I wanted to share my review of the Expecting and Empowered PDF to dilute the sea of raving reviews here on Reddit and elsewhere on the internet.
Some background: I consider myself a fit person. I’m not an athlete, but I’m fit. I like going hard with moderate weights and HIIT training, but I don’t lift heavy — it’s not my thing. I also don’t do video follow alongs: when I’m at the gym (or working out in general because, you know, COVID) I want to work my body and relax my mind, so I don’t want to listen to some trainer “motivating” me, I want to zone out to music or a podcast. I was comfortable doing my usual modified programming in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, but once I hit the second trimester, I wanted something pregnancy-focused with some guidance. After reading lots of reviews and trying a few apps, I took the plunge and bought the E&E PDF.
Overall, I feel scammed. Here’s why:
b. There is zero instruction on how to brace properly in the strength exercises. It seems like you just do your kegels and then do whatever with your core and pelvic floor as you do the strength exercises. Which obviously should not be the case. Do the authors assume their readers have prior knowledge? If so, this is a really terrible guide. Do the authors just not care? If so, they’re terrible trainers and PTs.
b. They say that your workout will last for 30-45 minutes. This is a lie. I’ve not been able to get through the stretching routine, the PF part, and three rounds of the strength exercises in less than an hour. I’m usually still at it after an hour and 15 minutes. Admittedly, I don’t go too fast, I focus on form and I rest between sets (because, you know, pregnant) but doing all the programming in 30 minutes just seems unrealistic. By the end of the workout I don’t feel challenged. I feel bored out of my mind.
c. They tell you that you need dumb bells and resistance bands. Cool stuff! That (plus a kettle bell) is what I have at home! What they don’t tell you is that you need a hook/secure thing to attach your resistance band to for many of the workouts. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s a typical fixture in people’s homes. This just feels like a lazy, lazy adaptation of cable exercises in the gym.
d. They have you doing weighted Russian twists in weeks 16-17 and then again in weeks 22 and 23. And high planks with weighted side opens in the same weeks.They have you doing mountain climbers in weeks 24 and 25. Now, I know that every body is different, but pretty much all the advice I’ve gotten so far is to avoid these types of exercises after the first trimester. You can still do them if you don’t see any coning/doming and know how to brace your core properly. Which, may I remind you, they don’t tell you how to do. They also don’t offer any modifications of progressions of these exercises (all they offer is a completely different exercise if you have DR). They mention coning/doming ONCE in the intro. Which, again, for people who claim to focus on postpartum health seems ridiculous and dangerous.
e. Bonus rant! The stretches. You start each day of programming with three seemingly absurd stretches. My only comment is: why? Why are the stretches in the beginning? Everything I know tells me that passive stretches don’t help you warm up. Why these stretches? They feel just so unsatisfying and pointless. OWL STRETCH? Please...
b. They claim you get access to a super-duper Facebook group as a valued client or whatever. And yet again: the only communication you receive from them is the link which expires after 24 hours. If you want to access the Facebook group, you need to find it yourself and request to join.
c. This is a complaint that’s my own fault really and it’s related to the guides being in a PDF. But I find it really, really annoying that they don’t offer at least a sneak peek inside the guides (like one week would be enough to give you a feel for the programming) OR a refund. I guess the joke’s on me: I really thought all the raving reviews on this sub and elsewhere were justified.
(EDIT: I stand corrected: there is a sample week. All you have to do to see it is dig through their blog until 2018: https://www.expectingandempowered.c...-trimester-recommendations-and-sample-workout)
Anyway, that’s it, that’s my review! Hopefully this will help somebody make a decision one way or another before buying the guides. If E&E worked for you, I’m honestly thrilled for you. I wish it worked for me. For now, it’s back to searching, creating my own workouts and throwing in some breath work and yoga.
If you have any recommendations for programs I could try, please let me know. So far, I’ve tried E&E, The Bloom Method (really useful month in pelvic floor education, but one month was plenty. It’s also too cotton-candy/mama-empowering for my taste) and Goodfortheswole (she’s great, but I just can’t do follow-along videos)
Some background: I consider myself a fit person. I’m not an athlete, but I’m fit. I like going hard with moderate weights and HIIT training, but I don’t lift heavy — it’s not my thing. I also don’t do video follow alongs: when I’m at the gym (or working out in general because, you know, COVID) I want to work my body and relax my mind, so I don’t want to listen to some trainer “motivating” me, I want to zone out to music or a podcast. I was comfortable doing my usual modified programming in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, but once I hit the second trimester, I wanted something pregnancy-focused with some guidance. After reading lots of reviews and trying a few apps, I took the plunge and bought the E&E PDF.
Overall, I feel scammed. Here’s why:
- The pelvic floor exercises are ridiculous. The reason why I bought the guide in the first place was its promised focus on the pelvic floor. Preserving my pelvic floor and functional core through pregnancy is one of my main goals. It’s also the area where I need the most guidance as I’m no expert. While the pelvic floor intro is well-researched, the exercises are a bit of a joke. You basically do kegels in various positions three times per week for five minutes. That’s it. That’s all the focus on the pelvic floor. I have SO MANY problems with this:
b. There is zero instruction on how to brace properly in the strength exercises. It seems like you just do your kegels and then do whatever with your core and pelvic floor as you do the strength exercises. Which obviously should not be the case. Do the authors assume their readers have prior knowledge? If so, this is a really terrible guide. Do the authors just not care? If so, they’re terrible trainers and PTs.
- The programming is repetitive, boring, misleading and borderline dangerous. I was looking forward to doing some varied weight-based strength training. I suppose I got some of this, but with huge “buts”:
b. They say that your workout will last for 30-45 minutes. This is a lie. I’ve not been able to get through the stretching routine, the PF part, and three rounds of the strength exercises in less than an hour. I’m usually still at it after an hour and 15 minutes. Admittedly, I don’t go too fast, I focus on form and I rest between sets (because, you know, pregnant) but doing all the programming in 30 minutes just seems unrealistic. By the end of the workout I don’t feel challenged. I feel bored out of my mind.
c. They tell you that you need dumb bells and resistance bands. Cool stuff! That (plus a kettle bell) is what I have at home! What they don’t tell you is that you need a hook/secure thing to attach your resistance band to for many of the workouts. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s a typical fixture in people’s homes. This just feels like a lazy, lazy adaptation of cable exercises in the gym.
d. They have you doing weighted Russian twists in weeks 16-17 and then again in weeks 22 and 23. And high planks with weighted side opens in the same weeks.They have you doing mountain climbers in weeks 24 and 25. Now, I know that every body is different, but pretty much all the advice I’ve gotten so far is to avoid these types of exercises after the first trimester. You can still do them if you don’t see any coning/doming and know how to brace your core properly. Which, may I remind you, they don’t tell you how to do. They also don’t offer any modifications of progressions of these exercises (all they offer is a completely different exercise if you have DR). They mention coning/doming ONCE in the intro. Which, again, for people who claim to focus on postpartum health seems ridiculous and dangerous.
e. Bonus rant! The stretches. You start each day of programming with three seemingly absurd stretches. My only comment is: why? Why are the stretches in the beginning? Everything I know tells me that passive stretches don’t help you warm up. Why these stretches? They feel just so unsatisfying and pointless. OWL STRETCH? Please...
- The format and the whole purchasing experience feels really scammy. Don’t get me started on paying $150 for a PDF. Admittedly, I paid $80 since I only purchased the second trimester guide, but still. I suppose if you count it per week it kind of makes sense but whatever. Prices rarely make sense. You charge what people are willing to pay. However:
b. They claim you get access to a super-duper Facebook group as a valued client or whatever. And yet again: the only communication you receive from them is the link which expires after 24 hours. If you want to access the Facebook group, you need to find it yourself and request to join.
c. This is a complaint that’s my own fault really and it’s related to the guides being in a PDF. But I find it really, really annoying that they don’t offer at least a sneak peek inside the guides (like one week would be enough to give you a feel for the programming) OR a refund. I guess the joke’s on me: I really thought all the raving reviews on this sub and elsewhere were justified.
(EDIT: I stand corrected: there is a sample week. All you have to do to see it is dig through their blog until 2018: https://www.expectingandempowered.c...-trimester-recommendations-and-sample-workout)
Anyway, that’s it, that’s my review! Hopefully this will help somebody make a decision one way or another before buying the guides. If E&E worked for you, I’m honestly thrilled for you. I wish it worked for me. For now, it’s back to searching, creating my own workouts and throwing in some breath work and yoga.
If you have any recommendations for programs I could try, please let me know. So far, I’ve tried E&E, The Bloom Method (really useful month in pelvic floor education, but one month was plenty. It’s also too cotton-candy/mama-empowering for my taste) and Goodfortheswole (she’s great, but I just can’t do follow-along videos)