Changing Exercise for pregnancy

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catfulford
catfulford Posts: 62 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi! I just found that I am pregnant and I was wondering if anyone can give me advice on exercising during the pregnancy. Before I found out I started doing a new workout regime. Usually 3-6 hours of pilates a week, min. of 1 hour for cardio a week, and eating 1500 cal a day Now, Ive been told to stay away from pilates during pregnancy Im not sure if thats true. Does anyone have any ideas to what I can do or advice? Thanks!!!

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  • Iron_Lotus
    Iron_Lotus Posts: 2,295 Member
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    Every one is different and every pregnancy is different. This question really should be answered by your doctor.
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
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    Check out barre 3... They have a lot of prenatal exercises that incorporate pilates.. You can do the classes when you want in your home...
  • soulkal
    soulkal Posts: 51 Member
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    congratulations!!! thats great news. I would seriuosly stick to getting that info from your doctor. excercising during pregnancy is not a bad thing at all..but your doctor and a specialized trainer should be able to tell you whats safe and not safe. if it was me though,. I would play it safe for the first three months atleast. but with low impact exercises, walking and someweights. Enjoy your pregnancy!!!
  • mathjulz
    mathjulz Posts: 5,514 Member
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    Congratulations on your pregnancy!!

    In general, you can do pretty much what you were used to doing before pregnancy, just make sure you don't push too hard. I don't know about pilates specifically, but you do want to avoid lying flat on your back as your pregnancy progresses. This early on, you can probably do some modified pilates, and keep doing the cardio (just watch your heart rate, don't let it get too high, and drink extra water). As you get bigger, and some things get harder to do, start heading to the pool (or start now, so you're used to it :wink: ). Believe me, it is a great place to be, and to exercise, in the last part of pregnancy!

    You don't really need any extra calories until your 2nd trimester, either. But I would set MFP to maintain for now, and then later you can set it to gain 1/2 or 1 pound a week, depending on where you need to be.

    Talk with your doctor about your exercise at your first appointment. It's great to keep active during most pregnancies, but you can get any more specific questions answered then.
  • catfulford
    catfulford Posts: 62 Member
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    Thank you so much!!! Im making a list for my doctor. Making our first ob appointment tomorrow :) I already cut out rock climbing out of my weekly workout. :)
  • AEcklar813
    AEcklar813 Posts: 184 Member
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    Firstly, you should check with your doctor about what he/she says is safe for you during pregnancy.
    I am currently 31 weeks pregnant and I was told that whatever I did before I was pregnant I could do now. With the exception that at about 20 weeks I keep both feet on the floor.
    Swimming and the elliptical were really good exercises for pregnancy as told to me by my doctor.
    I took his advice and kept up with what I was doing. To be honest, the first trimester was terrible. I was tired, grouchy, and not feeling well. Plus, it was wintertime here so I did what I could to stay active when I felt like it. I did some elliptical work, used my wii fit and extra step to do the wii fit step thing, I walked when it was warmer, and I used a leslie sansone dvd for in home walking.
    As the second trimester hit and I started feeling better I did pretty much whatever I wanted. I did kettlebells, strength training, cardio.
    The main thing was, I listened to my body. If I felt tired - I took a break. If I noticed I was really sore the next day I would skip those exercises I did for a while. (I found after a little bit that squatting made me really sore so I had to stop doing squats for a while)

    Now that I am in my 3rd trimester things are getting more difficult. I am mainly walking and using my elliptical. Up until about 29 weeks I was doing videos from fitnessblender.com I modified what I needed to. I didn't jump or make any quick sudden movements or anything like that. Even this morning I pushed mowed our lawn.

    There are a lot of pregnancy exercise dvds. I found a lot at my library so you might want to check that out too.

    I hope you have a happy and healthy pregnancy. and CONGRATULATIONS!
  • BeFitMom
    BeFitMom Posts: 17
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    Pilates uses a lot of upper body flexion, (the head float position) primarily to assist in core stabilization. Upper body flexion exercises should be avoided during pregnancy as this move places too much tensile force on the mid line connective tissue. Pregnancy hormones soften and stretch connective tissues of the mid line, so doing these types of moves can cause diastasis recti to occur.

    Pregnancy also increases the curve of the upper spine (creating too much kyphosis) so these types of exercises exacerbate this undesirable posture. Instead, pregnant women should do exercises like compound row, to maintain good posture. Safe core exercises during pregnancy include those that require you to stabilize your spine in the neutral position. Start doing abdominal compressions (Baby Hugs) to strengthen your Transverse Abdominis, (TvA) and abdominal compressions with pelvic tilt (Baby Lifts). Both of these should be a part of every expectant mom's regular workouts to maintain core strength and good posture.

    Keeping the Transverse Abdominis strong helps to prevent diastasis recti, pelvic instability, and back pain during pregnancy and is also our primary, voluntary, expulsion muscle, so greatly aids in labor and delivery.

    Continue with your regular aerobic activities until about 20 weeks gestation, then start tapering down the intensity of your workouts so that you always stay in a zone that you perceive as "somewhat" difficult. Some women find that they can continue jogging well into the last tri, while others find that this places too much strain on their ligaments and need to switch to low/non impact activities.

    More info re exercise during pregnancy can be found by googling my screen name.

    BeFit-Mom
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    check with your doctor, but if I'm correct you can maintain your same regime and exercises just dont over exert yourself and keep going to your regular exams.

    Best of luck on a healthy pregnancy.
  • hottamolly00
    hottamolly00 Posts: 334 Member
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    There are calculators on TheBump.com, webmd.com, and babycenter.com for what your healthy weight gain should be. Start there for how many calories to eat. I did MFP my whole pregnancy and only gained 30 lbs. 15 of that was the baby and fluids.

    (edited to add "and fluids.) LOL
  • trixie315
    trixie315 Posts: 95 Member
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    bump :wink:
  • Natkamny
    Natkamny Posts: 4 Member
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    Check momsintofitness on youtube. They have workouts for pregnent women and also post pregnancy workouts. Great stuff.

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