Brianna Battles coaches athletes through pregnancy, not around it. Here's how to deliver that specialty safely and within your scope.
Pre and postnatal is one of the most trusted, most-referred and most under-served coaching specialties - and it is the one you cannot run on a generic template, because it is symptom- and stage-driven from week to week. This breakdown covers Battles' Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism framework in our own words, adds our honest take on coaching it as a business, and shows how to deliver individualized, adaptable plans without guessing. It is general coaching education, not medical advice.
By Markus Evers · September 2026 · a Coachway video breakdown
the short version
Battles' Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism framework rejects both fear-based restriction and "nothing changed" invincibility: train intentionally through pregnancy, and return to sport postpartum in stages, letting symptoms - not the calendar - set the pace. The one thing a coach should take from it: this specialty is entirely individual, so screen every client for symptoms and stage, adjust the plan weekly, and refer to a physician or pelvic-floor PT when symptoms warrant. Coach within your scope - this is education, not medical advice.
Brianna Battles - Welcome To Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism with Brianna Battles
Source: Brianna Battles (Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism) on YouTube - "Welcome To Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism with Brianna Battles". Watch on YouTube. We embed the public video and summarise it in our own words; the video, title and channel belong to Brianna Battles, and nothing here implies her endorsement of Coachway.
read this first
This page is general coaching education, not medical advice, diagnosis, or clearance to exercise. Pregnancy and the postpartum period are medically sensitive. A coach works alongside the client's medical team - obstetric provider, midwife, and pelvic-floor physical therapist - and does not diagnose conditions (such as diastasis recti or pelvic-floor dysfunction), prescribe treatment, or clear a client to train. Coach within your scope, screen for symptoms, and refer out whenever symptoms warrant. Clients should follow their own healthcare providers' guidance.
Who is Brianna Battles, and why coaches watch
Brianna Battles is the founder of Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism (P&PA), a coaching methodology and certification for fitness professionals working with pregnant and postpartum athletes. She is one of the most recognized names in this lane, and her certification is widely known across the coaching industry. Her work sits deliberately between two failure modes coaches fall into: treating every pregnant client as fragile and telling them to stop, or waving off real changes with "nothing's different, keep pushing." This "Welcome" video is her evergreen overview of the P&PA approach - and it is exactly the lens this page is written for: not "which exercises are allowed," but "how do I build a real, safe, individualized coaching offer for this population."
What Battles actually argues (our summary)
This is our summary of the ideas in the P&PA overview, in our own words - not a transcript. Watch the original for her exact framing, and pursue her certification for the full methodology.
- 1
Reject both extremes. Neither fear-based restriction ("do almost nothing") nor "nothing changed, push through" serves the athlete. The goal is to train intentionally - adapting on purpose rather than either stopping or ignoring reality.
- 2
Breathing and pressure come first. Managing breathing and intra-abdominal pressure - how a client braces and exhales under load - is a core pillar, because that is what protects the core and pelvic floor as training continues.
- 3
Postpartum return is staged, not scheduled. Coming back to sport and lifting is a progression driven by how the body responds - not a fixed calendar. Load and movement advance as the athlete demonstrates readiness.
- 4
Symptoms are data. Leaking, pressure or heaviness, and coning or doming along the midline are signals to adjust - regress the load, change the movement, revisit breathing - and to refer out when they warrant a medical eye. They are information, not a verdict on the athlete.
- 5
Honor the athlete's identity, individualize everything. These are athletes, not patients to be sidelined - so the coaching keeps their identity intact while individualizing load and movement to the person, the stage, and the symptoms in front of you.
Coachway's take
We think Battles has done something most of the fitness internet hasn't: taken a population that gets either coddled or ignored and given coaches a real, principled way to serve it. The reframe we'd underline is "symptoms are data." That single idea turns a scary, high-liability client into a coachable one - because you're not guessing whether something is "safe," you're reading signals and adjusting, and escalating to a professional when the signals say to.
Where we'd add the business lens: this is one of the highest-trust, highest-referral specialties there is. A client you help return to training after a baby doesn't just stay - she tells every other mother she knows. But that trust is exactly why you cannot fake it. The specialty demands real education (Battles' certification exists for a reason) and honest scope. Our strong view is that a coach here is a coach, not a clinician: you screen, you adapt, you refer - you never diagnose, prescribe, or clear. Build the referral relationship with a local pelvic-floor PT before you need it, not during a crisis.
The other reason this specialty is a poor fit for generic programs: it is stage- and symptom-driven, which means the plan genuinely changes week to week. Two clients at the same number of weeks postpartum can need completely different sessions. That's not a bug you template your way around - it's the whole job. The coaches who win here are the ones who can capture what the body is doing each week and adjust from it fast, without drowning in admin.
So our version of the advice is: get properly educated in the specialty, define your scope in writing and refer without ego, screen every session early on, and let the weekly data - not the calendar - drive progression. Then build the delivery so that individualizing per client every week is sustainable, instead of something that quietly makes you dread the roster.
Screen the symptoms, adjust the plan, every week
A symptom-driven specialty only works if you can actually capture symptoms and act on them without rebuilding everything by hand. That's the workflow Coachway is built for. Use custom forms and check-ins to ask the right questions every week - leaking, pressure or heaviness, coning or doming, how breathing feels under load - so the client's body is telling you what to change before the next session. Client progress tracking keeps those responses trended over time, so a staged postpartum return is visible instead of guessed. And the workout builder lets you regress a movement, swap an exercise, or dial load the moment a symptom shows up - individualizing per client without starting from a blank page each week.
None of this replaces medical care or your professional scope - it's the delivery layer for the individualized, adaptable coaching Battles teaches. If you want the practical how-to first, our guide to coaching prenatal and postpartum clients online goes deeper, and how to program around client injuries and symptoms covers the same regress-and-refer mindset for the rest of your roster.
Start your 14-day free trialPostpartum return-to-training screen + client message
A weekly screen and a client-facing message you can copy and edit. Use the screen (weekly early on) as check-in questions inside your platform; use the message to set expectations honestly. This is a coaching tool for staying within scope and knowing when to refer - it is not a medical assessment. When symptoms persist or concern you, refer to a pelvic-floor physical therapist or the client's physician.
Return-to-training screen + message
Weekly postpartum check-in questions
- 1Any leaking, heaviness or downward pressure, or coning/doming along the midline during effort this week? (yes/no + when it showed up)
- 2How is breathing during lifts - can you exhale on exertion without holding your breath or over-bracing?
- 3Sleep, energy, and how the last few sessions actually felt in your body.
- 4Anything your healthcare provider or pelvic-floor PT has told you to do or avoid this week?
Client-facing message (paste + edit)
"We're not 'bouncing back' - we're rebuilding on purpose. Early on, load follows your symptoms, not the calendar: if pressure, leaking or coning show up, that's data, and we'll regress or change the movement rather than push through. Tell me what your body does during each session - that's how I progress you safely back to the training you love. And to be clear about my role: I'm your coach, not your medical provider. I'll coach within my scope and refer you to a pelvic-floor PT or your doctor whenever it's the right call."
Coach within your scope. This screen is for coaching decisions and referral timing - it does not diagnose or treat. Refer to a pelvic-floor physical therapist or the client's physician when symptoms warrant.
POSTPARTUM RETURN-TO-TRAINING SCREEN + CLIENT MESSAGE (via Coachway) General coaching education - NOT medical advice. Coach within scope; refer when symptoms warrant. WEEKLY POSTPARTUM CHECK-IN QUESTIONS (use weekly early on) 1. Any leaking, heaviness/downward pressure, or coning/doming along the midline during effort this week? (yes/no + when) 2. How is breathing during lifts - can you exhale on exertion without holding your breath or over-bracing? 3. Sleep, energy, and how the last few sessions actually felt in your body. 4. Anything your healthcare provider or pelvic-floor PT has told you to do or avoid this week? CLIENT-FACING MESSAGE (paste + edit) "We're not 'bouncing back' - we're rebuilding on purpose. Early on, load follows your symptoms, not the calendar: if pressure, leaking or coning show up, that's data, and we'll regress or change the movement rather than push through. Tell me what your body does during each session - that's how I progress you safely back to the training you love. And to be clear about my role: I'm your coach, not your medical provider. I'll coach within my scope and refer you to a pelvic-floor PT or your doctor whenever it's the right call." HOW TO USE: Run the screen as weekly check-in questions in your platform. Symptoms are data - regress load, change the movement, or revisit breathing when they show up, and refer to a pelvic-floor PT or physician when they persist or concern you. Do not diagnose, prescribe, or clear a client to train.
Coaching pregnant and postpartum clients - FAQ
How should coaches train pregnant and postpartum clients?
Brianna Battles' Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism framework rejects both extremes - the fear-based 'do almost nothing' camp and the 'nothing changed, push through' camp. The coaching approach she teaches is to train intentionally: individualize load and movement, pay attention to breathing and intra-abdominal pressure, and progress postpartum in stages driven by symptoms rather than the calendar. Crucially, this is coaching within scope, not medicine. A coach screens, adapts, and refers - they work alongside the client's physician and, when needed, a pelvic-floor physical therapist. Nothing on this page is medical advice or clearance to train.
What symptoms should postpartum coaches watch for?
The signs Battles teaches coaches to notice during effort include leaking, a sense of heaviness or downward pressure, and coning or doming along the midline of the abdomen. She frames these not as failures but as data: a signal to regress the load, change the movement, or check breathing and bracing - and, when symptoms persist or concern the coach, to refer to a pelvic-floor physical therapist or the client's physician. Coaches do not diagnose conditions like diastasis recti or pelvic-floor dysfunction; they observe, adjust, and refer.
Can you use a generic program for pregnant or postpartum clients?
No - and that is the whole point of the specialty. Pre and postnatal coaching is symptom- and stage-driven, so the same template applied to two clients at the same number of weeks postpartum can be wrong for both. Battles teaches individualization: load follows symptoms and the athlete's own body, not a fixed week-by-week script. For a coach that means capturing symptoms and stage every week and adjusting the plan from that, rather than assigning a one-size cycle. It also means staying inside your scope and referring out when something needs a medical eye.
Do coaches need a certification to train pregnant and postpartum clients?
Battles built Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism as both a methodology and a certification precisely because this population needs specialist knowledge - breathing and pressure management, core and pelvic-floor function, and staged return-to-training. A coach does not need to be a medical provider, but they should train within a defined scope, understand when a symptom warrants referral, and coach in partnership with the client's medical team. Getting educated in the specialty is what lets a coach serve these clients safely instead of guessing.
More coaching breakdowns
- · Meg Squats on women's strength programming - structured strength for the same audience, minus the pre/postnatal stage.
- · Steph Gaudreau on fueling female athletes - the nutrition side of coaching women as athletes.
- · The full roundup: fitness YouTubers coaches should study.
Keep building the specialty
all guidesHow to coach prenatal and postpartum clients online (a coach's guide, 2026)
A coach-facing framework for clearance-first screening, programming by trimester, the fourth-trimester return, remote check-ins that catch symptoms, and knowing exactly when to refer out. General information, not medical advice.
Read the guideMeg Squats on Women's Strength Training: A Beginner Barbell Structure (Coach Breakdown)
Meg Gallagher's women-focused barbell method, broken down for coaches: the main-lift + variation + accessory structure, her beginner on-ramp, and how to template strength programming for a mostly-female roster.
Read the guideHow to Program Around Client Injuries: A Coach's Guide
Train a client with a cleared or chronic injury without playing physio: what to ask, the pain-free menu, regressing load and range, and when to refer out.
Read the guideFree tools for this: Calorie Deficit Calculator · Macro Calculator · One-Rep-Max Calculator
Deliver individualized pre/postnatal coaching without the admin
A symptom-driven specialty only pays off if you can capture what each client's body is doing and adjust the plan fast. Coachway lets you run weekly symptom check-ins, trend a staged postpartum return, and regress or swap movements in the workout builder the moment something shows up - so you can coach this high-trust client safely and at scale. Start your 14-day free trial and build your first individualized plan.
