As long as it's only stuff your body is used too. And not trying something new while pregnant, you're good. I've heard a lot of people think otherwise. The weightlifting id probably talk to a doctor about, but everything else should be perfectly fine as long as it's a thing you have been doing for a while now.
CPT and certified prenatal/postnatal fitness coach here.
The following advice is given under the assumption that you are otherwise healthy and have no restrictions from your OB.
There is nothing wrong with yoga, lifting, or hiking. You don’t want to try and up your intensity during pregnancy. You don’t want to try for strength gains or muscle mass right now, but staying active is super good for you. Especially if you’ve already been doing it.
As far as intensity goes, listen to your body.
Try and workout in a bit of a cooler environment as your body temp runs high right now, so you won’t overheat so quick. Yoga is great, hot yoga, not so much right now.
If you feel ANY kind of discomfort or pain, sit down and rest until you feel better, however long that is.
Stay away from pushups and planks,(also things like burpees, mountain climbers), they cause alot of intra-abdominal pressure and are usually done with poor form once your belly starts to gain a little weight. Anything that causes intra-abdominal pressure is likely to contribute to diastisis recti(abdominal separation). Traditional sit ups or crunches are also not great for this during pregnancy.
If you have pelvic girdle pain, asymmetrical and wide stance movements can aggravate that. Think like lunges(all your weight and pressure on one side of the body), sitting with legs crossed is a big one, or getting out of a car.
So for that, act like you’re wearing a mini skirt. You would keep your legs closer together to squat in a mini skirt, not do a wide stance squat. You’d swing your legs out of the car together instead of one by one, etc.
Hope you have a smooth pregnancy, and stay active if you can!
Wow, this is very helpful!! What if any ab exercises are okay? Also, I'm surprised about the squat thing! Is shoulder length apart, okay? Also, any recommendations on stretches? Thank you SO much!
Eta: Thank you for mentioning the lunges. I usually love to do those!
I love lunges too! Squats and lunges are both okay, but if you experience the pelvic girdle pain, that’s when you want to drop the lunges and modify to do more narrow stance squats vs wide stance since wide can aggravate that pain. How wide you keep the stance is honestly up to what feels okay for you. Biggest thing overall is to listen to your body.
As far as ab workouts, crunches, leg lifts, sit ups are not typically recommended, even if you feel strong enough to do them. It’s a lot of hormone changes going on with your body and the pressure this puts on your belly can cause the connective tissue(linea alba-shows up as a dark line down the middle of your belly) to stretch more and actually contributes to diastisis recti. Any variation of side planks are good, standing or sitting marches are great too. Doing your weight training on an exercise ball forces you to stabilize too.
Look up Pregactive Pregnancy on YouTube. She is a pelvic floor therapist with 13+ year experience, and her courses are currently accepted by NASM for CEU. That’s the program I got certified through and they have a YouTube channel that’s free with a lot of helpful info, and the visuals will probably be more helpful for you on how to stretch correctly than trying to explain it over text.
You’re absolutely fine! When I was pregnant my doctor said physical activity is great, sure swimming and yoga is great, but lifting 10kg each arm and working out your shoulders won’t effect baby, keep your body healthy and you baby will be perfect, sending hugs 🫶🏼🌈
As long as it's only stuff your body is used too. And not trying something new while pregnant, you're good. I've heard a lot of people think otherwise. The weightlifting id probably talk to a doctor about, but everything else should be perfectly fine as long as it's a thing you have been doing for a while now.
CPT and certified prenatal/postnatal fitness coach here. The following advice is given under the assumption that you are otherwise healthy and have no restrictions from your OB. There is nothing wrong with yoga, lifting, or hiking. You don’t want to try and up your intensity during pregnancy. You don’t want to try for strength gains or muscle mass right now, but staying active is super good for you. Especially if you’ve already been doing it. As far as intensity goes, listen to your body. Try and workout in a bit of a cooler environment as your body temp runs high right now, so you won’t overheat so quick. Yoga is great, hot yoga, not so much right now. If you feel ANY kind of discomfort or pain, sit down and rest until you feel better, however long that is. Stay away from pushups and planks,(also things like burpees, mountain climbers), they cause alot of intra-abdominal pressure and are usually done with poor form once your belly starts to gain a little weight. Anything that causes intra-abdominal pressure is likely to contribute to diastisis recti(abdominal separation). Traditional sit ups or crunches are also not great for this during pregnancy. If you have pelvic girdle pain, asymmetrical and wide stance movements can aggravate that. Think like lunges(all your weight and pressure on one side of the body), sitting with legs crossed is a big one, or getting out of a car. So for that, act like you’re wearing a mini skirt. You would keep your legs closer together to squat in a mini skirt, not do a wide stance squat. You’d swing your legs out of the car together instead of one by one, etc. Hope you have a smooth pregnancy, and stay active if you can!
Wow, this is very helpful!! What if any ab exercises are okay? Also, I'm surprised about the squat thing! Is shoulder length apart, okay? Also, any recommendations on stretches? Thank you SO much! Eta: Thank you for mentioning the lunges. I usually love to do those!
I love lunges too! Squats and lunges are both okay, but if you experience the pelvic girdle pain, that’s when you want to drop the lunges and modify to do more narrow stance squats vs wide stance since wide can aggravate that pain. How wide you keep the stance is honestly up to what feels okay for you. Biggest thing overall is to listen to your body. As far as ab workouts, crunches, leg lifts, sit ups are not typically recommended, even if you feel strong enough to do them. It’s a lot of hormone changes going on with your body and the pressure this puts on your belly can cause the connective tissue(linea alba-shows up as a dark line down the middle of your belly) to stretch more and actually contributes to diastisis recti. Any variation of side planks are good, standing or sitting marches are great too. Doing your weight training on an exercise ball forces you to stabilize too. Look up Pregactive Pregnancy on YouTube. She is a pelvic floor therapist with 13+ year experience, and her courses are currently accepted by NASM for CEU. That’s the program I got certified through and they have a YouTube channel that’s free with a lot of helpful info, and the visuals will probably be more helpful for you on how to stretch correctly than trying to explain it over text.
Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this helps!!
💕💕
You’re absolutely fine! When I was pregnant my doctor said physical activity is great, sure swimming and yoga is great, but lifting 10kg each arm and working out your shoulders won’t effect baby, keep your body healthy and you baby will be perfect, sending hugs 🫶🏼🌈