*By: Megan Deppen*
Working out has always been a part of my daily routine, so when I found out I was pregnant a few months ago, I wanted to make sure I could still find a way to stay fit.
It turns out there are a variety of workouts you can incorporate into your prenatal exercise routine and doctors will recommend that it’s a good idea to exercise around 30-minutes daily while pregnant because this will help with labor and delivery and postnatal recovery as well. As always, remember to listen to your body as every pregnancy is different and don’t overdo it.
Here are some prenatal workouts to consider:
Strength Training – This helps strengthen your lower back and abdominal muscles and helps control your weight gain throughout pregnancy. Strength training also helps build stamina for labor and delivery. Be careful not to lift weights that are too heavy.
Yoga – Yoga is a great way to stretch your body, especially when your belly starts to get bigger and puts pressure on your lower back and other parts of the body. Make sure to avoid hot yoga, due to the higher temperatures and more advanced poses.
Spinning – This is a great workout while you’re pregnant because it’s low impact, and gets your heart pumping. I incorporate spinning into my routine two times a week.
Pilates – Pilates is much like yoga in that in helps to stretch your body and is a low impact exercise. It also helps strengthen your abdominals and improves your posture.
Walking – Walking is another low impact exercise and works your cardiovascular system without putting pressure on your muscles and joints.
Here are some workouts to avoid while pregnant:
Exercises where you’re jumping, bouncing, skipping, and any other kind of jarring movements.
Abdominal exercises such as crunches and full sit-ups. Also, don’t sit on your back for prolonged periods of time, especially after 16-weeks as the weight of your belly pushes back on your main blood vessel, which could make you dizzy.
Any type of contact sports.
Balancing activities such as biking, skiing, horseback riding, etc. When your pregnant, your balance is already off, so make sure not to take the risk of falling.
Below are some prenatal workouts to check out:
What prenatal workouts do you recommend? Leave us a comment below!
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