PureGym has announced a partnership with Hatch Athletic to upskill 3,000 PTs across its international portfolio to better support pre and post-natal women.

Many women face barriers that prevent them from staying physically active during and after pregnancy. According to Sport England, pregnant women and parents of children under the age of one are among the cohorts least likely to be active, even mums who have historically led active lives find exercise levels can drop during pregnancy and post-partum. 

Concerns about how hard to train, how long for and how much to safely lift are all barriers. Studies in the UK have found that as few as 8 per cent of pregnant women and 10 per cent of post-natal women felt supported by coaches or fitness professionals to be active.  

Hatch Athletic has created a training programme and certification for PureGym, called Hatch Coach, which provides evidence-based, practical skills to train women safely through pregnancy and post-partum. Modules include anatomy and physiology; pregnancy and post-partum fundamentals; programming, nutrition and common conditions.

Hugh Hanley, group director of personal training at PureGym, added: “Pregnancy and early motherhood are critical moments for long-term health, confidence and wellbeing. Yet too often, women are forced to pause or abandon fitness altogether due to fear, misinformation, or lack of specialist support. We’re on a mission to make exercise as accessible as possible and to support our female members to continue on their fitness journeys throughout this time.”

Kat Suchet, founder of Hatch Athletic, says: “We’re delighted to be partnering with PureGym to offer this certification to all their trainers. As women’s health physios in the world of elite sport, we developed Hatch Coach after identifying a huge gap between the evidence base and healthcare-led guidance versus what was happening on the gym floor.”

The digital training programme includes 36 Continuing Professional Development hours endorsed by Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity. There is an app-based community and new content shared through monthly CPD sessions.