How & Why I Continue to Exercise During Pregnancy
If you’ve listened to my recent podcast episode about Self Care During Pregnancy, you know a little bit about my pregnancy philosophy. If not, here it is in a nutshell: my top priority during pregnancy is to always do what’s best for myself and the baby growing inside me. There’s an unfortunate social norm that pregnancy is a time to become a couch potato and binge on ice cream, and while there is definitely a time and place for rest and indulgence (whether you’re pregnant or not), it’s incredibly important to eat well and stay in shape during pregnancy, because you’re making a person! So, ever since I found out I was pregnant, I have continuously reflected on my habits, behaviors, and mindset and considered whether they are supporting my and baby’s health, and this has helped me to stay on track.
I’ve talked about My Pregnant Whole30 and My Food Freedom During Pregnancy, and today I want to share more about how I care for myself during pregnancy, this time focusing on movement.
First of all, it’s important to note that everyone is at a different fitness level when they become pregnant and this should definitely inform your exercise during pregnancy. For example, if you were sedentary pre-pregnancy, you wouldn’t want to start CrossFit when you get pregnant. I was consistently active for about 12 years before becoming pregnant, including both low-intensity workouts (e.g., yoga, pilates, weight training) and high-intensity workouts (e.g., boxing, kickboxing, running). Right before I got pregnant, I had been sticking to low-intensity workouts because I was healing from adrenal fatigue, but I was still active 4-5 days per week. Once we got our happy news that baby was on the way, I stuck to this format for a little while… until my first trimester fatigue hit. Wow! I don’t know about you, but for me, it felt like flu-like exhaustion for about six weeks. I was also commuting 2+ hours each day and collapsed as soon as I walked in the door after work. During this time, I tried to be as gracious with myself as possible. If I was extremely tired or just didn’t feel well, I rested. In fact, I rested most days instead of forcing myself to exercise. It seemed very clear to me that that was simply what my body needed, and I didn’t fight it. Some days I did prenatal yoga videos on YouTube just to get a little movement. On the weekends, when I wasn’t commuting and had more leisure time, I would walk a few miles on the treadmill and go to prenatal yoga. Truthfully, it was a little hard for me to accept that I needed to rest so much during this time, but I knew it would pass and was hopeful that the second trimester would be better.
And, thankfully, the second trimester has been so much better! I started feeling the fatigue lift gradually around 11 weeks, and at 12 weeks, I started a consistent prenatal exercise program. My goals for prenatal exercise are extremely different from my pre-pregnancy fitness goals. Pre-pregnancy, I loved pushing my body as far as it could go—the higher intensity, the better! I, of course, liked to see aesthetic changes in my body, but also loved to feel progress in my strength and stamina. In pregnancy, my fitness goals are much more restorative: I want to increase my flexibility and strength for labor and for my and my baby’s health. I do also want to prevent myself from gaining excess weight, as I don’t believe that would be best for me and baby in many ways. Some women continue with their high-intensity workout programs during pregnancy, and if your practitioner gives you the green light, more power to you! But that would feel really unnatural to me right now. My natural instinct is to support and nurture my body, so I’m going with that.
For weeks 12-18 of my pregnancy, I followed the Tone It Up prenatal exercise program. I LOVED this program, as it felt like a great fit for my pregnancy fitness philosophy. The program has a great app with a schedule so you know exactly which workouts to do each day. The workouts tone the whole body, with a focus on preparing your body for labor and for lifting your baby postpartum. The workouts are also only about 20 minutes long but are effective. My favorite thing about them, though, is that Katrina (the co-founder of Tone It Up) has such a sweet, supportive vibe that I really identified with, and she was pregnant with her first baby while filming the videos so she’s really going through all of it alongside you. Tone It Up also has a really active and supportive community that I enjoyed being a part of.
While I loved the Tone It Up prenatal program, I wanted to try something new with a focus on preventing diastasis recti and strengthening the core and pelvic floor. I tried The Bloom Method for a couple of weeks, but really didn’t like it. I found the breathing and core strategies to be complex and just didn’t like the vibe of the founder/instructor. I didn’t even like the background music. But then I happened to see a Facebook ad for the Every Mother EMbody program, which follows a similar concept to The Bloom Method, but with a simpler method for strengthening the core and pelvic floor and a warmer vibe. Additionally, Every Mother actually has research to back up the benefits of their program for healing diastasis recti.
I’ve been following the Every Mother prenatal program for the past few weeks and I really love it. The schedule gives you daily workouts (which you can actually check off each day!), always including about 10 minutes of core compressions (a gentle method for keeping your core strong, which helps maximize the effectiveness of your pushes during labor). Most days also include a workout that lasts for about 15-25 minutes and requires simple or no equipment; other days instruct you to go for a brisk walk. It’s a great total-body workout that you can easily do at home in a short amount of time. I plan to continue following the prenatal program for the rest of my pregnancy and then do their postpartum program to help my body recover from pregnancy and childbirth! I’m excited to have found something effective and research-based that I can stick to long-term.
In addition to the exercise programs I’ve followed, I also incorporate other movement in my day as much as possible. I spend eight hours a day on my butt working my full-time job, so stretching is important in order to keep my body from getting stiff. I’ve done some of the Spinning Babies stretches (though not very consistently so far) and sometimes I just stretch on my own. I’ve really enjoyed some fairly easy hiking on the weekends. I’ve also made it a goal to walk three miles a day, four days a week. I think my walks are going to get shorter and shorter as I progress in my pregnancy, but getting some fresh air and sunshine is so important for me and baby. Walking helps keep my body in alignment and helps get baby into the right position, so even 30-minute walks are beneficial.
Overall, I’ve been pretty flexible about what my movement looks like, as long as I’m moving! And if I’m ever not feeling well, I listen to my body and rest. I know that if I force a workout when I have a headache or am really tired, I’ll just end up feeling worse (physically and mentally), and usually I feel better the next day after resting and can resume my workouts.
If you’re not sure how to get started with prenatal exercise, I suggest going for some short walks outside! Just getting some sunlight can improve your mood and get your blood pumping without requiring any special equipment, and you can do it no matter what your current level of fitness is. Swimming is also supposed to be fantastic during pregnancy, and I am definitely looking forward to some pool and beach time this summer! If you’re interested in starting a home fitness program, you can do the Tone It Up or Every Mother fitness programs with just a yoga mat, a light set of weights, and some resistance bands. Bonus: this equipment will be great to have around after baby comes, so you can sneak in some workouts at home! Just don’t feel like you have to jump head first into a program—even a little bit of low-intensity movement incorporated into your day will benefit you and baby (just skip the crunches).
As always, check in with your practitioner before starting a new fitness program!
What about you? Is there a prenatal fitness program you’ve enjoyed? Have you created your own “program”? Any form of movement that has worked well for you during pregnancy? Tell me about it in the comments!
I love the Every Mother EMbody program so much that I became an affiliate! This means that if you subscribe to the program via the links in this post, I make a commission at no additional cost to you.
