Pre- and Postnatal Coaching | YMyHealth

Erica Friedman has been a lifelong athlete who has always pushed herself beyond limits.

From playing competitive soccer and running marathons to bodybuilding, the physical demands of her sports did not phase her. But after having her first child at age 31, Friedman was met with challenges to her health and fitness that she would have never anticipated.

She shares with us her personal journey from competitive athlete to becoming a Pre and Postnatal Fitness Coach, empowering us with the knowledge of and optimism about the valuable role fitness plays in women’s health during pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum life.

Erica Friedman's story

After years of training as a competitive athlete, there was no question in Friedman’s mind that in her postpartum period after her first son was born, she would get back to that same level of athleticism. She quickly found out that was not the case.

“I just felt so disconnected, and my body felt so completely foreign. And this is coming from someone who trained her whole pregnancy,” Friedman recalled “Pregnancy is unpredictable. You can train your whole pregnancy and still have things that pop up postpartum or during your delivery.”

She will never forget the experience she had after receiving the all-clear at six weeks postpartum from her provider. She eagerly went to a class, got on the treadmill, and started to run like she used to. A few moments later, she literally felt like her vagina was going to fall out. It was unbelievably uncomfortable. She was also already experiencing other issues in her postpartum period that she did not expect either like hemorrhoids and constipation, leaking, painful sex, and diastasis recti .

This experience sparked her desire to learn more. As a Personal Trainer and fitness enthusiast, she knew a lot about the body and training. But pregnancy and return to sport was a whole new ball game. Ultimately this desire to learn more and support her own postpartum recovery led to a new career in women’s health and fitness coaching.

“The reason I got into this and started is because I wanted other moms to not have the ‘I wish I knew experience’ that I did, “ Friedman said. “Because at the end of the day, I really like helping people, and the more I helped myself learn these things, I could implement those with other people as well.”

Lessons from first to second pregnancy

Friedman was her own first client. Through her own experiences and evidence-based experimentation with her own fitness, she learned so much between her first and second pregnancies.

“I learned more about how to advocate for myself in the birthing process. I learned about birthing positions and understanding how I should communicate about this with my provider,” Friedman said. “When you are in labor, a lot of times you're told to birth on your back, to put your legs in stirrups, and push and bear down, all with a closed mouth. But that's actually not an ideal setup for birthing a child from a biomechanics stand point.”

This time around she trained a little differently and experienced new things. One of which was excruciating pubic symphysis pain ( a joint that lies in between your right and left pelvic bones). Friedman’s was so bad she could barely walk.

Normally the joint moves very little but that changes in pregnancy, as it helps the pelvic bones spread for childbirth. She notes that a lot of times mom’s experience pain in the front of the pelvis or have sacroiliac joint pain which is on the back side.

That’s why in addition to going to a chiropractor who was specifically trained to work with pregnant patients, she also went to a pelvic floor physical therapist. Both were very helpful in educating her and putting her in a far healthier place for delivery and postpartum life than she was in her first pregnancy.

“I think a lot of times people don't go to a PT during pregnancy because we think, ’Oh, I'll just deal with that postpartum.’ Right? I highly recommend seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist at least once per trimester, and third trimester probably more as you prepare for pushing,” Friedman shared.

Erica Friedman is a Certified Personal Trainer and Pre and Postnatal Fitness Coach based in San Diego, California. The proud mom of two boys is also the founder of Erica Friedman Wellness, where she takes a full-body approach to helping moms-to-be stay healthy and fit postpartum and beyond.

“Just understanding the breathing and different positions alone can be really helpful. They can also do some internal work on the area just to make sure there's not too much tension, and you'reprepared for delivery.”

She found this extremely empowering, and it was not something she knew to do during her first pregnancy. Another thing was adjusting her training mindset.

In Friedman’s first pregnancy, at 38 weeks, she was doing burpees just like she was before pregnancy, but in her second pregnancy she knew the benefits of prepping the body for delivery and focusing on HER journey. Instead, she trained for longevity and tailoring her fitness routine to preserve her pelvic health and body for postpartum recovery. It’s one of the many valuable lessons she seeks to teach other moms-to-be as a Pre and Postnatal Fitness Coach.

The birth of Erica Friedman Wellness

Her idea became a reality after the birth of her second son in 2021. She trained to become a Certified Personal Trainer and a Certified Pre- and Postnatal Coach. Then, she officially starting coaching in her own business, Erica Friedman Wellness.

She offers 1:1 personal training sessions (virtually all over the US as well as in person in San Diego, California,), small group training, and DIY programs for moms. This ranges from women trying to conceive all the way up to several years after having a baby.

A lot of preparation goes into her sessions for her clients. She takes a whole-body approach to providing training for the pelvic floor and does a lot on her end from a continuing education perspective to make sure you are getting the best experience.

“Taking a whole-body approach to the pelvic floor is really important. You had a baby and you need to see that the shoulder, the hip, the foot…everything is connected,” Friedman said. “We have to make it applicable to the activities of daily life and give moms the ability to translate what they’re doing in PT into a training environment so that they feel prepared if they want to go to a group fitness class.”

Needless to say, Friedman is a lifelong learner with an impressive list of certifications. It’s one she plans to continue to grow, as she finds that ongoing continuing education in this field is vital for her to be able to help moms.

Coaching pregnant and postpartum women

Coaching women who are pregnant or in their postpartum phase presents unique opportunities and challenges.

Since it is so specialized and the knowledge is so incredibly important, Friedman is working behind the scenes on her Coaching with Confidence workshop. It will educate trainers and coaches on how to confidently coach pregnant and postpartum women.

“Among your female clients, almost 9 out of 10 will either become pregnant, are pregnant, or are postpartum. So, being able to support a pregnant woman is vital as a coach because that's going to be the majority of your clientele,” Friedman said.

Some of the key differences in fitness training for pregnant and postpartum women versus clients who are not are:

• Check ins: How is my energy today? How does this exercise feel in my body? Mamas should not push through pain in workouts when they are pregnant.

• The mindset should be about engaging in fitness to preserve your pelvic health for the future and to understand that nine months of working out this way is a short amount of time in the scheme of life.

• Athlete Brain (Brianna Battles): Erica likes to joke, “check your ego amiga.” Now is not the time for personal bests, but rather a time to focus on prepping your body for delivery and the demands of postpartum. After all, you’re growing a human! We are prepping for a mini marathon of sorts (labor), but workouts shouldn’t leave you feeling completely wiped.

“Coaches are the first line of defense to help and support moms. Since a mom is at a studio or at a class and will try something and then say, ‘I can’t do that because I am going to pee in my pants,’ and after class it is your opportunity to share information about a pelvic floor physical therapist who can help with that,” Friedman said.

Erica enjoying a workout in the great outdoors.

In addition to a focusing on the pelvic floor, she finds it incredibly important as a Pre and Postnatal Fitness Coach and for fellow coaches to take a full-body approach to fitness. One example of this is breathing.

Learning how to breathe the right way plays a pivotal role in managing pressure in the body and preventing leaks. “You breathe over 20,000 times a day. So, being able to optimize your breath pattern is going to be key for managing pressure in the body,” Friedman said. “ Pressure “leaks” appear as diastasis, pelvic organ prolapse, and hernias that can develop postpartum.

The early postpartum period

While she does not begin working with clients after until after they have been medically cleared at six weeks after delivery, for those who she has worked with in their prenatal period, she will provide them with information on restorative-type of exercises.

Areas of focus to support her clients in their postpartum healing are:

• Rest

• Pain management

• Breathing drills

• Mobility exercises

• Early core stabilization

“I send clients supportive breathing drills and mobility stuff to kind of help them start reconnecting core and pelvic floor, creating some expansion in those really tight, sticky areas. Mobility exercises focus on the chest, upper back, hip because our posture of our body shifts a lot during pregnancy,” Friedman said. “As soon as the baby leaves the body, things don't just like go back to how they were. Everybody's different, but there's definitely very tight spots.”

She loves to focus on breathing, specifically diaphragmatic breathing. It integrates the core and pelvic floor with the rest of the body, focusing on expanding the rib cage.

“During pregnancy, the flow of inhaling and exhaling is disrupted. This makes it harder to breathe and manage pressure throughout the body. Since we need that, the pelvic floor and the diaphragm kind of work together,” Friedman explained. “As we inhale, our diaphragm descends, pelvic floor descends, and this pushes pressure down so pelvic floor needs to kind of like lengthen to receive that. Then the counter to that is the exhale pelvic floor ascends.”

You can find information on breathing and so much more in Friedman’s The First 6 Weeks Postpartum: A Comprehensive Guide to Healing & Early Movement by clicking here on her site.

Success stories

Friedman has coached clients from the time they were trying to conceive through having multiple pregnancies and postpartum.

Her success in helping moms is evident in the stories they have shared with her and the experiences she has had while coaching them in sessions.

Clients have said that after working on exercises with her that they did not feel as many the aches and pains as they normally would have in a past pregnancy. They learn the importance of working on rotation and other things. In fact, she keeps a checklist of her process for progressing postpartum moms to make sure she always hits those particular exercises with everyone.

“One of the things that I like to do as a coach is help people understand how they can breathe and move better,” Friedman said.

She recently got feedback from a mom who shows what a huge win that can be.

“A recent mom told me that I had given her specific exercises to work on and that her pelvic floor physical therapist on palpitation said that there was a lot less restriction, a lot less tightness, and she was better able to connect pelvic floor with the breath based on the exercises we did together.”

Erica working out with one of her young sons close by.

Conclusion

Erica Friedman Wellness offers an invaluable and greatly needed combination of services to enhance woman’s health during their prenatal and postnatal phases that can serve them well lifelong.

At the heart of this is the opportunity to work with Friedman, who not only has been through her own pregnancies, but brings a passion for educating and empowering moms.

“I have a really unique niche,” she said. “I want to continue to learn as much as possible and help other moms.”

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Empowering Moms Through Pre- and Postnatal Coaching