan that is individualised and customised throughout your pregnancy and beyond.