What exercises are safe during pregnancy?

If you’re reading this and you’re pregnant, congratulations! It’s amazing that you want to stay active and fit during your pregnancy, you are going to be doing wonders for you and your baby. It can feel a bit overwhelming knowing where to start and what to do, so I’ve put together this post along with my free guide ‘Adapting Exercise During Pregnancy’ to help you feel confident, empowered and know where to start.

Follow a prenatal exercise program

The best way to strengthen, stay active and prepare your body for birth safely and effectively is to follow a specific exercise program for pregnancy. Make sure any advice you are given comes from a qualified professional. You want your workouts to be adapted to each trimester as your body will need different things through the different stages. Focus should be given to your core, pelvic floor, supporting your posture and glutes!

Talk to your midwife

During your prenatal appointments I would definitely recommend talking to your midwife about exercising and any contraindications you may have. They will be able to advise you on if exercise is suitable for you and if you need to be cautious. For most women exercise is completely safe and more beneficial to do than not, but there are a few occasions where you shouldn’t so its best to check.

My top tips for safe exercise during pregnancy

Remember that modifying makes you stronger, it’s not a time to just ‘push through’
Follow a specific prenatal program
Know your working at the right intensity by making sure you can hold a conversation throughout your workout
Don’t overheat, make sure you have the right clothing on, have enough fluids and increase your rest time if needed to cool down.
Make sure you’re hydrated before, during and after exercise

Where to get pregnancy fitness advice

If I can give you one tip to take away it would be to get your advice from a credible source. Avoid Google and don’t take advice from social media unless they are qualified professionals. There are a lot of opinions, ‘advice’ and information from people that have been pregnant and recovered, but this doesn’t make them an expert and or mean they know very much about the subject. I recommend working with a Pre & Postnatal Personal Trainer or Women’s Health Physio.

Setting empowering goals

Setting goals can help you stay focused and motivated with your fitness. Your pregnancy fitness goals will be different to ones you may have set pre-pregnancy. To give you a few examples of healthy goals you might like to work towards here are a couple:

- Improve balance and stability
- Reduce pregnancy aches and pains
- Stay mobile
- Strengthen body to help with increasing demand
- Be able to connect to, engage and relax pelvic floor and core
- Help and prepare body for birth
- Increase energy, mood and improve sleep

Lucy is a pre & postnatal corrective exercise specialist and mum. She is on a mission to empower, educate and inspire women during pregnancy and motherhood to feel fit, healthy and body confident.