Exercising While Pregnant

My wife is pregnant right now, and I created a training plan for her a while back to help her stay healthy and to maintain the mobility and strength to take care of our daughter. I just created a new plan for my sister who is pregnant also. And I thought I would post a little of what I created for them on here so others can use them.

Building Blocks of the Program:

Walking, Squatting, Doing Kegels

Learning to use your hips to move and lift

Working on whole-body strength

Doing intervals to condition your muscles and heart at the same time

One major precaution is to watch your heart-rate by making sure that you stay below the talking threshold--if you can still speak with exercising, then you are in the right range.

Here's one workout from the plan. Do this twice a week, and you'll be well on your way to staying fit while pregnant.

Lift Heavy
Your goal is to find the exercise that allows you to do 7 repetitions and do only 5. So if you get to the 5th rep and feel like you only have a couple more that you could squeeze out, then you’re doing it right. If you feel like you could do more, then choose a different exercise or make that exercise harder.

Do this circuit-style. Do 5 of each exercise back-to-back. Repeat the circuit 3 times. Rest as needed to maintain the ability to speak.

Squat

Push-up (wall, knee, or floor)

Romanian Deadlift (with or without a weight)

Row

Slash/Halo (no weight)

*Make sure that you check with your doctor's guidelines for exercise.

Let me know if you or someone you know is using this.