#34: Strength training during pregnancy: Riaza Manricks’ journey

Michael Dermansky

Hi everyone, and welcome to the show that helps you become more confident in your body so you can keep doing the things that you love. My name is Michael Dermansky. I’m the Senior Physiotherapist at MD Health. I have a special guest for us today. Riaza. Welcome to the show and it’s great to have you aboard. Fantastic. We’ll say a little bit about who you are and I guess what you do for a living and then we’ll, we’ll talk about strength and the benefits of strength training in pregnancy, which is why you came to see us before.

Riaza

Thank you. Thank you for having me. It’s lovely to be here.

Yeah, wonderful. Thanks. So yes, as I said, my name is Riaza Manricks. I am a business coach and consultant. My business is called Reimagining Business and I help businesses to create outstanding results and create a fantastic place for people to want to come and work. I’m really passionate about culture and yeah, helping businesses to create the best culture that they possibly can for their employees to turn good teams into great teams.

Michael Dermansky

So let’s just talk about the first part of it. You undertook a program with us during your second pregnancy. And so I guess why what was the most important thing about doing exercise your pregnancy for you?

Riaza

Yeah, I did. So, during my first pregnancy, I was already a fairly active person. I used to be a gym goer when I first fell pregnant. so was already going to the gym. I was already in the rhythm of seeing a PT and doing all of those sorts of things. And I was fairly active during my first pregnancy. continued going to the gym two, three times a week, working with a PT, because I wanted to have, yeah, the best possible pregnancy I could, to have as smooth a birth experience as I could. Unfortunately, with my first birth, didn’t go according to plan. I ended up having an emergency caesarean or an unplanned caesarean because for my son’s failure to descend or something, whatever they call it. And so yeah, I ended up having an unplanned caesarean after spending kind of 17 hours in labor. It was kind of about 24 hours by the time we were all done and dusted.

The reason why I decided to start seeing MD Health or why I came to you is because when I fell pregnant a second time, I now had a one and a half 18 month old little boy. So my life was a very, very, I was in a very, very different place to what I was when I first fell pregnant the first time around. In that I wasn’t in the rhythm of already going to the gym. I was chasing after an 18 month old, which, you know, has some physical benefits.

But I was certainly not doing any kind of strength training or, you know, I used to do a lot of yoga. wasn’t doing any yoga. I really wasn’t doing any kind of exercise in the traditional sense of the word for myself to look after myself. And so given how poorly my first pregnancy ended in the birth that was, you know, rather traumatic actually for me in the end, it was really important to me that I make sure, and that was with having done all of that work important to me that second time around, really, I was, I was very focused on having a VBAC, which is a vaginal birth after cesarean. and so I wanted to give myself the best possible opportunity or the best possible chance of having that. And I knew that, you know, having good strength or having a strong exercise foundation was going to serve me really well when I got to that birthing phase. So that was really the catalyst for me to come to you. having had.

A first birth go not the way I wanted it to go. I wanted to give myself the best possible chance of my second birth going the way I wanted it to go.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. And that’s a very common story. mean, both those things as well. I mean, you did all the right things during the first pregnancy and then reality was reality. mean, you don’t control all those elements, especially that late stage things happen as they do, and you don’t have full control over it too. and particularly with the goals you wanted for the second pregnancy, it is really important that you improve your strength, particularly in hips and pelvis. Like we see heaps of that kind of stuff as well. And it’s, it’s really important. I mean, the interesting thing about it from our perspective is that women, women often get away with weakness around the hips and pelvis prior to pregnancy, but then all the hormones kick in as well. So relaxing kicks in that’s when you really start to feel that weakness kicking in. So the control around those ligaments around the sacroiliac area as well.

Riaza

had that in my first pregnancy too, that I had that pain in my, it was really in my pubic bone area and in my lower back. And I used to get this, I can’t even remember the name of it now. I should have looked it up before our session today. I had a condition, I suppose, I kind of kicked in around 35, 36 weeks, or maybe earlier 32 weeks. That was causing me quite a bit of

Michael Dermansky

yeah. So you can get movement around that, that, pubic, that pubic symphysis as well. So it’s very, very rare to get moving in that area during non pregnancy time, but because there are horns that are released, it can, they can, that area can move a lot more. But at the only time we can do it. And some women are luckier than others. It’s just really depends on genetics. Like you can do all the beautiful strength work you can, and you can, that’s how you can protect yourself. But sometimes you have no control.

Riaza

Yeah. Yeah. And whatever that condition is, the name will come to me in a moment, but in my first pregnancy, kicked in around 32 weeks. In my second pregnancy, it kicked in around 16 weeks. Like it happened so early and I was like, my God, what is already happening? And it was like this really intense pain, particularly like, yeah, just right in my pubic bone area where I remember some of your staff, they would just make sure that if I was doing anything,

Michael Dermansky

Yeah, and that’s not unusual.

Riaza

Like for example, in the reformer bed where I had to like slide my leg out, were, you know, making sure I wouldn’t slide out too far, keeping my legs like really structured and stable. Yeah.

Michael Dermansky

Yep. Yep. So it’s around the pubic symphysis bone as well. So I mean, there’s, it’s just instability around that pubic symphysis area. So there’s different names for it to basically, this is really, really strong cartilage that sits between the two pubic bones, and it shouldn’t move like more than a millimeter or two. And during pregnancy is the only time it moves more than a few millimeters. And as you’re describing as well, when those relaxin hormones kick in, because that actually happens quite early in pregnancy, it just affects women in different stages. That area moves and you have you can control as much of as you can but we are playing we’re playing as practitioners we’re playing a balancing act can we make you strong enough fast enough to be able to control the amount of movement your body’s going to do whether whether you like it or not and sometimes we win that game and sometimes we we don’t win that game

Riaza

Yeah, I remember you saying that exact same thing to me during my pregnancy when we were training together, because we trained together for pretty much my entire second pregnancy. I think from about eight weeks, I came and started seeing you and right up until I was overdue as a second time around as I was the first time around and really right up until, you know, the very, very end 40 plus 41 weeks, I was still seeing you.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah, we’ll see. That’s interesting. I mean, I was gonna ask you about what are the major issues you had during the pregnancy, but you’ve actually answered a large one as well that that movement on that pubic bone as well. And I mean, the other thing you just said now to very interesting was that, you know, even though you had those issues, you exercise all the way to the end.

Riaza

Yeah. yeah. That was very important to me to keep exercising as much as I could. Listening to my body, of course, and listening to yourself and your, and your staff as the experts. but you know, being in an environment such as yours, I felt very comfortable and confident that your team and yourself knew, what is right and wrong and the, and the right way for a person in my condition at my gestation to continue to exercise. I wasn’t, you know, I never felt like I was being pushed beyond something that I felt like I could comfortably do. And if I shared, guys, this is causing me some pain or whatever, then there was, you know, immediate, you know, let’s adjust, let’s change and make sure that it was, whatever we were doing was very, very supportive towards whatever, what I was and where I was in my journey.

Michael Dermansky

Yes. It’s interesting. Cause I mean, that’s, that’s a really big balancing act between what you want to achieve. want to improve strength around the hip pelvis and pubic area as well, but also your body may not be able to take that. So we had to switch from single leg exercises for a while, which were fine. And then there appeared at time it wasn’t anymore. And so even, yeah, we had to go to double leg stuff because you just weren’t stable enough. And so it wasn’t a negative thing. was just like, is where your body was at and that’s what we could do with you. So we could do something. There’s always something we could do, but it just may not be the perfect amount. This is what your body could do. So we will take advantage of what you can do. I mean, I guess that’s the really important part of seeing a health professional during exercise, during pregnancy is that it allows us to, we have the knowledge to able to make changes. Like this is safe and this is not safe right now. This is safe now, but this now it’s not okay. And someone that knows what they’re doing to make those adjustments is really important.

Riaza

Yeah. And also gives the person who’s pregnant a piece of mind, right? Like I’m, as I said at the start, I’m a business coach. I’ve got no health related, you know, experience of my entire life. I mean, I got a C plus in science, like in high school. So, you know, I’m very much reliant on the professionals to tell me what is right and wrong when it comes to how I should be moving my body. and I think something that you and I have identified, with me is that I do have a natural level of flexibility, probably from my time of being a not a very good ballet dancer in my youth, but a ballet dancer nonetheless. So that is also quite important or was quite important during my second pregnancy, because when you add someone who’s already flexible, plus the relaxant that kicks in, it could, it was creating at times quite a bit of instability and, and therefore, you know, causing me some pain.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. And it’s interesting you say that too, because when we talk about what’s different in the first pregnancy and second pregnancy, like that, you said 32 weeks is the first time and the second time half 16 weeks, you’re already starting to feel some of changes as well. It can be different first and second pregnancy.

Riaza

Yeah, and that really threw me. really, it, it upset me to be honest, because I was like, my God, I got this pain, but it was towards the back end of my last pregnancy. I’d already kind of gone through it. Whereas, you know, second time around for it to kick in so early was it felt like a real blow. And I felt like, you know, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through, so much more of my pregnancy left with, you know, experiencing this really severe pain. and of course, you know, second time around, I’m also picking up a toddler all the time, you know, still putting him to sleep. In fact, sometimes I look back at some photos that I have of me with my huge belly and I’m holding, you know, my baby who was close to two by the end, or he was two actually by the time I delivered. And yeah, it’s really quite crazy to you know, imagine how I was doing that. But I guess that’s, that is the difference with the second time around is that you’re, caring for a baby as well, a child as well already.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. And that’s an important one to take note of as well as that first time pregnancy, you do have time. You do have more time. You can take a rest when you’re can, you know, you can exercise when it suits you. You can be much more consistent as well. You said you were doing PTA, you’re three, two, three times a week. You’re doing a harder stuff as well. Second time around, you don’t have as many options. It’s harder. You’ve, your time is more limited. You’ve got someone else looking for laughter as well as yourself. And I mean, we see a lot of parent guilt with that too, but it’s, it’s reality.

Michael Dermansky

It’s not, it’s not, you know, can, you can have the ideal program and you have real life and they don’t always match.

Riaza

Yeah, 100%. No, that’s absolutely bang on correct. Yeah. And you’re right about the parent guilt as well. Cause you know, as a second time parent, you feel you’re exhausted already from just being a parent and then you’re double exhausted from being pregnant. And you want to try and I remember that was something that was really hard for me was seeing my husband and my toddler playing, running around, you know, being normal, just playing as they normally would. And as I used to be able to do. And suddenly I was just like, paralysed on the couch and just watching them play and not being able to join in. That’s really, really hard second time around.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah, it is tough. Reality, it’s real. And it’s not just you, it’s everyone. It’s, you know, that’s reality as well. And it’s, and I mean, you know, you can feel guilty about it, but ultimately you work with what you have and you just take the biggest advantage. mean, you still, said, you still did exercises all the way till, you know, over 40 weeks. So, you know, despite these things, you could still do things that you could be able to do. They weren’t at the same level, but they were still capable of doing things.

Riaza

yeah, very much so. It was about carving out that time to prioritize that even despite the chaos. I actually had started my business as well. So I started my business in January. I felt pregnant around March, April, something like that. And I was doing both. I was running, I was starting a business. So very much in that infancy stage and where networking and business development and getting out there and meeting people and, you know, lots of coffees and smoozing is a really, really important part to starting up a business such as mine. and I was trying to do all of that as well as play with my toddler and be a good parent, as well as look after myself so that my second pregnancy, you know, would go better than I want, than my first one did in terms of the birth I’m saying. Yeah.

Michael Dermansky

Well, let’s go. Let’s talk about afterwards as well. So the recovery like after you’ve had the baby considering you’d exercise during the pregnancy?

Riaza

Yeah. So the recovery second time around was very, very different for the first tilt compared to the first time around. part of that would definitely be because, so I did get my V back. did manage to have a natural birth, which was just a phenomenal experience and something that I feel incredibly proud of. I know that whilst, you know, my mindset played a huge role in that. I also know that all of the physical stuff that I did in the preparation to my birth.

played a massive role as well towards me actually getting to have that natural birth and have it exactly as I wanted it. I genuinely couldn’t have asked for a better birth. So the recovery was very, very different because the first time around after a cesarean, you’re pretty much, you you’re not allowed to drive, you’re not allowed to this, that, the other, you’ve had major surgery and you have to look after a baby. So, you know, you’re not allowed to lift heavy things and so on. Second time around being able to just, you know,

to be up and about so quickly was just fantastic. It was honestly phenomenal. yeah, being able to still continue to lift my toddler, even though I had only just given birth was just, was really, it was actually just beautiful, really magical and so important because you’re already in this new dynamic of bringing a baby into a family unit where you’ve got an existing child and you don’t want that first child to feel you know, forgotten about or anything like that. So the fact that I had done all of that work physically in the lead up to my birth meant that I was in a much stronger place than I would have been had I not done anything. And that’s what I was doing. When I, when I first came to see you, I was doing zero exercise, absolutely none zip. And so the fact that I then committed to, you know, minimum two, but usually three times a week of exercising, under some really strict guidelines and supervision of your team. That just meant that by the time I ended up giving birth, I was strong enough to hold my toddler strong enough to breastfeed for really long periods of time, which is really strenuous on the neck and shoulders and the back and the arms as well. You know, even the picking up, putting down, picking up, putting down, you’re constantly bending from the hips or, you know, probably bending in the wrong way, arching your back and so on and so forth. So

Michael Dermansky

in reality.

Riaza

It is exactly, it is reality. Even though you do all of the things you try your best. So yeah, it’s definitely that work that I had done ahead of time certainly made my recovery so much more seamless. So much more seamless.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah, and I mean, it’s really good to hear that too, but also, I mean, you did exercise both for pregnancies and we’ve seen a lot of people that don’t do often don’t do it the first time and then second time they do and then the recovery is very, very different. And so it’s interesting because the time you do the exercises in there, and as you go through the pregnancy, the exercise got simpler or more particular because you’re unable to do as much and you don’t always realize afterwards what effect is going to have, but it does working on those pelvic muscles, your abdominal muscles, the back muscles as well has a massive effect.

later and the ones that you don’t see at the time as well is the upper back area. So what we commonly see during pregnancy is pain around the pubic area, around the SAJ which is around the bottom of hips.

And then afterwards we see a lot of mid back problems. And so when you’re lifting a toddler and lifting a baby and lifting a baby and lifting a baby or breast or breastfeeding or pumping or breastfeeding, pumping and repeat, repeat, repeat, we see a lot of upper neck and back problems as well. And so it’s so important to work on those things before. And because afterwards you’re going through it, you need the strength to be able to do it. It’s a really big deal.

Riaza

Yeah. And something else actually that just, was thinking about too was, so after you have a baby, usually six to six weeks later, I can’t remember now. think it’s six weeks later, you go and see a women’s health physio, who does a check and makes sure that, you know, how your recovery is going. And I just remember when I went to see her, she was absolutely delighted with both my, pelvic, like pelvic, what do you call it?

Michael Dermansky

floor. Yep. Yep.

Riaza

Yeah, thank you. Pelvic floor, my pelvic floor muscles and how they were doing. And also my abdominal separation was, she said was very, very minimal. And she had absolutely no concerns at all, which was really, really just such a relief because those are, guess, the things that, you know, can be the really negative side effect to having kids. It’s this beautiful time in your life and you’re bringing, you know, life into the world.

And then you can just have some really crappy long -term side effects of incontinence and all of those sorts of things, thankfully I’ve had absolutely none of that because of all of the work that I did with your team’s help during my pregnancy, for sure.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. So it’s interesting because what the public’s lost up definitely makes a huge amount of difference as well. The abdominal separation could be very variable because some women who are very strong as well can still get a decent amount of separation and it’s very hard to control that. And for some it’s like a medium amount as well. So if you’re, you’re very, very strong and very, very strong in that area to you actually sometimes get more separation. If you’re not strong enough as well, you can get separation. There’s a, there’s a actually a, a not a medium with that one too, but it’s, it’s one of the least controllable ones.

I mean, you get some degree of recovery and it’s pretty normal to take a couple of years for that to start to recover. And so when women are worried about other love separation here, and it’s been six months, like that’s actually pretty normal. And you know, don’t have to do anything about it yet. It’s too early. you know, wait, you know, after a couple of years, then it’s really start looking at it and, you know, up to a 10th, two centimeters is normal.

you may not fully get that back because we’re talking about normal separation is that there’s no muscle there. There’s muscles runs on the side, but nothing in between. It’s all connected tissue. And so you can’t strengthen that bit. There’s nothing to strengthen. And so it’s a very hard one. And, the research in that one is quite minimal, unfortunately. So we’ve, we’ve tried and tried and tried to find something we can do about it. And it’s still very, very minimal. And so, it’s, we’d love to see it change more, but it’s still out there. We don’t know what the best way of doing that is yet.

Riaza

maybe I’m just one of the lucky ones then, or… Yeah. Yeah.

Michael Dermansky

And very happy to be the lucky ones on the pubic floor stuff. It’s much more common, but a double separation. It makes a difference that you worked on it, but it’s a harder one to know what eight, nine months since your second baby was born. Have you gotten back to exercises? What are your major goals and priorities now that we’re eight, nine months down the track?

Riaza

Yeah. So I’ve only just, well, no, that’s a lie. I around, August. it’s that couple of, about a month, a bit over a month ago, I started doing a little bit of exercise just at home. I bought into one of those programs that you, you know, watch the videos you cast it to your TV, you watch your videos and stuff. so that was my sort of introduction back into exercise. So my baby was about six months or so at the time. And, I remember thinking, God, this is just going to be really like terrible because I had, again, I had done nothing for the first six months in terms of formal exercise. but actually I found that I, I was able to kind of keep up with the videos pretty well, or even add more weights or add more resistance than what the, you the videos were telling me to do. So I did that for about a month or so. and it was good. It was a good little introduction, something I could do in my own time when I found the time.

But I’ve actually just recently come back to MD health to, you know, recommence my program there, which is really all around in my goals. You asked me what my goals are. My goals are really around being able to keep up with my toddler and, and make sure that I am strong in my body and have the right, you know, frame to be able to keep up with both of my kids for many more years to come. That’s really my main goal.

I want to, I want to feel young. I don’t want to, I am a little bit of an older mom. I’m not going to tell you how old I am, but I’m slightly older mom. and, you know, I definitely don’t have the same level of strength and stuff as I did in my early thirties. so I want to make sure that I have that strength to keep up with them because, yeah, you know, my kids are now they’re what two and a half and eight months.

I have 20 years at least that I want to be able to be keeping up with them, you know, when they start basketball or soccer or whatever it is, skateboarding, I want to be able to do that with them and keep up with them and be able to run with them. and so that’s really, that’s what’s my, that’s my why that’s what’s driving me. So I’ve just recently come back to the wonderful group at MD health, to yeah, rebuild some of that strength, in my, in those key areas.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah, they’re great goals as well. Just a question. Well, after your first pregnancy, how long did it take you to get back to exercise? And compared to now about six, eight months.

Riaza

only when I felt pregnant with my second. Yeah, I actually, I actually didn’t do any exercise after my first. was again, just to run off my feet hadn’t, hadn’t prioritized it and made the time for it. I think the other thing as well that happened with my first is that the baby weight fell off me very quickly. after my first baby. So the baby weight fell off by about six months, people were saying, my gosh, you look amazing. And I was, you know, lighter than I was pre -pregnancy, all of that kind of stuff. so I wasn’t really motivated to kind of get back into the gym and stuff like that. I was just, you know, I looked, I looked good enough, my clothes fit and it was kind of fine. and so it was only when I felt pregnant the second time that I thought to myself, on.

Last time around, I was in a much more fitter, healthier position. I was eating better. I was exercising three or four times a week, all of those sorts of things. now, and here I was pregnant the second time, eating carbs and like sugars and chocolate, sugars and chocolate, sugars and carbs, I should say. I was basically surviving on sugars and carbs with a toddler and I was not exercising at all. So falling pregnant the second time was the catalyst for me to kind of clean things up and go back into doing some exercise to prepare myself for that second birth.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. And it’s interesting. You’re saying what your second, your goals are second time around versus the first time first. I’ll drop the baby weight. Everything’s fine. But then like, okay, actually, you know what? I want a better life than this. I’ve got two kids I want to keep up with as well. I don’t want to be stuck on the couch as well that I can’t keep up with them. I want my body to be better. And so they’re really good long -term goals where, you know, you can really see my life is going to be better from doing this as well. And that’s, and that’s what we say that, you know, the whole point of exercising and you went after you’ve had kids as well to actually have enjoyed that life and you can it’s not a massive commitment but it makes a world of difference.

Riaza

Yeah, absolutely. It’s that 1 % rule, right? Like, I don’t know if you know the James Clear book about 1%, but if you do these 1 %ers now, so the commitment, the time commitment that I spend, you know, with your team is half an hour per session, two to three times a week. So, you know, when you think about the number of minutes that we have in a week, I don’t even know what that is. I’d have to do a quick calculation, but the number of minutes that you have in a week, I’m asking of myself to find at most 90 minutes in the entire week to commit to my own body and my own health. So these are what we would call these little one percenters where it’s not a huge amount of time. I’m not, you know, we’re not doing whole days at a time. We’re doing 30 minutes at a time. So, I mean, it’s less than an episode of most TV shows that one, like somebody would watch.

So all the time that people would spend scrolling on the couch, right? In the evenings. So if I, I know that if I can give myself these 30 minute sessions, let’s say twice a week, after two weeks, will I feel a difference? Probably not. But what I’m doing now is going to pay dividends in the long run. It’s that one, but the one percent is that I do now will have a vastly massive difference to me in the future in my years to come. If I, you know, consistently dedicate towards myself and my body.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah. And it’s like, it’s not, it’s not much, but it’s amazing that, know, twice a week, seems like half an hour is not much, but it is your body’s, it needs a stimulus to grow and change. then, and it does. And then you said one, two weeks doesn’t feel different. You might feel the beginnings of something different two weeks, but it’s still too early. Body doesn’t adapt that fast. But when you look back two months and it’s not even that long period of time, you think, two months, but you blink and it’s done, and you know, that’s when you really start to feel like, you know what, I do feel different. I can do more. I’m not restricting your life. And there is absolutely no good reason why you need to be restricted with your life and not have the life that you want to have with your kids and your husband and your family in now and in 20 years.

Riaza

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, that’s the thing though. Like it’s, that’s fantastic that in two months you’re saying I’ll feel a difference. only a couple of weeks in, so we don’t know, but I’m not even thinking about that, that shorter timeframe. I’m even thinking things like in two years, do you know, if I, if I’m sort of comparing, if I do something versus if I do nothing.

You know, I won’t feel that something in two weeks time, but I’ll feel it like in two years time, I’ll be looking back going on. I should have started. Yeah. And in 20 years time, it’s just, it’s one of those exactly. It’s one of those things of, know, I’m only getting older. We’re all only getting older. And, you know, I don’t want to be a person who is in old age and can’t, you know, bend down, can’t pick things up, can’t, you know, walk.

Michael Dermansky

You’ll definitely feel it.

Riaza

run whatever I want to have an active lifestyle through to my, you know, late late years and the long and a long healthy, long happy healthy life. Like, you know, I think that’s a universal goal.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah, It is, and there’s absolutely no good reason why that can’t be the case. And unfortunately we see both sides of it too. see people in their nineties that have a active, happy, healthy life in their nineties are enjoying their life at that age. And we see people that are younger than that. I mean, we’re talking about just between pregnancy and that, but it’s actually not that big a jump because, you know, people make some of these choices.

We see the ones that are inevitable and we see the ones that are choices. And it’s a tragedy when you see the ones where you are choosing not to have the life that you can. And there’s a small commitment that has an enormous impact on your, all the things that you want to enjoy in your life. And when it’s a choice versus something that’s been put upon you, it’s just, you know, we shake our heads and think you can have a better life. You can make a better choice.

One last question to finish off with, anything you would change now looking back at your journey during exercise in terms of exercise or health that you would go back and change right now. And it doesn’t have to be the perfect picture. Just one or two things. You know what? If I change one or two things, it would have been even better.

Riaza

in regards to pregnancy in particular, I’d say if I could change anything, I probably would have loved to have added yoga back in. that’s probably something. So I used to do a lot of yoga. I’m actually a qualified yoga teacher as well. I don’t practice anymore. I don’t teach anymore.

Michael Dermansky

Yeah.

Riaza

But I used to do a lot of yoga and I do love yoga. I just love what it does for both the body and the mind and the, just the other elements of that that come from doing yoga. I like, you know, being able to do a headstand or do other funny, cool, awesome balances and poses. And in my first pregnancy, I actually have pictures of me at sort of seven, eight months doing headstands and crazy things because I had that level of strength and experience in that I had been doing it continuously. I have dropped yoga a fair bit since I gave birth the first time and I haven’t really picked it up. I do it here and there. But if I could change something, I probably would add back yoga as well, just to complement what I was, you know, the work that I was doing with the MD health team. And actually, if I can add a second thing in yoga and walking, I probably would have added in a bit more walking. I did some, but not as much as I wanted to.

Michael Dermansky

Right. I want to mention one interesting thing that you said as well. So you said you were done yoga and you did headstands even up to seven, eight months as well. So as you’re bringing up an extremely important point. So women that do exercise before pregnancy and then get pregnant and they think I can’t do things I can’t want to do.

There is actually no good reason why you can’t. So if you run before pregnancy, you can run afterwards. If you do yoga before pregnancy, you can do yoga through pregnancy. If you do weightlifting during pregnancy before pregnancy, you can do weight lifting during pregnancy as well. So often during pregnancy, you don’t want to start something new like, I’m going to take up weightlifting now that I’m three months pregnant. Probably a bad idea. No, let me say that is a bad idea. But if you were doing it beforehand, there is absolutely no good reason why you can’t do it during pregnancy. But keeping in mind if things change that we can’t that there’s a particular medical reason why you can’t different story. But if it’s something you do beforehand, no good reason why you can’t continue it during pregnancy if you’re doing all the control work around that too.

Riaza

Yeah, absolutely. No, that was, yeah, that was definitely something that I experienced my first time around.

Michael Dermansky

Well Riaza, thank you very, very much for your stories as well because I think it hopefully gives listeners a really good insight of someone that’s gone through exercise during pregnancy and what it’s actually meant in their lives and what difference it makes as well.

Riaza

Absolutely my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Michael Dermansky

No worries at all. Next time we are going to be talking to Caitlin from Osteostrong about what we can do now, what our current knowledge is about osteoporosis, what we can do about it too. So I’m really looking forward to that chat and hopefully having a few more lessons. Thank you very much for your time. One more time, please, Riaza.

Riaza

No worries.