Training During and After Pregnancy

The trick to exercising when pregnant is to manage your expectations and keep within your abilities. It is unlikely that you’ll be getting drastically stronger or fitter, as the body changes it’s priorities during pregnancy way too much for that, but there’s no reason you cannot maintain existing fitness and strength levels.

When pregnant, changes happen to the CV system and the blood supply which means the way you exercise has to change. For example, blood vessels dilate in the first couple of months in anticipation of a 40% increase in blood supply – so blood pressure drops until the blood supply increases to fill those veins (it’s called vascular underfill) – meaning most women will feel light-headed and dizzy for a short while.

Similarly, hormones in the body change and the brain becomes much more sensitive to carbon dioxide, which again can cause light-headedness. Another change is the release of a hormone called ‘relaxin’ which starts being secreted about half way through the pregnancy; it loosens all the ligaments in the body in preparation for the birth. It simply means you have to be very careful with certain movements, particularly weight bearing ones.

The benefits of exercising during pregnancy, especially exercise that is taxing on the lungs, are limitless – even down to making the labour easier and shorter, and improving the health and possibly brain function of the baby. Any cardiovascular activity increases blood flow which increases oxygen delivery. In pregnancy the body prioritises blood flow to the baby and the heart, NOT the working muscles – meaning that while CV will seem harder for the mum-to-be, the benefits pretty much go straight to the baby.

You should avoid any kind of crunches or abdominal work involving spinal flexion. The rectus abdominals do actually completely separate in the later stages of pregnancy, and working them during it can have a long-term detrimental effect on getting them back in shape.

In the first three months, there’s no problem at all doing light or bodyweight resistance exercises. You’ll also need to have a longer warm up too – your body isn’t interested in making the muscles warm at first (it has other priorities), so a normal 5 minutes warm up won’t work…it’ll need to be nearer 10-15 minutes.

Testimonial – Lou Silver

“Having been training as a kick-boxer 3-4 times a week for a few years, I was really worried about losing my fitness whilst pregnant.

Being teetotal for the first time, I re-allocated my beer money as fitness money and started training with Derran at 6 weeks pregnant (slightly odd that my personal trainer was the first person to know about my pregnancy!) and he supported me to push myself as far as I was able to go during my first trimester when I was very tired and sick. Everything was tailored to suit my stage of pregnancy and my energy levels on that particular day. I was more toned than I had ever got through kickboxing, and in spite of being pregnant!

As my pregnancy progressed we modified some of the exercises to take the pressure off my abs (and my bladder!), but added in a bit more boxing to keep my stamina up. I am absolutely certain that without Derran’s help with training, motivation and pushing through when you feel you’ve nothing more to give I would have found my labour (3 and a half days induction ending in emergency c-section…!) far harder than I did. As it was I was able to manage without pain relief until half way through the third day, and only then due to fatigue.

When my baby was 7 weeks old I was back at the gym, and after another 10 weeks of light training I was back at the kettle bells. I eventually lost the 17lb of baby weight which I’d piled on after the birth, largely due to the fact that every visitor came laden with cakes!

I would definitely recommend Real World Fitness to support anyone throught their pregnancy”

If you would like more information on training whilst pregnant, or soon after pregnancy, feel free to contact us here. We can also offer specific training plans and support on a one-to-one or small group basis, at our standard rates.