Perfect Pregnancy Workout

Karyne Steben
Year Released: 2002

Categories: Pregnancy/Postpartum


There's a funny little "affirmation" section at the beginning which I found silly...but once that's over this is a good pregnancy find.

The workout is about 45 minutes long and is mostly strength based, but there are segments that will get your heart rate up if you do the more advanced versions.

The production quality is pretty good, as is the music. The set is very basic and kind of dark. The instructor is the only one on the set - variations are shown either through switching shots or picture-in-picture style. The instruction is voiceover and the cueing is fine.

What makes this a particularly good pregnancy video is the inclusion of variations for beginner through advanced for several of the exercises. For example, during one of the segments beginners hold on to a chair and do shallow squats, while advanced have the option to do full "labor squats" (basically a low squat during which you bring your hands to the floor and push your rear into the air before coming back up). The instructional section at the end of the tape shows every exercise and gives form pointers, including how to check for and accomodate diastasis recti (separation of the abdominal muscles). There is a good variety of exercises including floorwork, pushups, tricep dips, bridges (you never go flat on your back), lunges, upper body moves, and lots of kegals interspersed throughout. She uses a small 8 to 10 inch step for intermediate/advanced step-ups (I use the blue section of the Firm Fanny Lifter ) and light weights for some upper body exercises. You also need pillows to position yourself on an incline for ab exercises (I like to use my stability ball for this). The last exercise is called "keep-up". You hold out your arms and make little circles for three minutes. It is supposed to help prepare you mentally for labor. There is a wonderful stretch at the end. The only exercise that I find fault with is an upper-body combo where you do a one-armed lat row and then go into a side lateral raise. If you use a weight that challenges your lat muscle you'll never be able to do the raise, but if you use a light weight to do the raise, the lat row is not challenging enough. I got around this by doing the moves seperately and using different weights. I imagine beginners will not have this problem. (FYI : I found and started using this tape at the 6-month mark, and prior to getting pregnant I was a somewhat advanced exerciser.)

As far as I know, the only place you can get this video is at progressiveparent.com. The site has a preview you can watch. Unfortunately, it comes in VHS only. There is also a postpartum video which I know nothing about since I'm not there quite yet :)

Instructor Comments:
Ms. Steben is a former Cirque du Soleil acrobat who looks to be about 6- 7 months along during the video. She looks very pregnant yet still fit, but in a non-intimidating way. (Except for when she does a headstand type move during the opening credits - yikes! We're warned not to do this at home.) At the end of the video there is an instructional section during which she speaks directly to the camera (during the workout the cueing is voiceover style) and she comes across as quite young, but I didn't think that detracted from the workout at all.

Lore (samiam)

07/19/2004