Getting exercise everyday during my first pregnancy was a breeze. It was a joy to get out and walk during my lunch hour. During the second and third trimesters especially I felt healthy and energetic. Trying to fit in exercise while caring for a toddler full time this time around is a whole other story!
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Exercise Challenges During Pregnancy
I started off my Healthy Pregnancy Challenge with exercise in Week #1 for a very particular reason. At my first prenatal appointment with my midwife, my resting heart rate was a whopping 106. My normal is closer to 60. My midwife sweetly explained that my heart was weak from my first trimester inactivity. She said that the heart has to pump a lot of increased blood volume during pregnancy, so it is important to keep it strong with daily aerobic exercise.I know how very important it is to stay healthy and low risk so that I can experience another wonderful home birth with Baby #2. I was very alarmed and a little embarrassed when I realized I was not taking very good care of my body so far this pregnancy. Something needs to change, and quick!
Exercise Goals for a Healthy Pregnancy
1. Get your heart rate up at least 30 minutes everyday.
Walking is the perfect pregnancy exercise. It can get your heart rate up while still being low impact on your joints. Plus it's easy to do with your toddler. My plan is to get out with E in the stroller for 30-45 minutes whenever it is reasonably dry.
Here's my plan. Do each exercise for one minute. Do 30 seconds of marching with high knees between each set. After working through the entire list, repeat one more time.
2. Try a 20 minute touch up.
It'd be great to be able to get outside to walk everyday, but I know there is probably quite a bit of rain in the Spring ahead. I decided I needed a realistic alternative to do inside on grey days. First of all, I cut my goal for those days to 20 minutes. I can do anything for 20 minutes, right? I also wanted to make sure that there is no equipment to buy and store and that I can do it easily while caring for my toddler. If I'm lucky, he might even do it along with me.Here's my plan. Do each exercise for one minute. Do 30 seconds of marching with high knees between each set. After working through the entire list, repeat one more time.
- Jumping an Invisible Rope
- Squats (optional jump at the top)
- Jumping Jacks
- Plank
- Boxer's Shuffle
- Lunges, alternating legs (optional hop while switching legs)
- Arm Dips on Chair
- Rapid Fire Upper Cuts
3. Do your Kegels and other prenatal exercises.
When I was pregnant with E, we took Bradley childbirth classes. I highly recommend the classes for many reasons. Just one of them is the series of pregnancy exercises that are a part of the program. While these exercises and stretches might not seem to qualify as real exercise at all, each one has a particular benefit for your body during pregnancy, birth, and beyond.
I faithfully did the exercises throughout pregnancy, and I found great benefits. I haven't been so dedicated so far this pregnancy, yet. Kegels strengthen your pelvic floor muscles that can be weakened due to pregnancy and other factors. You'll be thankful you did your Kegels when you can safely sneeze or laugh during pregnancy or after birth without any ahem leaks.
I also found the pelvic rocks extremely helpful for completely eliminating my lower back pain. Specific instructions for each of the exercises are available in Husband-Coached Childbirth: The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth.
My plan is to do 100 Kegels 3 times a day, 100 pelvic rocks 3 times a day, and 10 squats 3 times a day and extras throughout the day.
With my new realistic pregnancy exercise plan, I hope my resting heart rate will soon be at a much healthier level. I'm also really hoping it will improve my pregnancy exhaustion along with prioritizing getting some extra sleep.
I faithfully did the exercises throughout pregnancy, and I found great benefits. I haven't been so dedicated so far this pregnancy, yet. Kegels strengthen your pelvic floor muscles that can be weakened due to pregnancy and other factors. You'll be thankful you did your Kegels when you can safely sneeze or laugh during pregnancy or after birth without any ahem leaks.
I also found the pelvic rocks extremely helpful for completely eliminating my lower back pain. Specific instructions for each of the exercises are available in Husband-Coached Childbirth: The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth.
My plan is to do 100 Kegels 3 times a day, 100 pelvic rocks 3 times a day, and 10 squats 3 times a day and extras throughout the day.
With my new realistic pregnancy exercise plan, I hope my resting heart rate will soon be at a much healthier level. I'm also really hoping it will improve my pregnancy exhaustion along with prioritizing getting some extra sleep.
What did you do for exercise during pregnancy?
Image Credit. Linked up with Your Green Resource.
It has been SO HARD to exercise during the second pregnancy with a little one in tow... especially since I HAD to take naps, so exercise during naptime was out. During the first pregnancy, I was a pro. I exercised almost every day. We also lived in the city and it was spring during my third trimester so I was out and about all the time.
ReplyDeleteWhat I did this time is probably not an option for most. When I'm NOT pregnant, I go to bootcamp or go running at 5 am (while husband stayed home and woke up with the toddler). I continued to do this until week 30, when my sciatica flared up. I continued to do spinning. Then 5 am workouts were just out in general because I need sleep to survive the day. If it were nice out, I would walk with the stroller, but seriously. It's winter. I live in the NE. Now it's SO cold and rainy here all the time and honestly? I just don't exercise. I am hoping that maybe chasing after my LO is exercise enough? Or that - hey, I'm at 39 weeks now, maybe it doesn't matter?
I just wonder how the heck exercise is going to resume with two small babies.
Good luck with everything! It's SO not easy!
Great tips. I actually got more exercise with my second than I did with my first, but that's only because we lived overseas, didn't have a car and walked everywhere that was less than ~2 miles compared to me sitting in a cubicle 10 hours a day with my first.
ReplyDeleteGreat article. I find the same exercises helpful i the first few weeks after giving birth as well!
ReplyDeleteGreat advice! Prenatal yoga classes and DVDs were really helpful to me too.
ReplyDeleteIts so difficult to maintain an exercise routine when pregnant because you are feeling so uncomfortable or ill, but I know now how important it is. My first pregnancy I spent almost completely inactive and paid the price. Great advice, I featured you on my Tuesday Baby Link-Up and pinned this :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with the Tuesday Baby Link-Up, be sure to check out this week!
I have been doing Fit2B . A great variety of workouts focused with a whole pregnancy/mamma section. She teaches how to work on your stomach muscles for delivery/pregnancy and how to heal the separation that can occur. Which is also connected to *leaking....etc...I also learned how to correctly do kegels from her site. And it's fun.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if my last comment posted. But I noticed I had a major separation in my tummy muscles (there's a technical term, too) and I was researching how to heal when I came upon Fit2B, an online exercise program. I have really loved it and have used the pregnancy portion to stay more connected to my core and learn correctly to do kegels. This along with walks has been my focus. Though I must admit I've slacked but with 4 weeks left, I still feel good and am going to start walking today, along with my 3-4 times weekly fit2b workouts. PS I've really enjoyed your site....in preparation for my vbac.
ReplyDelete