Pregnant woman mortified after being ‘shamed’ and ‘kicked out’ of exercise class

When going through a pregnancy, all sorts of changes occur in the body and everyone has their own way of dealing with this.

Some abruptly stop going about their daily routine during this time and adapt an incredibly different lifestyle to ensure there are no complications – but others continue on as they were before.

One mum-to-be has been attempting to maintain her fitness levels after finding out she’s going to have a child, but it seems not everyone thinks she should be doing this.

Natalie Hillar from Sydney, Australia, claims she was recently forced to leave a gym class by an instructor who shamed her for being pregnant.

The communications consultant who is six months pregnant said she felt "humiliated" by this incidnet.

According to the mother-of-two, last Wednesday she attended her regular ‘Bodycombat’ session at a local Fitness First gym.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 40-year-old said: "I went to the class as ususal. I took a position at the back of the room and the instructor read out the disclaimer which they do in every class.

"She warned if anyone has any pregnancies or injuries to make sure they have a medical clearance, which I confidently have."

Natalie goes on to explain how the class starts and she follows the moves at a comfortable pace, avoiding jumping around.

Then suddenly the instructor shuts off the music and reportedly says: "I don’t know if anyone heard me at the beginning of the class but I don’t teach this class to pregnant people."

Unsure if she’d heard her properly, Natalie continued exercising.

But the music soon stopped once again.

She claims the instructor repeated her earlier words: "She stopped the music again and said ‘I can still see pregnant people in this class, I refuse to teach pregnant people’."

"At that point I realised I needed to leave," recalls Natalie.

"As I was walking out, I glared at her. Then she grabbed the microphone and shouted ‘I know you’re upset, but it’s for your own good, love.’"

She added: "I felt really humiliated. What confuses me most is I’ve been to the same class for my previous pregnancies and I never had any problems."

A spokesman for Fitness First explained that the safety of members is their "number one priority".

They added: "We understand the level of exercise during pregnancy is personal and usually determined by pre-pregnancy fitness levels and advice from general practitioners.

"In addition to advice from their GP, we recommend any pregnant members notify the group fitness instructor prior to participating in a class.

"All of our group exercise instructors are required to make members aware of any risks and recommend against exercises should they be unsafe. In this case, this was the professional recommendation given.

"The class BODYCOMBAT is not recommended during pregnancy because of the joint instability."

They added that their team are currently in touch with Ms Hillar.

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