Customer Reviews

Post-natal Pilates

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this workout! My baby is 5 months old, so I wish I had gotten this workout earlier, due to the fact that you are supposed to use it for a 2 month old up to a 6 month old. It consists of classic pilates moves designed to tone your hips, abs and thigh areas. It also has some upper body moves where you use your baby as a weight to tone your arms. I enjoyed it, it was a fast workout but very vigorous. The instructions on how to do the pilates excersizes were very clear throughout. My baby seemed to like it too! Again, my only regret is that I wish I had gotten this DVD earlier in my postpartum days so I could have worked out with my baby more.

This is a good workout for those of you who wants to try pilates and doesn't already have a pilates DVD. I bought this postnatal pilates DVD thinking it will be different than my regular pilates DVD. However, the exercises are the same as the ones on my regular pilates except it has one set of squats and one set of exercise to work your arms. The workout involves the baby by putting the baby on your lap during exercises like the hundreds and rollups. You work your arm by lifting the baby up and down. The squats are done by holding the baby close to your body. The baby is put aside for part the workout. This DVD is a waste of money for me because I could've used my regular pilates DVD and put my baby on my lap.

I just received this DVD and did it with my baby for the first time this morning. Yes, it's short and doesn't have any chapters (which is annoying). But the short length of the workout is actually a positive for me because it's not so intimidating that I don't even want to start. Also, I love the fact that it really involves the baby and considers his needs as well as the mom's. My baby is 10 weeks old and really liked it. Of course, if you are familiar with the exercises already, I suppose you could figure out on your own how to involve the baby, but personally I find it comforting to have a video devoted to my needs as a new mom. Some of the moves are really hard, but fortunately there are alternative positions for us beginners (they're hard to see though--just a small inset in the corner of the screen). I'm really looking forward to doing this workout many times with my baby.

I bought this DVD to get back in some kind of shape after the birth of my first baby. I had been on bedrest for 10 weeks prenatal and didn't have the confidence to go straight back to exercise classes without taking some time to get in better shape at home first.

I like how the DVD involves Baby to some degree, because it made exercise more approachable. There were 1 or 2 exercises I had to struggle with at first, which wasn't necessarily a negative for me as it gave me something to shoot for. In some places, the soundtrack seems to be a little off from the video, so you have to choose between listening and watching to follow along. Also, you can't fast forward through all the talking at the beginning because there are no chapters. Despite these problems, I found what I was looking for (an exercise program that I could do with my 4 month old to get back on track with weight loss and fitness) in this DVD.

Good program for including your baby in your workout. Not for beginners...there's an assumption that you know pilate techniques...advanced poses used, only - beginner/intermediate poses not shown.

The total work out time for this DVD is 20 minutes and as a pilates novice, hard to follow. For such a short DVD it seems quite rushed and doesn't explain positions very well.

Although, the interaction with my 12 week old is wonderful.

This is a somewhat tough post natal work out for those of us who are not athletes. It works most of the major muscles in a relatively short time, and includes your baby in about 50% of the activities. You will want to wait until your baby is a few months old, and also until your abdominal muscles feel strong enough to do pilates type moves WHILE holding on to your baby. The instructor is clear in her instructions, and obviously a caring mom.

The instructor says that this is safe for c-section moms, but I tried today for the first time (I'm 7.5 weeks postpartum) and had to stop after five minutes, it really hurt my abs and I'm just not there yet! I was able to do hundreds on my own, but not with an 11 pound baby on my lap, squirming!

The video moved pretty quickly as well and she didn't explain things well (again, only got through five minutes or so), I'll be looking for a better postnatal workout DVD.

I got this video at my baby shower as a "hand me down" from my cousin. I did very little exercise during pregnancy and then had an unexpected c-section. I was really worried about how I was going to get back in shape especially while trying to manage the first months with a new baby. He was a winter baby so walks in the park were out of the question. This video was great because it was an activity that I could do with my baby when he was a awake or on it's own with weights if the baby was asleep. No excuses. It is also very quick, so my son doesn't get bored before it is finished. He loves sitting on my lap to do the exercises and would grin like he was cheering me on. I felt a difference in my back and arm strength quickly. This was the only video I used and I fit back in my suits when I went back to work at 4 months. It is now a baby shower gift that I give to new moms.

This may be a good workout if you're already proficient at pilates, but if not, very little is explained and it can be fairly difficult to keep up. I also found it quite difficult to integrate my baby as the workout allows for, and for many of the exercises she just has her baby laying on the floor beside her, so not everything is done with your baby.

If, like me, you're looking into pilates to strengthen your core after pregnancy, I highly recommend Sarah Picot's Beginning level More Than Mat Pilates. It's actually easier to do and is fully explained. Perhaps now that I've done that one a few times I could try her Postnatal one again and see if it is more doable.