First Trimester

Exercise and Pregnancy Blog

First Trimester

Sooo, Krystal isn’t pregnant in this picture but I can draw circle to represent the belly getting bigger until we get pictures.

Many moons ago a number of girls I knew became pregnant so I took an Exercise and Pregnancy course through Desert Southwest.  One of my earliest memories was training a girl and one day she told me she was pregnant and had to stop exercising, not because of a doctor’s recommendation but that was her culture’s belief.  Everything I’ve read and witnessed contradicts that.  On another day a girl saw me at the gym and asked if she could ask me something personal.  I told her she could ask but I couldn’t promise I would answer.  She said, “I want to get pregnant.”  I mumbled incoherently that I would have to look at what my contract says.  She must have seen the look in my eyes because she said, “Not by you, but I was wondering if you can continue working out if you’re pregnant?”  I replied, yes, as long as there are no medical complications.  If you are working out and become pregnant, and there are no complications, exercise will make the pregnancy easier and keep you and the baby healthier.  Exercise decreases the chances of gestational diabetes, keeps the back strong as you increase body weight and your pre-pregnancy weight is likely to return faster if you exercise during pregnancy.

I was training a girl in her early twenties and she was trimming everywhere but her stomach.  Frustrated I asked her if she was pregnant.  That could have been a big mistake because of something I foolishly said in the past.   I saw a girl I had known for a number of years at the gym and asked her if she was pregnant.  She said no, and I said, yes you are, I can see the pouch.  That’s when I ended up eating a workout glove.  So I waited for my client to call me nasty names but instead she said she was starting to wonder herself.  She was pregnant and we started adapting her exercise program.  Another girl, who I had already trained through a pregnancy, told me she was feeling hot and wondered if she was having hot flashes.  I told her she was too young to have hot flashes and suggested she might be pregnant.  She told me she was but didn’t want anyone else to know.

There is a three month rule for pregnancy, where the pregnancy is kept from the majority of people, because it is the most dangerous time for the forming baby.  But you need to tell your family doctor and your trainer or coach.  Once pregnant you are eating, drinking, and breathing for someone else.  It is not the time to go on a weight loss program, overheat in saunas or steam rooms; or continue certain exercises that have you lying on your stomach.

If there are no complications you can continue doing your aerobic exercises and weight training but remove exercises like lying bird/dog or superwomen and avoid machines that put pressure on your pelvic area.  You can jog until your stomach drops, so don’t give up on exercise unless there is a medical reason why you should.

Next Week Second Trimester (and maybe some pictures)!