Sara Haley’s Expecting More prenatal workout DVD – Review

Unlike most prenatal workout DVDs, which are focused solely on prenatal yoga and workouts for beginners, the Expecting More DVD workout program is meant to encourage women to move and feel strong and sexy, whether their inspiration comes from dance, athletics, strength training or yoga.

I exercised regularly (mostly swimming) through both my pregnancies.  When I was pregnant with my first son I felt like I could have done just about anything.  I probably could have tried unmodified aerobics and been fine. With my second child, however, my body felt like it was falling apart.  I had a lot of leg, joint, and ligament pain through the majority of my pregnancy.  Though I’m not pregnant right now I was able review the Expecting More workout from the perspectives of each of my pregnancies.

The Expecting More workouts are on two disks: one cardio disk, and one strength training disk. On each disk there are 3 workouts, each with a warm up, a sweat portion, and a cool down. The core workout portions of each disk are around 20 minutes.  The warm up and cool down portions each last about 8 minutes.

I really appreciate that Sara has included 3 different variations of the core workouts.  While she is doing the Sweat portions of her workouts Sara has 2 mommies-to-be doing modified versions of the moves she’s doing.  I know that during my second pregnancy there is no way my body would have tolerated the jump rope bounces during her Sweat Sport workout so I would have followed one of her assistants who continued on with a non-bouncy version of the move.

Here is a bit more about the Expecting More fitness program…

Expecting More would also be a great postnatal workout DVD as the workouts are low impact and you can follow one of the modified instructors.

You can learn more and purchase the DVDs at SaraHaley.com.

And because Sara knows that (thought it may seem like it sometimes) you’re not pregnant forever, here are some great workouts to do with that bundle of joy after he or she arrives:

Working out with your baby

Mama Squats: Begin with your feet shoulder width apart. Holding baby against your chest, sit back into your heels (just like a regular squat).  Your knees should never go over your toes in this position.  Keep your chest lifted and squeeze your shoulder blades together.  You should feel like you are about to fall back into a chair.  Come all the way back up and stand tall.  Repeat 20 times.

 

So Big!:  Repeat your Mama Squat but this time hold your baby underneath his arms.  As you sit back into your squat you can give him a big kiss. As you stand up tall, extend your arms straight up and reach your baby to the sky.  This should bring a big smile to his face (and to yours).

 

Mama Reverse Lunges:  Just like the Mama Squat, hold baby against your chest, step back with one leg into a deep lunge (back heel stays lifted).  Push off both feet to bring feet together.  This will probably be more of a balance challenge than anything else (which means you have to use your core!).  Keep your shoulders lined up with your hips throughout.  If you find this to be easy, challenge your core even more by picking up one leg when you come back in.  Repeat 12 times on each side.