Are you pregnant and looking to stay fit throughout your pregnancy? Well, congratulations on growing a mini-human inside of you! Now that we have gotten the polite stuff out of the way, let's talk about what activities local gyms and YouTube fitness gurus won't tell you about exercising while pregnant.
Consult Your Doctor First
Before jumping headfirst into any exercise routine or pulling up that prenatal yoga video, it is best to get medical clearance from your OB-GYN. Every pregnancy is different and may require certain modifications.
Cardiovascular Activities
Cardiovascular exercises are not only good for your heart but also help in maintaining a healthy weight during pregnancy. Always aim for low-impact exercises that minimize strain on joint stability because thanks to those hormones racing through your body with a potency equivalent to red wine, there are chances of overstretching or even injuring yourself unintentionally when engaging in high impact moves. Here are some activities worth giving a try:
Walking
While walking might sound basic AF, it’s one of the easiest forms of cardiovascular activity with zero risks attached to it. It’s an easy workout since all you need is comfortable footwear (stat away from killer heels), hydration before hitting set routes like neighborly blocks or indoor treadmills such as at Planet Fitness where entry fees start from 10 smackers per month! You can walk outside without ever touching anything besides fresh air picking up pace gradually over time until there comes no room left between bump-bouncing strides taken like skipping across fields solo!
Swimming & Aqua Aerobics
Isn’t swimming synonymous with floating around booze sponsored parties fulls off all kinds? How fun does holding onto rails sound?! The upside if being preggo knocks back spicy tequila shots isn’t suitable - via properly modified programs including aqua aerobics class accessible almost nationwide are offered exclusively for pregnant women! With swim strokes or resistance gears maximizing movement range while being safe, underwater exercise is excellent for reducing swelling and build cardio strength to support the whole mission of birthing a healthy skylarking munchkin.
Kegel Exercises
Now that we have covered some cardiovascular activities, let’s dive right into exercises specific to pregnant females. You may have heard about kegel exercises before your pregnancy since they help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles leading to fewer discomforts such as incontinence even outside pregnancy but times that by 1000 when carrying a baby around full term.
According to physically fit OB-gynecologists - bariatricians if you will, some women go through their entire pregnancies without doing regular Kegels because they didn't know any better. Wait for it … then after delivery find themselves questioning why wearing those discreet adult diapers has become part of their new reality. The horror!
What are Kegels?
Kegel exercises involve lightly contracting the ‘pubococcygeus’ (PC) muscle so that over time this becomes strong enough- getting picture perfect control back down there for which people alike can’t resist giving you an applaud once more… although ahem, quiet applause is ideal... ya know given social norms!
During pregnancy, these muscles get stretched more than usual due partly thanks to your mini-dictator dictating every movement from within resulting in potential leaks attributed directly proportional cystitis and postpartum depression rates. Taking just 5 mins each day would prevent walking around drenched like labradors with hula hoops hanging under our hoodies all morning.
Kegel tips include:
- Contract up slowly holding it at its maximal point till count six restricting breathing hold here.
- Count six slowly relax fully consciously!
- Only contract (insert “up”) adequate intensity do not strain eek.
- Feel freee engage another muscle group such as abs or glutes in sync to receive added value without switching from one type of body sculpting exercise to another.
Core Workouts
It should go without saying, but you should avoid crunches and other strenuous abdominal exercises like the plague. Underlying conditions such as Diastasis Recti (DR) are more common than people care about, especially since it can happen after just one pregnancy- a condition where our tummy muscles split open due to too much intra-abdominal PT after three Moscato-soaked preggo brunches with friends! Alas… ABstinence is key here (see what I did there)!
Side Planks
Side planks help strengthen your oblique muscles avoiding twists while preventing DR progress during your pregnancy. This variant of traditional plank involves lying onto side supported by elbow aligned beneath corresponding shoulder steadily raising hips until forming long line head-to-toe parallel facing frontwards ground while staying smiley through out!
Wall Squats
Wall squats involve standing against a wall and sliding down toward the ground so that knees bent 90 degrees over ankles - holding or repeating for different intervals train core focus on breathing techniques throughout this exercise ideal preparation for labor room yoga sessions.
Ball Exercises
Utilizing an inflated ball is comfortable support allowing experiments explore stability & perfect balance varies studying changes felt most gentle bounce possible assist back and torso strength when exercising these pieces of equipment ideal in studios designed around movement therapy – even be available online across internet marketplaces limiting costs left on those harried moms budgets faced facing climate change directly proportional number nights gathered children into same double bed overnight.
Final Thoughts
Staying fit during pregnancy goes beyond weight management-it’s about keeping up physical activity level reducing discomforts upcoming labor pain/dedelivery if we’re getting all technical-like suggest skipping any “butt blaster” cardio classes featuring quad-smashing kettlebell lunges- outta there pronto before getting nowhere slowly with a swollen bump blocking views of toes all stopped yoga classes or resisted group boot camp environments.
Taking time to research and plan for healthy workouts goes hand in hand with keeping your doctor close. Investing just a few hours each week into safe exercising routines such as kegel crawls; gentle swimming techniques building core strength while not neglecting plank variations is one of the smartest investments you can make during your pregnancy period - yep even optimal over purchasing that five-tier wedding cake some credit card company agent personnel recommended (for no reason) because ‘you have access to funds available’ – wink, go ahead and spot yourself – I’ll wait. Finally you should commending every effort despite how unfortunate slip-ups can get throughout whole process so please no negative self-talk ladies!