Exercise and Pregnancy Blog
With Dan Watt, Level 2 ACE PT, and Taylor Norris, RMT
I was standing in the gym talking to a member when a girl with a very pronounced belly started to walk by. The member and I both looked at the girl’s belly. The girl must have seen the questioning look. She smiled and said, “Yes, I am pregnant.” It’s often safer not to ask.
Second Trimester
You may want to lean back from the extra weight but don’t! The first picture is correct, the second is bad it will compressed your lower lumber vertebrae!
The belly should be showing and the Relaxin hormone active. That means your joints are getting looser to allow your baby or babies room to grow. It also means you might find walking a bit more wobbly and balance a little off. You also need to avoid lying exercises because the right vena cava could get constricted making you dizzy and not allowing the little one(s) inside to get enough oxygen. Consider lying on an incline bench or putting pillows or rolling a mat under your shoulders if you’re doing chest exercises or “light” upper abdominal crunches. Let your trainer, instructor, coach (who should already know), aerobic instructor, yoga instructor, etc. that you are definitely pregnant.
Remember not to use saunas, whirlpools to avoid getting too hot. Absolutely stop exercises that require you to lie on your belly, and lying on your back is probably not a good idea either. You may have to decrease the weights you normally use and decrease the intensity of your aerobic/cardio exercise to keep your heart rate down (you are breathing for two or more now).
It is hard to give exercises because each individual is at a different fitness level. Our Soup Can Workout mixed with stretching/yoga and some other exercises like the standing or hands and knees bird/dog (superwoman) is a good mix if you don’t have a routine.
Listen to your body. If your breathing is getting laboured beyond comfort; you feel very fatigued; you feel overheated, decrease the exercise level. At this point you should be seeing your doctor more often. Let your doctor know of any concerns.
We had some computer issues so no pictures yet.
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