Pace
The question of pace or reps versus form has come up a few times recently. Specifically with those that have gone through my postnatal recovery program. They are joining other fitness classes and unsure whether to keep up with the instructor pace and rep count or take their time and focus on form and breath, as was drilled in to their brain during my series.
Please, choose proper form every time! One of the things that bothers me the most at the gym is watching other people workout and get so little out of a movement while they are working SO hard and long. In my class I’m teaching women how to get a core workout out of every single movement they do during a class, even if it’s targeted somewhere else in the body.
For example, a bicep curl… you could slouch and let every muscle in you body disengage except your bicep. OR you could…
stand tall, pulling out of the crown of your head
pull your shoulders back and down away from your ears with a strong back
keep a neutral spine and use your breath on every rep to engage the low abs and flatten your belly
slowly lower your arms to work the triceps on the way down
keep your toes pressed in to the floor to force belly/core engagement
and I could go on…
Now, you tell me - fast curls or slow, concentrated curls. Which one is going to give you results?
As a postpartum woman you need to rebuild your foundational strength, and maybe for the first time, learn proper form to get the absolute most out of every movement, no more time to waste at the gym! Going slow in order to perfect form and allowing it to become second nature will absolutely serve you better and give you long term results, and in the short term, probably save you from lower back pain and injury. This doesn’t mean you will go slow forever, it’s just a process.
I suggest cutting reps in half or doing workouts that are timed intervals rather than rep counts so that you can maintain the form and get what you want & need out of every workout. This is why I love Tabata or interval workouts for pre & post natal women, this allows them to work as fast or slow as they need that day or hour. Just because you are going slow, doesn’t mean you are getting less out of it, in fact, I would argue it’s absolutely the opposite!!
Keep up the good, focused work and breathe!!
