AUBURN #- For pregnant women, there is a great deal of time and care invested into doctors visits and making sure their child is healthy and the pregnancy is moving along smoothly.
The Auburn YMCA facility's pregnancy fitness classes strive to do much of the same thing - to help ensure both mother and child are healthy.
The classes, led by instructor Kristen Rutkowski, are designed to accommodate women at all stages in their pregnancy.
“Our focus here is to make you and make the baby feel better,” Rutkowski said.
“It is something you can do right from the beginning all the way through.”
Rutkowski said the benefits of staying involved in a fitness program during a pregnancy are far reaching.
On the immediate side, exercise can help relieve some of the common pains associated with pregnancy.
“It helps increase your energy and your heart rate,” she said.
“It helps relieve some things like cramps and swollen feet and it just gives you more energy and if you are feeling better your baby is going to feel better.”
In the long run, creating a good exercise habit in the beginning of a pregnancy can help make for a safer delivery and post-delivery period.
“It helps relieve some of the pains,” Rutkowski said. “It helps relieve back pain, and it helps through delivery just to be in good shape and it helps with post partum by giving you more energy.”
Rutkowski takes students through a fairly regular series of warm ups, stretches and light cardio-vascular exercises.
For the most part, she said there isn't anything all that different about exercising while pregnant and that women are capable of doing pretty much everything they normally could.
“We focus on cardio and building up strength,” Rutkowski said.
“There really isn't anything different we do. There are certain things to avoid, like twisting and turning too much or crunches or lying on the back or something like that, but all in all pregnant women can do pretty much the same things to help them stay in shape as any other woman would do. We try to remember to drink a lot of water, too; that is very important. But other than that we just try to be careful and keep those things in mind.”
During class, Rutkowski likes to play a lot of music and keep things fairly informal and friendly.
She said she likes to keep the conversation one-sided.
“I talk the whole time,” Rutkowski said. “I like to keep classes fun. But also if the students can't talk to me they are probably working too hard and we need to change something.”
This approach has been a draw and a comfort to students Rutkowski has worked with.
“It is awesome,” said Noel Holbert, an expecting mother.
“She is very friendly and very nice, and she seems to really care. That is one of the things I really like about this all around.”
Holbert said she was also drawn by the overall approach to fitness.
“It isn't too strenuous,” Holbert said. “And that is good right now. It is helping keep me in good shape. I don't want to gain too much weight, just the weight I'm supposed to and working out like this has been really good for me.”
This is Rutkowski's main goal with her classes.
“I just want women to feel better,” she said.
“I want them to come here and have fun and get in good shape and be healthier and enjoy themselves while they are here.”
Rutkowski hopes she can help women not only have a healthier pregnancy, but that they are creating habits they will be able to carry with them the rest of their lives.
“My main goal is just to help them feel better,” Rutkowski said.
“I want to be able to help them stay in good shape and get into habits of exercising that they can continue the rest of their lives to help them feel better.”
The classes, led by instructor Kristen Rutkowski, are designed to accommodate women at all stages in their pregnancy.
“Our focus here is to make you and make the baby feel better,” Rutkowski said.
“It is something you can do right from the beginning all the way through.”
Rutkowski said the benefits of staying involved in a fitness program during a pregnancy are far reaching.
On the immediate side, exercise can help relieve some of the common pains associated with pregnancy.
“It helps increase your energy and your heart rate,” she said.
“It helps relieve some things like cramps and swollen feet and it just gives you more energy and if you are feeling better your baby is going to feel better.”
In the long run, creating a good exercise habit in the beginning of a pregnancy can help make for a safer delivery and post-delivery period.
“It helps relieve some of the pains,” Rutkowski said. “It helps relieve back pain, and it helps through delivery just to be in good shape and it helps with post partum by giving you more energy.”
Rutkowski takes students through a fairly regular series of warm ups, stretches and light cardio-vascular exercises.
For the most part, she said there isn't anything all that different about exercising while pregnant and that women are capable of doing pretty much everything they normally could.
“We focus on cardio and building up strength,” Rutkowski said.
“There really isn't anything different we do. There are certain things to avoid, like twisting and turning too much or crunches or lying on the back or something like that, but all in all pregnant women can do pretty much the same things to help them stay in shape as any other woman would do. We try to remember to drink a lot of water, too; that is very important. But other than that we just try to be careful and keep those things in mind.”
During class, Rutkowski likes to play a lot of music and keep things fairly informal and friendly.
She said she likes to keep the conversation one-sided.
“I talk the whole time,” Rutkowski said. “I like to keep classes fun. But also if the students can't talk to me they are probably working too hard and we need to change something.”
This approach has been a draw and a comfort to students Rutkowski has worked with.
“It is awesome,” said Noel Holbert, an expecting mother.
“She is very friendly and very nice, and she seems to really care. That is one of the things I really like about this all around.”
Holbert said she was also drawn by the overall approach to fitness.
“It isn't too strenuous,” Holbert said. “And that is good right now. It is helping keep me in good shape. I don't want to gain too much weight, just the weight I'm supposed to and working out like this has been really good for me.”
This is Rutkowski's main goal with her classes.
“I just want women to feel better,” she said.
“I want them to come here and have fun and get in good shape and be healthier and enjoy themselves while they are here.”
Rutkowski hopes she can help women not only have a healthier pregnancy, but that they are creating habits they will be able to carry with them the rest of their lives.
“My main goal is just to help them feel better,” Rutkowski said.
“I want to be able to help them stay in good shape and get into habits of exercising that they can continue the rest of their lives to help them feel better.”
