The Bump Plan is an online pregnancy workouts platform based primarily on the pilates practice. The Bump Plan has helped over 35,000 women around the world, helping them to build key strength whilst trying to conceive, throughout pregnancy, and into the postnatal period. Initially skeptical of any kind of online plan, I was both interested and cautious to commit to reviewing a subscription package for this period of time, thinking perhaps I would want to give up after a few classes!

Fast forward to week 39 of my pregnancy and I’m pleased to report that I believe this platform is truly worth every penny.

Concept:

The Bump Plan was created in 2020 by Hollie Grant, coming from her lifelong desire to help TTC, pregnant, and postnatal women enter into this amazing period of their life strong and prepared for the myriad changes that happen to their bodies along the way. Hollie recorded all the workouts for The Bump Plan TTC,  Pregnancy, and Postnatal while she was going through those stages of her own motherhood journey, so you actually had someone having the same symptoms as you during every stage- so relatable! There are 3 ways to pay, monthly (flexible) will set you back £35 per month, annually (best value) is £240 per year or 6 monthly (most popular) is £30 per month.

Whichever way you choose to pay, you get a new set of online pregnancy workouts for every month of your pregnancy. These are tailored to the specific stages of pregnancy, with safety always coming first, and plenty of adaptation depending on how you are feeling. You also get access to the education hub, of which there are tons of blogs, videos and resources on all different aspects of pregnancy that aren’t necessarily fitness related. You also get a monthly newsletter from Hollie checking in, and you can email her at any time for anything fitness related which is really helpful. A bit like having your own personal trainer!

Lastly, when you first sign up you get sent a small exercise ball and exercise band which is needed for nearly all the classes. Apart from that, you just need a mat.

Experience:

I found myself really cherishing every moment I took for myself on the mat led by founder Hollie Grant. I didn’t know this when I first found out I was pregnant of course, but I found myself struggling to find pregnancy-suitable classes within the class schedule at my local gym. Having initially thought I would know how to adapt, it soon became apparent that there is so much to think about during pregnancy, and unless your classes are led by someone qualified- you can very easily hurt yourself. The Bump Plan gives you a new set of classes for every month of your pregnancy, but you also get really informative newsletters, videos from Hollie about the different stages and symptoms of pregnancy and access to the podcast recordings.

Unfortunately, I developed SPD at week 24 of my pregnancy which meant that I found exercise really hard for the remainder. Ironically, this was the catalyst for me to pause my gym membership and focus on Pilates-style exercise for about another month. If I hadn’t been doing so many Yoga classes (in addition to The Bump Plan) with teachers who weren’t pre or post-natal qualified I really believe that I would have gone on much further into my pregnancy before developing this. The benefit of Pilates exercises during pregnancy for me (no fitness expert), was that it was totally controlled and monitored by Hollie at every point during the class.