A Guide To Pregnancy-Safe Workouts To Stay Fit

Pregnancy is a blessing to experience, but if you're someone who likes working out and staying fit, you might be wondering if it's going to be safe for the baby. So how do you keep your weight under control while pregnant?

Although beautiful, pregnancy has an ugly side; there are aches, pains, weight gain, and the swelling! It's a bit mortifying to watch your body go through those changes, but exercise can help with all these issues.

You'll have to modify workouts you can't keep up with or make them safer, so you're not putting yourself or the baby at risk. Here are exercises to keep the swelling and weight at bay.

How Does It Work?

For as long as you can, exercise, as usual, lift your weights, run a 10k, whatever you're comfortable with. But as the baby starts growing, it's going to take up space in your belly, put some pressure on your organs, and you might not be able to keep up.

If you find yourself feeling a bit unmotivated or even tired, it's not just you; having a high amount of progesterone will do that to you. Growing a tiny human is exhausting, so don't beat yourself up if you're feeling tuckered out.

You should definitely check with your doctor before you start prepping for the 10k, though. They'll let you know when it's time to kick back and relax if it becomes dangerous for you or the baby.

Exercises You Can Do

Ensure that your pregnancy is not high risk, so consult with your doctor before doing any exercises. You should also try to do exercises that can help you prepare for childbirth; it can help take some of the pain away.

It is safe to do cardio throughout your entire pregnancy, especially exercises like jogging, swimming, and walking. Swimming is really good at helping you take the weight off your feet; it's extremely helpful for something like lightning crotch.

Yoga and Pilates are great classes to join to try and stay fit; just stay away from steaming yoga sessions. If yoga isn't your scene, you can always try dance classes; just make sure you do the cardio!

The pelvic curl and pelvic brace exercises are great at preparing you for labor. For both exercises, you need to be lying on your back with your knees bent; the curl is for flexibility and the brace for the push!

You can modify pushups to do them from a different position which will change as your belly grows. So you might start in a kneeling position then end up doing them on a higher incline like on a rail.

Exercises like squats and bicep curls are entirely safe to do as long as you don't hurt yourself or are in any danger. Try not to push yourself too hard because you want to avoid getting injured.

If you love the outdoors, then you don't have to give it up either; activities like biking or hiking are safe to do. But you probably don't want to go near rocky terrain; make sure it's perfect for your pace.

Exercises To Avoid

You can detect this by looking at your belly button when you do crunches or situps or try to sit up in bed. It's not dangerous, but the connective tissue that holds your ab muscles together will stretch, causing your tummy to tent.

To avoid doming, you want to avoid ab workouts and sitting up to get out of bed. You can always roll to your side to get up; just make sure you don't place pressure on your ab muscles!

Avoid any challenging exercises and encourage you to bear down; it's extremely bad for your pelvic floor. Don't be afraid to get sweaty while waiting to meet your new baby, and always make time to rest up!