How My Workouts Have Changed During Pregnancy
In short…they haven’t, really. Let me explain…
I am now 32 weeks pregnant (and 1 day!) and have been absolutely LOVING this pregnancy. I am lucky to say that I didn’t experience any morning sickness in the first trimester so that helped me a lot. I was EXTREMELY tired in the beginning (which is normal) and found it really difficult to be a teacher full time, run Teachers Gone Strong and still get my own workouts in. I dropped my days from working out 5 days a week to about 3. I also quit doing any core work (other than naturally keeping my core engaged while I do resistance training anyways) as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I just felt weird doing crunches knowing there was a baby growing inside me LOL. Now, there ARE still core exercises (not crunches lol) you can do while pregnant and that are actually helpful for many reasons, I just chose not to isolate my core and instead just focused on I keeping it engaged throughout my lifts. Fun fact: Your core should ALWAYS be engaged while resistance training anyways!
In the second trimester my energy went back up and I was able train like I used to. I didn’t really experience shortness of breath faster (except when talking), but that doesn’t seem to play a part in my workouts. I did experience HORRIBLE back pain for a few weeks sporadically, but going to the Chiropractor helped tremendously (as well as staying active) and now I have none! WOOHOO! That pain was NO JOKE.
Half way through the second trimester and into the third trimester I’ve been working out 2x a day for the 75 Hard Program I’m doing. If you want to read about that, see my last blog post! Anyways, I feel great! I’m basically doing everything I was doing before (except I added an additional workout per day). One workout is typically resistance training and the other is a 45 min walk outside with Atlas. I am not lifting 7 days a week, so 1-2 days a week I will do two walks or do a different type of cardio workout in addition to my walk. Still, not gonna lie I am so proud of myself for committing to do this and staying so active during this pregnancy! I know I will be so glad I did later :)
Walking has been SO beneficial for me being pregnant and ESPECIALLY now that it’s summer time. As teachers we spend SO much time off our feet in the summer (unless you have your own kids lol) that we can become extremely sedentary. Adding in a 45 min walk outdoors has helped me MOVE more and man it feels good!
The main things I’ve noticed about my workouts and being pregnant is that besides cutting out any core work (let’s be honest I rarely trained abs anyways), I take breaks when I need them. If that means I need a little bit more rest in between sets, I make sure to give my body that. With that being said, for the most part everything feels fine. I stopped doing exercises where I lay on my back within the past 3-4 weeks just because it’s getting harder and harder for me to get up on my own LOL. You aren’t supposed to lay on your back during pregnancy BUT since you aren’t generally laying on your back for too long during a set- it’s not a big deal. Just a personal preference for me not to anymore. This means I’ve cut out exercises like dumbbell flys, chest press (targets chest) and also skull crushers (they target triceps). Again, not that they can’t be done- I just don’t prefer them anymore. :)
Another thing I’ve noticed is barbell squatting is just not my thing while pregnant. I still do lots of squats (they are so beneficial for labor!) but not with a 45lb barbell on my back lol. Some people do and they are killin’ it but for me it just feels really uncomfortable, so I don’t. I also stopped doing regular lunges. Reverse lunges don’t bother me at all but regular lunges do NOT feel good lol. You know your body best! Listen to it :)
Other than that, I really believe that staying active has helped me TREMENDOUSLY throughout this pregnancy and I’m so glad I’ve still been making my workouts a priority. It is so important to continue to move my body during this time and I know it will pay off!
Are there days I don’t want to go workout? Absolutely. Basically everyday lol. Are there days I would rather lay on the couch and give into pregnancy cravings aka eat an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s? Basically everyday. But I don’t! My baby girl is my reason not my excuse :) Taking care of me is important because I know if I’m taking care of ME then I can take care of her so much better.
To all you mama’s to be- you’re rocking it! Enjoy this special time and do what you can! Pregnancy is different for everyone so please don’t compare your journey to mine.
xoxo,
Brooklyn
