Eliminate the guesswork for working out while you’re pregnant with these simple guidelines
You’ve peed on the magic stick. You’ve slid your glorious bod into those maternity yoga pants. And you’ve done more googling than you ever thought possible (“Really, that’s normal, too? Huh.”)
And now, it’s time to get sweatin’!
As long as you’ve got a typical pregnancy, exercise is an essential ingredient to mix into your prenatal experience.
You know you’re not supposed to go cliff jumping or compete in Ultimate Fight Club tournaments, but what are you supposed to do to stay healthy while you’re carrying around your sweet bump?
Grab your water bottle and earbuds, cuz we’re gonna lay it all out for ya.
Aim for 150 minutes per week
Obstetricians and prenatal experts all recommend that pregnant women get 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week.
Let us unpack this math, shall we?
First of all, you don’t have to do all 150 minutes at once. Your increasingly taxed bladder probably wouldn’t let you, anyway, amiright? But 150 minutes divides nicely into 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
That’s definitely something you can make a plan for!
If that’s too big of a time chunk, you can split it up even smaller. A 10-minute walk after each meal will do the trick.
Now for the “moderate” part.
Moderate aerobic activity means that you can talk, but you can’t sing. So, if you feel like you’re getting a bit too winded to belt out your favorite Lady Gaga jam, but you’re still able to dissect the latest episode of The Bachelor with your bestie, you’re in the golden heart rate zone.
Add some strength training
If you’re feelin’ fly, go ahead and incorporate some strength into your pregnancy workouts.
A good rule of thumb is to modify all yoga and Pilates moves so that you’re not crunching straight up. Shift onto your side for Pilates, lay on your side for shavasana, and generally just don’t do anything flat on your back.
Gone are the days when all pregnant women were told to just sit in bed for nine months.
As long as you’re lifting an appropriate amount of weight relative to what you could lift before, strength training is perfectly safe for pregnant women–and even encouraged!
Do something you love
The best exercise for a pregnant woman is the one she will actually do.
Pregnancy is stressful on its own, so now is not the time to guilt yourself into an exercise routine that makes your joy whither like an orchid in the sun.
Find an activity you love, and then do the heck out of it! Show up for yourself, and we promise: you’ll never regret the investment.
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