Welcome to CRUNCH Fitness!

Expand your mind along with your body. During pregnancy is an incredible time to practice yoga to keep your body healthy, your mind stress-free, and to connect to your growing baby. This gentle and effective program is designed to keep you toned as well as get you ready for the big day. Appropriate for any trimester, you'll move through a series of poses that focus on breathing as well as strengthening and stretching muscles that will prepare you for the challenge of labor and birth. Yoga can also improve your circulation and digestion plus relieve common tensions related to pregnancy.

Pregnancy is a beautiful time to enjoy, and yoga can help you make the most of it.

The CRUNCH Philosophy:

The CRUNCH fitness program welcomes people from all walks of life regardless of shape, size or ability. We created a workout environment that not competitive or judgmental. Enjoy these favorite classes with imaginative instructors in an atmosphere that makes working out fun.

Meet the instructor:

Sue Elkind, Los Angeles. Yoga instructor, and new mom. Fitness philosophy: live fully, laugh fully, and love fully. Pregnancy can be such an amazing time if you can slow down and enjoy the process. Favorite splurge food: vegan chocolate chips cookies when not pregnant; when pregnant... the REAL thing!!

Crunch, a New York-based gym, keeps bringing innovative and hip exercise videos to VCRs across the country. You don't have to be in a metropolitan area to experience cutting-edge fitness trends and formats because Crunch: Yoga Mama delivers an effective (and chic) pre-natal workout that can be done in the comfort of your living room. Instructor (and pregnant woman) Sue Elkind leads this 40-minute workout with concise descriptions and a healthy knowledge of yoga as it relates to pregnancy. The content here provides a workout that is both safe and efficient, with great attention to participants' individual fitness levels. This session is presented with a backdrop class (consisting of women in various stages of their pregnancies) that demonstrates modified and more challenging options to each pose. Pregnant participants may find it more appropriate (and less annoying) to take direction from another pregnant woman rather than an ultra flexible, ultra thin (non-pregnant) instructor. Basic postures within yoga are taught with intensive focus on breathing, flexibility, and the constant connection between mind/body (and mother/child). Some poses are altered to accommodate the roundness of the midsection with constant awareness of spine alignment. Elkind gives special attention to balance as she slowly increases the intensity of postures. After a series of basic poses are performed, Kegels are practiced (which strengthen the pelvic floor), and meditation closes out the workout. This basic format is friendly for beginners, pre- and post-natal women, or anyone who requires modifications. This safety-conscious video offers a simple, straightforward workout with real potential for increased strength and flexibility. Props needed: a blanket or pillow, a mat, and (especially if you are expecting) a chair. --Olivia Voigts