Exercise during pregnancy
There’s a lot of information and questions surrounding the subject of exercising during pregnancy. From pre-pregnancy, to pregnancy and postpartum, we have 10 years of experience in working with women at various stages of their journey into motherhood. And here is what we have learned over the years…
Pre Baby Fitness: during this time women are looking to prep their body to be in the best possible condition to create new life. And in doing so, a few things need to happen.
Dial back on the intensity. Our bodies require a ton of effort and energy to produce a fetus within the womb. And if we’re using all of our energy, killing ourselves in our workouts, we aren’t leaving a ton in the reserves to form a sweet new baby.
Eat a balanced diet. Our bodies need protein, carbs and healthy fats to optimize and balance our hormones. Crash diets don’t support healthy reproductive hormones.
Mental health matters. Stress while trying to conceive can create massive hurdles in our fertility success. Prioritize sleep, sun and silly time to keep the endorphins flowing and stress levels down.
Pregnancy Fitness: everyone’s pre baby fitness level varies, therefore their fitness abilities during pregnancy will vary as well. Some women may feel discomfort in different movements at different stages of pregnancy. Our NUMBER ONE advice to all pregnant women working out is this….
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!
If something feels uncomfortable/unusual in any way, stop, reevaluate and modify the movement as needed to ensure safety and success in your workout. Your body is smart and if you slow down to listen to it, it will tell you when it’s time to temporarily retire certain movements.
Postpartum Fitness: this is when we really have to encourage women to sloooowww down. They are super excited to get back into the gym, they’ve been at home, resting, going stir crazy and they are highly motivated to work off the baby weight. But LISTEN moms, your body just ran the hardest race of its life. So it needs time to recover and rebuild. Slow and steady will win this race we promise! Here are some things we suggest during postpartum fitness:
Check with your healthcare provider/birth team to ensure that your body has fully healed after birth. We don’t want to begin exercise too soon if our womb is not entirely recovered.
Start small and slow. Begin with a short walk, wait to see how your body responds and go from there. Doing too much too fast could set our fitness journey back a few days or possibly even weeks. Remember, slow and steady wins the race.
Prioritize movements that promote belly breathing and pelvic floor health. Maybe even consult with a Pelvic Floor PT to rebuild the foundation of your midline.
Listen to your body. Just like pregnancy, your body will tell you if it’s not comfortable with a certain movement. Listen to it and modify as needed.
Begin with movements that target time under tension. These intentional movement patterns will allow you to rebuild your strength in a much safer and effective way.
Give yourself grace. Don’t put so much pressure on trying to get back to your “pre baby” body. Be proud of where your body is at today, it just created a whole friggin human being! That’s incredible! Honor your post baby body and know that it’s okay to slow down and take time getting back into a fitness routine.
We understand that everyone’s fertility and pregnancy journey is unique, which is why it’s important to tune in to your individual needs during this time and not compare your journey to someone else’s. This is a precious time in womanhood and we believe it should be celebrated with fitness, not fearing it.
Movement is medicine, no matter what it looks like. Find what works for you and enjoy this blessing in creating new life! <3
