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Your journey through a comfortable, safe, and confident pregnancy begins with Pregnancy Fitness. This practical guide answers your questions and delivers the information, exercises, and workouts you need to maintain your personal fitness and enjoy the best possible experience in welcoming your baby to the world.
Written by three experts in prenatal and postpartum fitness, pelvic floor exercise, and core restoration, Pregnancy Fitness covers all physical and physiological aspects of pregnancy, birth, and recovery so you can enjoy peace of mind throughout your pregnancy and long after delivery.
You’ll get complete need-to-know information about hormones, body and posture changes, and common pregnancy aches and pains, along with critical information on diastasis recti and pelvic floor health, which aims to support and protect your body from core dysfunction.
A full spectrum of stretching, strengthening, and functional exercises provides the focus, description, safety tips, and variations that allow you to progress safely through your pregnancy and to be physically prepared for birth and optimal recovery. The sample workout programs guide you through each phase of pregnancy, including postpartum, to help you establish and meet your personal fitness goals with comfort and confidence.
Part I. Understanding Your Body Through Pregnancy
Chapter 1. Effects of Pregnancy
Chapter 2. Get Fit for Birth
Chapter 3. The Pelvic Floor: The Foundation of the Core
Chapter 4. The Abdominals: During Pregnancy and Beyond
Part II. Exercises to Prepare and Recover From Birth
Chapter 5. Stretch and Release Work
Chapter 6. Strengthening the Core
Chapter 7. Strength and Endurance for the Upper Body
Chapter 8. Strength and Endurance for the Lower Body
Chapter 9. Functional Movement for Motherhood
Part III. Sample Programs for Each Phase of Pregnancy
Chapter 10. Choosing Your Program and Level of Fitness
Chapter 11. First Trimester Workouts
Chapter 12. Second Trimester Workouts
Chapter 13. Third Trimester Workouts
Chapter 14. Fourth Trimester Workouts
The authors are three highly qualified women's health professionals who are passionate about helping women improve their prenatal and postnatal fitness. After years of training individuals and running successful independent businesses, they started Bellies Inc., a global company dedicated to helping educate and empower women in their pregnancies, births, and recoveries. They bring to this book both their shared interest of helping women understand prenatal and postnatal fitness and their unique professional experience.
Julia Di Paolo, Reg. PT, received her physiotherapy degree from the University of Ottawa in 1997. Her practice is focused on the preconception, prenatal, intrapartum (labor and delivery), and postpartum stages and on all types of pelvic floor dysfunction at any stage of a woman’s life. Over the years, Di Paolo has established herself as the go-to physiotherapist in Toronto for pelvic health and recovery from diastasis rectus abdominis (DRA).
Di Paolo teaches courses on diastasis rectus abdominis for personal trainers, allied health professionals, and pelvic health physiotherapists. She has presented on DRA and the pelvic floor at the conferences of the Association of Ontario Midwives, the Ontario Physiotherapy Association, canfitpro, and the Certified Personal Trainer Network (CPTN, formerly Canadian Personal Trainers Network).
Samantha Montpetit-Huynh received her fitness leadership certificate from Seneca College in 2002. She has been a personal trainer for over 15 years, focusing on pregnancy and postpartum fitness. She is also certified as a fitness for fertility specialist.
Samantha is known extensively in her field and has appeared on Breakfast Television, CTV News, Canada AM, CHCH, and Rogers Daytime. She was also the resident fitness expert on the Marilyn Denis Show, an award-winning lifestyle show seen across Canada, from 2013 to 2017. Samantha also helped to create the Today’s Parent Healthy Pregnancy Guide.
Kim Vopni holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Western Ontario and a postgraduate diploma in health and fitness from Simon Fraser University. She has more than 15 years of skilled experience and is certified as a personal trainer, prenatal and postnatal fitness consultant, and fitness for fertility specialist, and she is a hypopressive method instructor. Kim is a passionate speaker, educator, and promoter of pelvic health and is known as the Vagina Coach.
“Pregnancy Fitness will help you stay fit and feel your best throughout your pregnancy. After the blessed event, the advice offered here will ensure your healthy post-pregnancy return.”
Tosca Reno, BSc, BEd
New York Times–Best Selling Author and Creator of the Eat Clean® Diet
“If you are pregnant or work with pregnant women, this is a MUST READ!”
Ramona Braganza
Owner of 3-2-1 Fitness and Nutrition, Fitness Expert, and Celebrity Trainer
“This is the only book you’ll need if you are thinking about getting pregnant, are pregnant, or are looking to get back in shape after delivery. Packed with expert advice and plenty of stretching, strengthening, and functional exercises for every trimester, you’ll feel and look great throughout each trimester and beyond.”
Angie Campanelli
TV Host and Producer, Huffington Post Blogger, and Mother of Two
“Great information from genuine experts in their field! Truly useful evidence-based guidance for women exercising and staying active during pregnancy, with a focus on core and pelvic floor health and function. This is practical, educational, and truly functional information. A great book for all women wanting to stay active and strong during pregnancy and beyond.”
Wendy Powell
Founder of MUTU System
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Exercise guidelines by trimester
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester.
These basic training guidelines are good to follow during each trimester:
First Trimester
The first trimester is very taxing on your body. Critical development is taking place, so it is important to not overexert yourself or get overheated. You may experience a high degree of fatigue and nausea, which will limit your activity and determine how far you should go. For beginners, start slow with regular walking and build intensity as your comfort level allows.
Second Trimester
The second trimester is when most pregnant women feel "normal." Blood volume catches up to the vasodilation of the blood vessels, so you won't feel as lightheaded and sluggish (Soma-Pillay, Catherine, Tolppanen, Mebazaa, Tolppanen, and Mebazaa 2016).
Your body has had time to adapt to all the physiological changes that have taken place and you can breathe with ease. However, at around weeks 16 to 20, due to the weight of the uterus on the inferior vena cava, it is recommended to stop exercising while lying on your back. Modify these exercises so you are in an incline position, seated, or standing. Due to the extra weight on the pelvic floor, runners should now change to walking on an incline, using an elliptical machine, or using a stair climber.
Third Trimester
Intensity and duration should not be increased in the third trimester. This is when you find you will naturally slow down. Listen to your body and adjust weights and aerobic activity accordingly. Changing to non-weight-bearing activity (swimming, stationary cycling) is also recommended if you cannot maintain your previous routine comfortably. Now is the time to place extra focus on posture, flexibility, relaxation, and mentally preparing for labor and birth. It is like tapering before race day.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Preventing pelvic floor dysfunction
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way.
Pregnancy is an ideal time to learn about and train the pelvic floor. It will undergo considerable changes in pregnancy and face significant challenges during birth, so you want to make sure it is optimized and ready to handle whatever labor and birth bring its way. It is also important to know how to best heal your pelvic floor once your baby is born.
The current trend in pregnancy fitness is for women to lift really heavy weights while pregnant and then return to high-intensity training mere weeks after the baby is born. Extremes in pregnancy are applauded, and many women are now pursuing or continuing high-intensity activities during their pregnancy. While we certainly believe that women can and should move, lift, pull, carry, twist, and bend, we don't believe that it should be done at the intensity that is currently the trend. While pregnancy shouldn't stop you from being active, we recommend that you modify certain activities so that your pelvic floor and core are not forced to deal with more than they already are. We also don't believe that harder, faster, heavier is the way to recover, either. Too many times we have seen women jump back into fitness far too soon with a body that simply was not ready, only to regret the decision and be faced with pelvic floor dysfunction that required major modifications to their movement lifestyle.
Slow, steady, and gradual progression is what the body needs to recover. It took nine months to grow a person, followed by the demands of birth. It is not realistic to think that the body, especially the pelvic floor, is ready for intense activity such as bouncing, jumping, or heavy lifting in the early months postpartum. In reality, it will take between 4 to 12 months to truly be ready to return to the higher-impact activities like boot camp, CrossFit, or running. Start with low-impact activities like squats, lunges, walking, cycling, and swimming. Scale back the intensity of your favorite classes as you start to reintegrate impact movements. As you retrain your system, your strength and endurance will return, and when your body is ready, you will be able to resume training with higher-impact activities.
Scaling down and choosing low-or no-impact activities in your pregnancy can go a long way to preserving the integrity of your pelvic floor. Training during pregnancy is less about reaching distance goals or weight goals, and more about readying your body for one of the most challenging events you will ever do. Taking steps to modify your exercise routine as your pregnancy progresses and rebuilding your fitness with retraining movement postpartum is your best insurance policy to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. Working with this preventive mindset will set you up for a more comfortable pregnancy, a better birth, and a smoother transition to motherhood!
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.
Train the core with core breath
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus.
Focus and Benefits
The core breath is the ultimate foundational exercise. It trains the Core 4 to work as they should with synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, deep abdominals, and multifidus. The core breath is done not only on its own but also while performing other exercises to really bring awareness of the inner core unit into movement. You will do the core breath regularly throughout pregnancy; it is also the very first restorative exercise you will do postpartum.
Equipment
Stability ball
Description
- Sit on a stability ball with a neutral pelvis (this can also be done lying on your side or on your back).
- Put one hand on the side of your ribs and the other hand on your belly.
- Breathe into your hands. Inhale to expand - feel the rib cage expand, feel the pelvic floor expand (you may feel fullness in your perineum), and feel the abdomen expand outward.
- Exhale through pursed lips and voluntarily contract your pelvic floor using imagery to engage. For example, imagine picking up a blueberry with your vagina and anus or imagine sucking a milkshake through a straw with your vagina, or imagine lifting your perineum up toward the crown of your head.
- Inhale to expand again and let the pelvic floor contraction subside (imagine letting go of the blueberry).
- Repeat for 10 to 30 breath cycles.
- Apply the Inhale to Expand, Exhale to Engage practice, as we learned in chapter 4, to any movement to ensure your core is active and ready. Experiment with different cues and remember to use a cue every time you exhale to engage. It turns almost any exercise into a core exercise!
Do the core breath three times per day for one to two minutes each time to maintain optimal core function and to really get the coordination of this exercise imprinted in your mind. Try it with different cues and then continue with the one that is best for you. Remember the modification in the weeks before birth. Inhale to expand then exhale and keep the expansion to mimic what you will do in labor. After your baby is born, restart the regular core breath within the first few days postpartum to help increase circulation and regenerate tone, strength, and function to the Core 4. We have said it many times...you need to re-train before you train and the core breath exercise is your biggest ally! It stimulates circulation and nerve growth factor to help optimize healing in the pelvic floor. It can help recover any loss of sensation that may have resulted from labor and it helps get as much oxygen as possible into the body to help heal the tissues. The best news is that you can, and should, use this powerful exercise for life!
Increase Difficulty
Try this exercise in a standing position.
Learn more about Pregnancy Fitness.