My Favorite Prenatal Workouts
As you all know, with this pregnancy, I really am focusing on keeping myself strong and healthy. After experiencing a pretty healthy pregnancy with Aubrey, having minimal back and hip pain until the last few weeks and remaining very active in the gym until 32 weeks, I did the entire opposite with Poppy. We had just moved 45 mins for the city, I was depressed, the winter hit hard, and because she was our rainbow baby after a Partial Molar Pregnancy that ended in Miscarriage, I was literally afraid to do anything but be stagnant and eat all the food.The problem is, Poppy's pregnancy was hard both physically and mentally. Not, just because of the miscarriage and the health issues that had come along with her pregnancy, but because exercise and healthy eating is really a vital part of life and creating life. That mental sickness followed through during postpartum recovery, and unlike Aubrey where I was super active and strong right after delivery, I found trying to recover from Poppy's pregnancy the worst mental state I had been in for year. I hated my body and what it turned into and struggled so hard to get the excess weight off and get back into a healthy, active lifestyle.Now with Baby #3, I know the difference between a very active pregnancy and not. And yes although there will be a 6 year difference in my age since being pregnant with Aubrey, I know that eating healthy and being active with make a huge difference in my postpartum recovery both mentally and physically.Lately, as I continue this journey into my 26th week of pregnancy, many of you fellow expecting mamas have reached out asking for details on what workouts I am doing and can they do some at home? YES I do both, but you can totally do them at home. So here is a list of all the ones I have been doing since becoming pregnant. As always, please clear any workout with your doctor following your pregnancy before you take it on.
My Favourite Prenatal Workouts
Gym Workouts
Twice a week, usually Monday and Friday mornings, I head to the gym with rob after we've dropped the kids off at school. I really enjoy weight training and know, as a woman, it is extremely important to maintain my bone density and overall fitness level. so, on these gym days, I start with 30 mins on the elliptical going at whatever pace my body feels good at without over pushing myself. Next, for me, I find the best way I work out is to divide the two days up into Lower body on Monday and Upper Body on Friday. Lower Body consists mostly of many different squat variations, deadlifts, and gluten bridges. Upper body is a mix of back, chest and Biceps where I sometimes only use machines, and others only use free weights. This workout is a great place to start If you need something laid out for you.
Tone It Up App
If you have been following me for a while, you probably already know my love for Tone It Up and the whole community. I have never been sponsored to write about them, but have seen so many great results and love the fact that its always a different workout. Over the past year, one of their founders Katrina, became pregnant with her first baby and created a whole new pregnancy workout section on the app during her pregnancy. These are simple workout using minimal equipment (think a light set of barbells, a kettle bell, and workout bands) but are super effective to get you sweating in less than 30 mins. I like to do one of the upper body workouts and one of the lower body back to back as my body responds better to longer workouts. But when I am not pregnant and working out 5-6 days a week, I just stick to one of the 20-30 min workouts. Either way, the $18/month for the app instead of an expensive gym workout is 100% worth it.
Ballet Beautiful
If you are more of a fan of pilates and moving your body without the restrictions of weights, Ballet Beautiful Prenatal videos are perfect for you. I discovered Mary Helen Bowers right after I had Aubrey because she is the personal trainer for many of the Victoria's Secret Models. She is all about sculpting strong lean muscles with her Ballet inspired workouts. I credit her to much of my bounce back After Aubrey as I did her workouts twice a week once I was cleared by my doctor. You can get her Prenatal series for $30 USD one time fee and they truly are both beautiful and hard.
Youtube Workouts
If paying for workouts just aren't in your budget right now, you can find a plethora of workouts to fit your pregnancy and fitness level on Youtube for free. From yoga, to weight training, you can find it all. If using this, I would make sure to do some research as to the personal trainers and background on youtube, as really anyone can post on there without training or proper knowledge. If you are wanting something basic, here's a good one, Heres a yoga one, and here's a weight lifting one.
Walking
Another perfect example of something anyone can do no matter your budget is walking. With spring right around the corner, create a walking routine, schedule it into your day and just get your body moving. For us, we have many loops around our town that we enjoy doing, or even just taking our dog for a long walk on the local trails and woods. Be consistent with this and you will find that walking can even make your labor easier.So as you can see, there are so many different options for working out, no matter your level or budget. For me, I know the difference and would never want to experience a pregnancy like Poppy's again. So get cleared by your doctor and get that body moving. It will thank you once baby is here.