This is an exploration of the experiences of pregnant women who do capoeira - or who decide to stop doing capoeira. There was not much I could find to guide me when I wanted to know what to expect, just some anecdotes of very experienced capoeiristas who trained right up until the day they gave birth! 


But what could a less-experienced capoeirista expect? Would you have to switch to non-physical roles? If not, would training be harder to manage? How long could you keep it up? Would some movements be too difficult or dangerous? Are there pregnancy-specific aches and pains? What would the doctors and midwives say? And what would the physical return to normality after childbirth be like?

If you have any stories or experiences you would like to share, please get in touch! (capoeirakitty@gmail.com)

 ~

Saturday, 29 August 2015

Capoeira in the second trimester


If the first trimester was something like doing capoeira with awful PMT and a perpetual hangover, the difficulties in the second trimester were more subtle.

* Loss of flexibility
Although increased flexibility is very common in pregnancy due to slackening ligaments, I found that very soon I completely lost my back bend. Whereas before I had an effortless bridge, it started feeling like my organs were getting squashed if I tried.

* Sacroiliac pains
It was quite soon in the second trimester that I started to get transient crippling SI pain following training. These pinches are caused by increased movement in the joint and they get worse as pregnancy progresses. I had a consistent stretching regime focussed on my legs and hips, which may have exacerbated the SI problem.

* Cramps
Cramps in the feet and legs are another very common pregnancy complaint, especially at night. Capoeira movements definitely encouraged cramps that wouldn't subside and it was disruptive to my training. The swollen ankles from earlier on persisted.

* Round ligament pains
As the uterus starts to grow, occasionally there are twinges that feel like a stitch but lower down on either side under the bump. They seemed to come on in response to doing lots of walking, running or bouncing around (which puts extra strain on the round ligaments). Once they started the only solution was to avoid training for a few days and rest.

* Abdominal muscle pains
Regular conditioning was fine until around 22 weeks when I started to feel the strain in my abs doing crunches and press ups. From that point I stopped working on them as once the abs start to split apart, they are weakened and I wanted them to recover afterwards!


But it wasn't all bad! After the nausea/morning sickness passed, my energy bounced back and I would barely have known I was pregnant until 19 weeks when the kicks began. Throughout this trimester I was able to do everything in capoeira as usual except for the back bends. I even played in the roda from time to time, with care not to get knocked or fall - as everyone in my group now knew that I was expecting, they were extra careful with me.
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