Exercise During Pregnancy: Our Best Tips for Working Out While Pregnant
Exercising during pregnancy is very beneficial to you and baby! But are there things you should avoid? What about safe modifications you should make during workouts? We've got the answers to your pregnancy workout questions in this post!
As a Women's Health Orthopedic Physical Therapist and a Certified Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, I'm always learning new modifications and tips for working out efficiently while pregnant. To learn more about how strength training in pregnancy benefits you, check out this blog post on the maternal benefits of exercise.
But while strength training is beneficial, a few elements unique to pregnancy need special attention. Overall, the most important thing is following an expert-backed program designed for where you are in pregnancy. If you haven't yet, check out the Expecting and Empowered App for easy-to-follow workouts!
Here are three exercise tips to keep you moving safely during pregnancy.
Do more reps, but at a lower weight
Pregnancy isn't the time to work on your personal weight-lifting record. Instead, pregnancy should be a time to train for muscular endurance—meaning more repetitions at a lower weight. Lifting low weight + high reps helps you strengthen connective tissue and prepare your body for the physicality of labor. Lifting is so GOOD during pregnancy, but excessive lifting—or exercise that requires lifting your max weight—requires higher intra-abdominal pressure. Creating more pressure means you might have to hold your breath and put excessive pressure on the belly, pelvic floor, etc.
Keep in mind that it takes 4-6 weeks to start seeing strength gains. I'd love to see all pregnant women start strength training in their second trimester. This gives you enough time to build up strength not only for labor but also for the demands of motherhood! Strength training also doesn't have to involve dumbbells and free weights. You can build strength carrying your child, a car seat, a stroller, laundry, etc. It's a physical job being a mom, and strength training with more reps and lower weight in pregnancy can set you up for success.
2. Focus on your form
Using proper form during exercise is even more important for the pregnant community! Good form ensures you're keeping your body safe with all the changes it's experiencing. Again, following a reliable pregnancy program is the best way to ensure you're practicing proper form. A pregnancy-safe program can give you the right exercises and explanations on proper form.
3. Make modifications
There are a few modifications and considerations to keep in mind while working out during pregnancy.
Connect your core, breath and pelvic floor:
Make sure you connect to your core through breath! And, yes, you CAN do core work during pregnancy! The key is to try and avoid "coning" as much as possible. Coning happens in your abdominals when you sit up and overexert—making your belly create a tent shape. This shape means you aren't managing pressure well, and you need to modify your exercise so you don't see any coning.
When you're breathing, you want to use your breath to work through your movements. This means inhaling through your nose and audibly exhaling through your nose/mouth during the harder part of an exercise. Proper breathing (known as diaphragmatic breathing) automatically activates your pelvic floor. In the third trimester, you should focus on softening muscles around the pelvic floor to prepare for labor and delivery. Doing movements like deep squats with breath can help your breath travel all the way down to your pelvic floor.
Monitoring your breath is also a good way to gauge if your workout is too much for your pregnant body. While exercising, you should be able to carry on a conversation—sometimes called the "talk test." If you can't, that's a sign that your exercise may be too strenuous.
Change your surface + elevation:
When you're doing squats, place a board under your heels. (Yes, squats are a great exercise for pregnancy!) You can also use an elevated surface for movements such as planks, burpees, or push-ups—which are all fine to do while pregnant if it feels OK! Modifications can include placing your knees on the floor, elevating your upper body with a bench/couch, or standing and using the wall (think wall push-ups). Elevation helps decrease your range of motion, and it also lessens the pressure on your abdominals and other body parts. For additional pregnancy-safe modifications, check out this blog post on safely lifting weights during pregnancy.
Shift your posture
You might have to adjust your stance for pregnancy, with your toes pointing slightly outwards during squats. This will help to create space for your growing belly and baby.
Another consideration is your rib alignment. Work on keeping your ribs stacked over your pelvis. Aligning your ribs with the pelvis helps avoid rib flaring—when the ribs get pushed out. Rib flaring makes it difficult to breathe in and out. Plus, it can lead to rib pain and prevents diastasis recti from healing.
Before your get started…
I hope these tips are helpful for you as you work to prioritize your physical health during pregnancy! As always, talk to your provider if you have specific questions about your pregnancy and safe movements.
And be sure to check out the Expecting and Empowered App for a safe, expert-backed pregnancy program! Inside the E+E app, you'll find a strength training and prenatal yoga program that includes all the proper exercise modifications. These exercises can help you safely build strength and support your changing body through every trimester.
YOUR ROADMAP TO AN EMPOWERED PREGNANCY
Knowing exactly HOW to move your body safely in pregnancy is challenging. Let E + E take the guesswork out of your pregnancy fitness journey. All you have to do is show up, hit play, and know that you’re taking care of you AND your growing baby.
Sources
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Physical activity and exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period. https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2020/04/physical-activity-and-exercise-during-pregnancy-and-the-postpartum-period
Schoenfeld BJ, et al. (2021). Loading recommendations for muscle strength, hypertrophy, and local endurance: A re-examination of the repetition continuum. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7927075/