According to Pilates instructors, it is recommended to pregnant women to practice Pilates during pregnancy only if this is healthy and if they have practiced Pilates before, this is, if they have a good domain of their “powerhouse” they could continue their training modifying some exercises and avoiding certain series.

From a biomechanical and functional perspective this is true. An effective powerhouse training or “centering” requires a lot of body conscious and of the way it moves, which gets harder during pregnancy, since the abdomen is permanent changing.

Starting practicing the Pilates method -though the change of exercise routine- is not recommendable because of:

• An untrained powerhouse can seriously damage the lower back.
• The great demand of Pilates powerhouse (trained or not) can stimulates the uterus pacemaker producing constant contractions.
• Performing the exercises with no powerhouse concentration will not fulfill the objectives neither the promised results; and it just turns into a common exercise.
• Pilates exercises wrongly executed can de very injuring. During the second and third pregnancy trimester it can increase the abdominal muscle diastases (separation of the abdominal muscles) harming the post partum recovering of these muscles.
• The constant change of the muscle and bone systems and gravity center in pregnant women does not make Pilates workout the most suitable during this period.