Expecting Exercise Aerobics Champion Promotes The Benefits Of Physical Activity During Pregnancy
The day before her scheduled Caesarean section, aerobics champion Tyla Reich of Westlake Village, Calif., donned her Danskins and headed for the health club.
With black Lycra stretched taut over her about-to-burst belly, the fitness expert was once again a dancing billboard of her belief in the benefits of exercise during pregnancy.
“I told the photographer, ‘I’m having this baby tomorrow. Shoot me from a flattering camera angle,”’ said Reich, laughing.
“But how much can you do? I’m a pregnant woman in a leotard and that’s already, well, interesting looking.
“At least I wore a black leotard. That helps.”
Reich, 32, happily has skipped, stretched and rocked through three pregnancies as a fitness director.
The two-time medalist in national and international aerobics competitions has taken her move-it-mom message nationwide with the release of “Tyla’s Mom-Jam” ($24.95; call 1-800-760-MOMS), a workout video for pregnant women.
In the video, Reich leads celebrity mothers-tobe Mimi Rogers, Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Designing Women”) and Cassandra Peterson (better known as Elvira) through an aerobics and bodystrengthening program. The tape comes with a giant pink stretchy exercise band.
In a testament to the simplicity of her plan, the tape was shot in only one and a half takes even though none of the women had worked out with Reich previously.
And one - Peterson - hadn’t worked out at all during her pregnancy up until the day the tape was shot.
“But I exercised a lot before I became pregnant, and I did the video and sailed right through,” said Peterson, 43.
“I was really, really jumping around there the whole day. And I was the oldest of the three women. But I was fine. I fell into it pretty easily.”
Reich says the tape is designed to benefit pregnant women at all fitness levels, even beginners.
“The fallacy is that pregnant women are in a really fragile state,” said Reich. “But reality is that a little bit of fitness in your life goes a long way.
“It helps your circulation, digestion, water retention, blood pressure - everything.”
Reich hopes the workout tape - her first - will propel her to the kind of aerobics fame enjoyed by competitors Kathy Smith, Jane Fonda and Denise Austin. After 14 years of not only leading classes but teaching aerobics instructors how to improve, Reich says it’s her turn.
“I teach aerobics the way aerobics should be taught - in a choreographed movement that anyone can get,” she said.
Her style isn’t corny or complicated, she said, but fun and challenging.
“I wake up and watch these aerobics shows on cable and laugh,” she said. “They are so bad.”
Reich was the gold-medal winner in the 1990 Reebok National Aerobic Championship. The following year, she won a silver medal in the World Aerobic Championships.
Dr. Brian Koos, chief of obstetrics for the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center, agrees that exercise in small doses is a healthy thing for pregnant women, as long as they don’t overdo it.
“If a woman doesn’t have a medical or obstetrical problem, then exercise is recommended,” he said. “How much exercise is beneficial - we really don’t have information about that.”
Reich used the 1994 guidelines of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in putting together her tape. In general, the guidelines recommend that pregnant women keep their heart rates below 140 beats per minute during exercise.
The guidelines also suggest a program with both a warm-up period before an aerobics session and a cool-down time after.
The stretching periods help prevent further stress on the joints, which already are stressed by the added weight of the baby, Koos said.
The aerobics portion of the workout should last no longer than 15 or 20 minutes, he said. Working out longer than that could restrict blood flow to the placenta and raise the temperature inside the uterus to a dangerous level.
Reich said her tape also follows the guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine and the advice of Beverly Hills, Calif., obstetrician Dr. Paul Crane, who appears on the tape.
“I’ve cross-referenced all the information to make sure we were conservative and safe,” she said.
Reich decided to make the tape after being approached by several moms-to-be during her pregnancies. They sought her advice on exercise and complimented her ability to work out, belly and all.
Women past 30, especially, are concerned about staying fit during pregnancy, said Becky DeLeon, nurse coordinator for the PregnaGym program at West Hills Regional Medical Center. They worry that their not-so-young bodies won’t bounce back after the baby is born, she said.
“Frequently we have women 35 and older having their first babies,” DeLeon said. “Many haven’t been exercising at all and suddenly they’re putting on a lot of weight and it scares them.”
Reich said women in the 30s and 40s have watched their mothers, sisters and friends sit idle during pregnancy and regret it later when faced with bigger dress sizes after the baby arrives.
“You’re seeing a whole new generation of people who want to be healthy during their pregnancies.”
Peterson said she perfectly fits Reich’s intended market.
At 43, after several miscarriages, TV’s “Mistress of the Dark” became pregnant again.
“I was very much into exercise before I got pregnant,” she said. “I worked out seven days a week with a trainer.”
But she stopped when she found out she was pregnant, afraid that the activity might trigger another miscarriage.
Peterson said she jumped at the chance to appear in Reich’s tape because she wanted to learn a safe aerobics routine to practice during pregnancy. She also agreed to appear because a portion of the proceeds benefits the Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Peterson gave birth to Sadie Leigh. The 7-pound, 13-ounce baby was delivered by Caesarean section after 26 hours of labor.
Exercise, in addition to boosting energy and maintaining strength, gives women a “positive self-image,” DeLeon said.
“They’re not just sitting there eating for two and feeling bad about it,” she said
Reich said the point of her program isn’t to control weight - pregnant women should gain between 25 and 40 pounds at a steady rate over nine months - but to improve general health and maintain muscle tone.
In fact, she said she worries about women who attempt to keep their weight down by excessive exercise.
“I see pregnant women in the gyms riding Lifecycles for hours, and it bothers me,” she said. “I try to promote a good, healthy weight gain.”
Reich gained 27 pounds with her pregnancy, which culminated with the birth of Bronson, an 8 1/2-pound boy. The baby was born by Caesarean section because Reich suffers from a condition that prevents her cervix from dilating.
Despite the surgery, she was predicting that she would be back at the gym in a few weeks.
“I feel fine,” she said. “Everything is going great.”