Pregnancy and Postpartum Coaching
Dr. Dan Pope and Dr. Sarah Duvall will guide you through the best methods and modifications for coaching pregnant and postpartum women
This Course is Designed for:
Strength Coaches
Physical Therapists
Personal Trainers
There is a lack of knowledge in the fitness industry regarding how to properly coach pregnant and postpartum women
Think about it, how much education did you receive about working with pregnant and or postpartum women either in school or through your coaching certifications? Did they talk about the pelvic floor? How about specific issues that women face with training?
Did you know that 1/3 of female athletes experience leaking (urinary incontinence) when training?
- British Journal of Sports Medicine 2017
Did you know that the risk of leaking actually goes up during and after pregnancy? How about some of these other common issues pregnant and postpartum women face?
- Diastasis Recti (splitting of abdominal muscles)
- Prolapse (pelvic floor contents pushing out through the vaginal wall)
- Umbilical Hernia (stomach contents pushing out through the stomach wall)
How you train these women can either INCREASE or DECREASE the risk of acquiring one of these problems.
Now, what this means is that you can either be the hero in your athlete's journey or potentially the cause of some pretty serious injuries. Pretty cool you get to decide right?
Now, when I first started working with pregnant women I was pretty freaked out. The last thing you want to do as a coach is to hurt a pregnant woman or her unborn child. It's a challenging situation to be placed in.
Working with pregnant and postpartum women is scary and uncomfortable
A lot of things start running through our minds when we're faced with this situation:
- Will I look stupid if I admit I don't know how to work with pregnant and postpartum women?
- I want this athlete to have a good experience but I don't want to hurt them because I'm not sure what I'm doing.
- Is this athlete going to sue me if I hurt her due to negligence?
- Do things need to change as pregnancy progresses?
- Which movements will cause problems and which are safe?
We don't want to look incompetent to our athletes. Women can see right through an uncertain coach. This can breed a lack of trust and potential loss of clients. The last thing we want on the back of our minds is worrying about whether or not we're hurting women. Fortunately for us as coaches we can directly face these fears head on. It just takes a little education and implementation.
Arm yourself with the proper tools to be the hero in your athlete's journey through pregnancy and the postpartum period.
Meet Your Pregnancy and Postpartum Coaches
Dan Pope DPT, OCS, CSCS
Dan is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and has coached and competed in CrossFit (TM) for over 5 years. Dan helps athletes achieve peak performance and prevent injuries through his site fitnesspainfree.com.
Dan has been that coach who's been uncomfortable working with pregnant and postpartum women. He's since armed himself with the knowledge and experience to work comfortably and effectively with these women.
Dr. Sarah Ellis Duvall PT, DPT, CPT, CNC
Sarah is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Certified Personal Trainer with almost 20 years of experience. Sarah focuses on core and pelvic floor recovery for pregnant and postpartum women through her site coreexercisesolutions.com.
Sarah sees preventable pregnancy and postpartum issues all too often and has devoted her career to helping women and educating professionals on women's health.
Why A Course for Pregnant and Postpartum Women?
because it's needed...
Sarah has spent the majority of her career working with pregnant and postpartum women. Unfortunately she regularly sees women who made training mistakes leading to some of the common problems we spoke about earlier.
After seeing this problem happen over and over so many times she basically said, "enough is enough".
She knew she needed to educate the coaches to help prevent some of these problems she was seeing on a regular basis. She knew that a large percentage of these mistakes could have easily been avoided with a little knowledge and application from the coaches they work with.
She contacted Dan because of his experience working both as a physical therapist and coach. Sarah knew more then enough about solutions for the problems pregnant and postpartum women. However, she knew that Dan could provide the practical information needed to have women continue training during and after pregnancy safely.
Together they made this course to help coaches avoid all of the common pitfalls suffered from pregnant and postpartum women in gyms everywhere.
Lessons are immediately relevant and applicable to coaches
Learn how to quickly and easily modify every lift found in the gym
Know the key principles that to make decisions on the fly in a group exercise setting
Master all of the common problems, how they happen and how to prevent them
Know how to easily assess for common issues (Diastasis, doming)
107
Total Course Lessons
8
Week Program - From A to Z
12
Case Studies From 12 Women
Interviews From Pregnant and Postpartum Women:
Coaches
Athletes
Olympic Weightlifters
Olympic Weightlifting Coaches
"The content is amazing and it is totally covers everything you would need to know and beyond when working with pregnant and postpartum women. This course will DEFINITELY equip our coaches with the right things to help our athletes. "
Becca Chilczenkowski
Head CrossFit Coach - Ohare CrossFit
Course Syllabus
Week 1: Anatomy and Posture Review
Anatomy review including diaphragm, core and abdominal canister. Posture review and posture assessments in pregnant and postpartum women.
Week 2: Pregnancy Exercise Modifications and Practical Application
Pregnancy exercise considerations, practical application, demonstrations and troubleshooting tips.
Week 3: Breathing and Pressure Regulation
Diaphragm function and breathing exercises
Week 4: Postpartum Exercise Guidelines Weeks 2-12
The postpartum athlete and exercise phases
Week 5: Understanding the Pelvic Floor
Pelvic Floor understanding and integration
Week 6: Pelvic Floor Specific Exercises for Leaks and Prolapse
Pelvic floor case studies, tests and specific exercises
Week 7: Understanding a Diastasis
Understanding and checking for diastasis and exercises for improvement
Week 8: Case Studies and Exercise Modifications
Pregnancy and postpartum exercise principles, technique and modifications. Breathing assessment case studies
Expert Interviews
Caitlin Steel, Rachel Connor, Becca Chilczenkowski and Tamra Wroblesky
"As a CrossFit Coach and new Physical Therapy graduate this course provided me with the knowledge about a population I hadn't learned about in regards to coaching. It really added to my foundation of knowledge and I look forward to using it as a resource in the future."
Lyanne Colon
Physical Therapist - CrossFit Coach
"As CrossFit affiliate owners (CrossFit Hershey and YorkFit), my husband and I are always looking for ways to set ourselves apart from other fitness centers. We serve a large population of postpartum women and have trained over 25 women through their pregnancies. Through this Pregnancy and Postpartum Coaching Course, I'll be able to dive into issues during pregnancy and help our moms with specific lifting strategies even more.
Sarah doesn't just relay information but challenges us to think and process information in a reflective manner, apply it ourselves and to ask more questions. Her style of teaching makes the content so much easier to understand and remember.
"
Caitlin E. Steel
CrossFit Gym Owner
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this course different from Dr. Sarah’s Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist Course?
Dr. Sarah’s course is directed toward physical therapists, personal training, pilates and yoga instructors with more of a broad view of understanding the pregnant and postpartum client. This course with Dr. Dan dives deeper into specific lifts targeted more toward strength coaches specifically.
How long will I have access to the course for?
Dr. Dan and Dr. Sarah think it’s important to be able to review material as needed. So, you’ll retain access to the course for the lifetime of the course.
How quickly do I need to finish the course to get CEU credit?
You’ll need to complete the course within one calendar year of your start date to gain CEU credit.
Is the course 100% online?
Yes, the course is 100% online and you’ll need internet access to access the material.
Is the course streaming or downloadable?
The course is streaming, like Netflix.
The Pregnancy and Postpartum Coaching Course
Pick up the course today!
