As I always say, talk to your doctor about your body and exercising. Everybody is different and LISTEN TO YOUR BODY in each trimester. Every pregnancy is different and there are many opinions. I found a YouTube video that I really like explaining some pregnancy modifications that you will want to take into account. I have outlined her main points below.
- You can do what did before pregnancy, but with some modifications. Do not try something completely new. You can continue with what you did before, but with a few changes.
- Each trimester is different and all of us are different. You need to listen to your gut on what your body should be doing. Take into account nausea, fatigue, and your body’s behavior. Work your exercise into your symptoms.
- You need to reassess your intensity. Your reasoning of exercise may need to change. The goal of exercise during pregnancy is not to lose weight. Maintaining good health and taking care of yourself and baby should be the goal. Do not stress about looking good in a swimsuit. An idea is to bring your intensity down to a 75%. Bring down weight, bring down reps, take longer breaks, etc. Do not injure yourself.
- ABS. We are no longer training for abs. We are training for a strong pelvic floor. Breath from your stomach. Breathe in during the easy part of the workout, breathe out during the difficult part. For example, breathe in when you go into a squat and breathe out when you come up from your squat. Plank is not the best position. Side planks are a more natural position and holding your abs when doing compound movements.
- If you are worried, talk to your OB and workout instructors. Get advice and guidance.
One type of cardio exercise that I specifically enjoy is High Fitness. Contrary to the video listed above, this was a new exercise I started doing when I was pregnant. However, my body was already trained to do high intensity cardio, and so the movement, pace, and intensity was not something foreign to my body. Normally, I attended my local gym classes for High Fitness. Because of COVID-19, I have been staying home plus the gyms are closed. There is a High Fitness channel on YouTube that was released so you can do it at home!
Here is the link:
Following the advice from the first video I shared on this post, you can modify this workout. Additionally, there is a girl in the High Fitness videos who does modifications for each movement. Follow her! In the link above, she is wearing the leopard leggings. Luckily, there are usually girls in the live classes as well that do modifications. Even if you are the only one, own it! But I can almost promise you that you will never be the only one. Those that may be huffing and puffing will appreciate someone else doing the modifications with them. 😉 We all need to take it down a notch every once in a while.
Bump-it-Up Fitness 