Search - Pilates FOR & After Pregnancy Duo pack on DVD

Great After, not as great FOR

Mom To Be | Berkeley, CA. USA | 05/11/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I am currently in my third trimester and tried Melinda's Pilates FOR Pregnancy for the first time. Based on the cover of the DVD I thought she (or someone next to her) would actually be visibly pregnant for this video. I am comfortable doing Pilates normally, but I felt her workout did not have enough modifications for the 2nd or 3rd trimesters when your belly is big enough to not be comfortable on your back. I have to fast forward through quite a bit of the video in order to get to the spine, leg and arm work. Should be great for your 1st trimester and part of your 2nd based on your proficiency with Pilates, but you'll have very limited use for it in your 3rd.

I also own Shiva Rea's Prenatal Yoga and have found this workout to be much more geared towards a pregnant woman. Shiva does her yoga along with two other women, each of them representing (and actually are in) one of the trimesters.

I had bought a Pilates DVD hoping to get a good back workout, not a workout on my back.

The workout for after pregnancy looks good so far. I am anxious to try it after I give birth."

Isn't the safety of this workout a bit questionable?

missmeamea | Annapolis, Moldova, Republic of | 08/10/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I am in my third trimester and picked this title up, along with Shiva Rea's pregnancy yoga. I started Melinda's DVD first because the packaging looked like it would provide a good workout.

As the previous reviewer says, the actual workout shows a non-pregnant woman (as least visibly) doing the exercises. I felt pretty let down - anyone who's ever been pregnant knows how awkward it is to have a 30lb basketball strapped to your stomach and to see her and her flat stomach doing things that I'd require a crane and forklift to get my body to do, was kind of absurd.

Also, almost every piece of modern literature on pregnancy cautions against lying on one's back for any extended period of time, because the weight of the baby presses down on the major veins that carry blood and oxygen to the baby (and to the mother). If you already have problems with dizziness, low blood pressure, and breathing, this is a major concern. Yet the very first thing she does is lay flat on her back. That really lowered her credibility in my view - combine that with the lack of any modified exercises or use of support props says to me that someone went and made a regular Pilates DVD and then slapped the title "Pre-natal" on it. I'd be curious what doctors and physical therapists would have to say upon watching this.

I'm giving this three stars rather than one only because I feel like I haven't given this DVD a proper chance yet - plus it might truly be a great post-natal workout. If you're looking for something specifically designed with the needs of a pregnant woman in mind though, skip this one."