Coaching Pregnant and Postpartum Athletes: What Every Coach Should Know

Most coaches have a plan for an athlete coming back from back surgery or a torn ACL. Very few have a plan for an athlete who just told them she's pregnant. Brianna Battles, founder of Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism (P&PA), has spent about 12 years closing that gap and has certified more than 5,000 coaches in 62+ countries.

Her starting point: “Pregnant and postpartum athletes are not fragile, and they're also not invincible, so coaches are the ones who help them learn to be adaptable.”

Here's what she told PushPress gym owners in our October 2026 PushStart webinar about coaching these athletes well.

How many of your athletes are pregnant or postpartum?

More than you think. Here are the numbers Brianna shared, with the research behind each one:

• Women are nearly half (about 48.5%) of U.S. fitness facility members (Health & Fitness Association, 2025). Many CrossFit gyms skew higher.
• About 85% of U.S. women have given birth by their early 40s (Pew Research Center). As Brianna puts it, “If you aren't coaching moms, you're just not coaching moms yet.”
• Every first-time mom in one ultrasound study met the diastasis recti threshold at 35 weeks, and 39% still did at 6 months postpartum (Mota et al., Manual Therapy). It's a normal adaptation, not something to fear.
• 44.5% of female CrossFit athletes report urinary incontinence, pooled from 13 studies and 4,823 women (Domínguez-Antuña et al., 2023, International Urogynecology Journal). Leaking during double-unders is common, not rare.
• 29.6% of elite female athletes vs. 13.4% of non-athletes experience urinary incontinence (Carvalhais et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine). Athletic women see it more, not less.
• About 41% of women aged 50 to 79 showed some degree of pelvic organ prolapse on exam (Hendrix et al., Women's Health Initiative). Many won't know it until training feels wrong.

A note on the research: the CrossFit incontinence review rates its underlying studies low to fair quality, and diastasis rates depend on the measurement cutoff used. The direction is consistent: these symptoms are common in athletic women.

PushPress host Zach Forrest tested this on his own gym during the webinar. Eight of his roughly 70 members were pregnant or had given birth in the past year.

Why doesn't “just listen to your body” work?

Because it gives the athlete nothing to act on. Coaches don't say it to anyone else. “We wouldn't say, just listen to your body,” Brianna said. “We'd give them, like, some parameters, right?”

The instinct comes from a good place. Coaches don't want to say the wrong thing. But to the athlete, it can read as dismissive, especially when her body feels unfamiliar. Brianna works with professional athletes who say the same thing after having a baby: they don't know this body yet.

When the gym can't help, athletes go elsewhere. “A lot of the complaints that I hear from CrossFitters is my coach just doesn't, like, get this stuff,” Brianna said. So they buy an outside program, or they stop coming.

What should coaches adjust for pregnant and postpartum athletes?

Adjust the training variables, not just the movement. “I know you can find creative ways for them to do a burpee,” Brianna said. “That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how they manage their training loads and their pressure.” She frames this as proactive, not as a danger warning.

1. Load

Adjust the weight on the bar to match where the athlete is, in pregnancy or postpartum, and how she's feeling that day.

2. Volume

Adjust reps and total volume. The same movement can be fine at one volume and bring on symptoms at another.

3. Breathing and bracing

This is the big one. Brianna points out that the Valsalva maneuver “was honestly taught with male bodies in mind.” Two common patterns push pressure out into the midline or bear down into the pelvic floor, which adds pressure on top of the barbell load.

Her cue: “Breathe higher and wider, breathe into the lats.” It spreads pressure up and out instead of down. She uses it with men who have low back pain too. Coaches can also have athletes exhale through the sticking point of a lift, like coming out of the bottom of a squat or around the knees on a deadlift.

4. Intensity

Scale exertion to symptoms and readiness, not a heart rate cap. “It's not capped by heart rate at all,” Brianna said. At high intensity, athletes stop thinking about mechanics, and some seasons just don't have that capacity. Reading the room is the coach's job.

5. Position

Small position changes can take load off the abs and pelvic floor:

• Deadlift lockout. Many athletes squeeze and tuck the hips at the top so they don't get no-repped. That keeps the pelvic floor clenched the whole lift. Brianna coaches a more stacked finish so the glutes stay involved and the pelvic floor can lengthen and contract.
• Running and double-unders. A tucked, squeezed glute position with the rib cage flared is common. A slight forward lean gets the glutes working so they help absorb force. On the webinar, Zach and Brianna settled on the cue “nose over toes.”

Which movements are hardest on the pelvic floor?

High-impact movements: running, high-volume box jumps, single-unders and double-unders, and the catch in Olympic lifts. “High impact is, like, a one rep max for that pelvic floor,” Brianna said. It's also repetitive, so the pelvic floor has to absorb force, rebound, and produce force over and over.

If an athlete leaks or feels symptoms during these, don't just cut the movement. Look at position first and get the glutes more involved. “The glutes and the pelvic floor are… they're like best friends,” Brianna said.

What's the one thing every coaching staff should understand?

Zach asked Brianna exactly this. Her answer: talk openly about pelvic health symptoms and how common they are, and make it okay to modify.

CrossFit culture celebrates the pregnant athlete lifting heavy. That's not wrong, but it can turn training into proving something. Brianna's alternative is the long game: “If we are able to coach athletes through the lens of what they want their life to be like at one year postpartum, and reverse engineer that process. We will improve outcomes and experiences of women in our gym. Full stop.”

That also means coaching against comparison. Athletes compare themselves to elite pregnant athletes on social media. Brianna's point: that isn't the bar.

Where does the coach's job stop?

Coaches aren't clinicians. A pelvic floor physical therapist is the practitioner who can assess what an athlete is working with, and athletes should follow their provider's guidance. The coach's role is to help athletes make practical training decisions and keep training toward their goals.

That's where a coach with specialty education earns their keep. If you're considering it, here's how continued education pays off for coaches and gyms. Brianna's P&PA Coaching Certification goes deep on everything above, and she offered webinar viewers $500 off with code PUSHPRESS500.

Coaching pregnant and postpartum athletes FAQ

Is it safe for pregnant athletes to keep lifting?

Brianna's view is that the research has already established exercise as safe and beneficial for mom and baby, and that her focus is the next layer: pelvic health and long-term performance. Every athlete should follow her own provider's guidance.

Should pregnant athletes keep their heart rate under a limit?

Brianna doesn't cap intensity by heart rate. She scales exertion to the athlete's symptoms and readiness. Again, the athlete's provider has the final word.

Is diastasis recti a problem?

According to Brianna, diastasis recti occurs in almost all full-term pregnancies as the abdominal wall separates to make room for the baby. In one ultrasound study of first-time moms, every participant met the diastasis threshold at 35 weeks, and 39% still did at six months postpartum (Mota et al.). It's a normal adaptation. Postpartum, the coaching goal is helping the athlete rebuild core strength.

What should a coach do if an athlete leaks during double-unders?

Start with position: a slight forward lean (“nose over toes”) and more glute involvement instead of a tucked, squeezed position. Then look at volume. If symptoms continue, refer her to a pelvic floor physical therapist.

Keep going

Want to turn this expertise into a program? Here's how to launch a postpartum program and what to charge. Or watch the full webinar with Brianna Battles below, including her bracing and deadlift demos. More coaching reads: Coaching CrossFit and how to keep good coaches long-term.

This post is coaching education, not medical advice. Athletes should follow guidance from their own healthcare provider.