What is Functional Training?
Why we think it’s important during pregnancy & postpartum recovery
We always talk about the benefits of functional training, both during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. However, many people do not always understand what we mean when we use the term “functional training”. So today, I thought I would break it down for you.
Functional training is really about optimizing normal/typical human movement patterns, so that you can move comfortably and pain free throughout the day. We want to prioritize all types of movements and patterns, including different directions and speeds to provide a lot of variety and target every muscle in the body.
During pregnancy, the primary focus of our Prenatal Fitness programs, is to help you to Pre-Habilitate, which is do the essential movement in pregnancy to assist with an easier recovery after baby. After you have had your baby, we focus on Re-building. Regardless of which program you are participating in you can be assured that we select the best and most appropriate exercises to support you at each pivotal stage, so that you can move better and more comfortably in your every day movement patterns.
Parenting is a physically demanding job! You lift and carry a lot of things:
Carry, rock and soothe babies
Pick up squirmy toddlers
Lift and rotate littles in/out of their crib, bath, high chair and car seats
Lift strollers in and out of the vehicle
Push strollers and pull wagons
Carry loads of laundry, groceries and sleeping kids up and down stairs
We often observe parents of toddlers carrying bikes or scooters long abandoned by riders who wanted to power themselves to the park, only to be too tired to make it back home. In the car, you rotate to toss epic snacks into the backseat and you reach around to find the dropped soother, blanket or favourite stuffed animal.
With all of this in mind, the exercises we select build on the following functional movement patterns of every day living: Squat, Lunge, Push, Pull, Hinge and Rotate.
You will see a lot of variety in our classes to keep things interesting for you, without distracting us from our goals: to help you achieve overall improvement in your strength & mobility. So, whether you just had a baby 6 weeks ago, or 6 months ago our Fitmama Strong classes are the best way to stay healthy, fit and strong through pregnancy, postpartum and beyond.
Interested in joining us? Our community is a great way to meet other new parents. Fitmama Strong Durham has been operating in-person classes in the Durham Region since 2010 and we’ve been offering Online classes online from our virtual studio since 2020. Our community is a thriving and welcoming space for you and your littles.
We offer Prenatal Fitness and Prenatal Yoga classes, on-demand from our virtual studio through a special series. Our 30 minute live, online Express classes include a Prenatal friendly Yoga class.
If you’re new to Fitmama Strong Online, try one of our 3 Class Passes! You can use them at any of our Express classes on our live, online schedule. It doesn’t matter if you’re pregnant, your baby was born 6 weeks ago or 6 years ago, we have something for all of our members! Already been to Fitmama Strong classes? Attend and in-person series or grab a monthly membership and keep moving with us. Please note that our New to Fitmama Strong 3 Class Pass cannot be used at our in-person series of classes.
Finally, we offer in-person Stroller Fitness and Babywearing Fitness in the Durham Region and Ottawa locations. We can’t wait to have you join us!
We can’t wait for you to #startwithus and #growwithus. Join us Online or at one of our in-person classes!