You’re pregnant, and are worried about how to exercise safely during pregnancy; you want to stay fit, but you don’t want to risk hurting the baby. There are many things that you can do to stay fit and healthy while keeping your baby safe. Isn’t regular exercise good for you – and isn’t what’s good for you also good for your baby? Therefore, it’s good for your baby for you to exercise during pregnancy. With one caveat – you need to make sure that you’re doing it safely.
Most people would think that you would have to avoid this kind of exercise during pregnancy, but the truth is that you can do crunches and other abdominal exercises throughout your pregnancy. After all, crunches help to strengthn the muscles in the core, and that is the part of your body that is under the most stress through pregnancy. Strong abdominal muscles can also make labor, delivery, and the recovery afterwards much easier on you.
Up until your 20th week of pregnancy, you can perform crunches like you normally would. After the 20th week, you must modify the crunches so that you are either seated or lying on your side. Because of your rapidly changing body, you will need to modify the way you exercise during pregnancy; listen to what your body is trying to tell you.
Not only do you have to stop doing crunches on your back after the 20th week, but all exercises during pregnancy that were once done on the back must know be done on the side. This is because when lying on your back, the weight of the baby and placenta can cut off the blood flow to your lower body. By this stage in your pregnancy, doctors will tell you that you have to sleep on your side, as well.
You can also still lift weights as a form of exercise during pregnancy, but you will have to start lifting lighter weights and reduce the amount of weight significantly and increase the repetitions. That way, you can make your muscles stronger without straining anything. When you exercise during pregnancy, you need to make sure that you watch and don’t overdo it. Because of the hormone relaxin that your body secretes while you’re pregnant, you’re more susceptible to muscle strains.
No matter how you do it, it’s important that you exercise during pregnancy. Staying in shape throughout your pregnancy will help you avoid many of pregnancy’s discomforts. Flexibility is the key when it comes to exercise during pregnancy; you may not be able to do as much exercise during pregnancy, or even exercise in the same way that you were used to.
To find out more information on safe Exercise During Pregnancy, I highly recommend you check out PregnancyFitness.org.
