Throughout my pregnancy & now postpartum I’ve had a lot of questions about my pregnancy workout routine. It evolved as my pregnancy did, but I felt like I did a pretty darn good job intentionally moving my body every day of pregnancy. I thought a blog post would be the best place to talk a bit more about my routine so you all can reference back as needed & so I can provide more details.
My Pregnancy WORKOUT ROUTINE
Before jumping into my pregnancy workout routine, you can catch up on my post about how I worked out every day for a year. One important key from that post is that I reframed how I thought of workouts. Instead of thinking I had to do an hour of hard core movement every day for something to ‘count’, I started aiming for intentional movement every day. I worried less about time each day & instead aimed for consistency each day. I’ll explain how this fit into my routine while pregnant below.
Some of you asked if I did anything differently in regards to workouts when TTC (trying to conceive) & I personally did not. I share more about how/when we got pregnant in this post, but I just kept doing what I always had.
The First Trimester
The first few weeks of the first trimester I felt great so I continued my workout routine as usual. I did some Melissa Wood Health workouts, walked or jogged outside, did The Sculpt Society (more on that here) & some P.Volve workouts. Once the nausea & extreme tiredness set in, it was sort of survival mode. I found myself doing a 5 minute arm video or just trying to walk around the block many days. I also threw in a few short stretching videos just to do SOMEthing. Once I started to feel better towards the end of the first trimester, I carried out workouts as usual for the most part.
As it got colder outside, I stopped going for walks because one of my worst symptoms at this time was nipple soreness & the cold exacerbated this. I had quite a few things that helped me with that pesky symptom, but it got to the point that it wasn’t enjoyable to go, so I just stopped. Check out my first trimester essentials if you need help getting through all of those symptoms!
The Second Trimester
The second trimester is when I started making some modifications to my workouts. Early on, I stopped doing any ab work that stretched out my core & also stopped doing any ab work on my back. Since my belly was growing, I didn’t want to further add to any tension or possible diastis recti.
Early on in the second trimester I also cut out any jumping, as it just didn’t feel right for me. My doctor said it was fine to continue any workouts I was doing before pregnancy, but jogging, jumping, or dancing just felt off so I stopped. This means I stopped doing any dance cardio from The Sculpt Society. I also just naturally stopped doing P.Volve workouts. I tend to go through phases with what feels good & what I look forward to & that just stopped being it for the time being.
I would walk outside when the weather (& my nipple soreness) allowed me to be comfortable doing so. I mostly alternated between workouts from The Sculpt Society (TSS) & Melissa Wood Health (MWH). I didn’t really care for many of the prenatal workouts, as they felt so slow to me since I did workout daily & was in pretty decent shape.
From TSS, I would do a lot of the arm workouts (my fav!) & a few quickie leg workouts. About halfway through my second trimester the pelvic floor & 360 breathing videos were released, so I started incorporating one of those into my routine every other day. If there is ONE THING you do pregnant, let it be these. Seriously. They help you connect to your core so much as your belly grows. I kept doing these every other day up until the day I gave birth. They 100% helped me during labor with breathing & pushing, too! These videos were a god send & I am so happy I did them.
From MWH, I would do some full body workouts & modify as needed. I had to stop doing the power flows about halfway through the second trimester, as they were just too much for me! I continued to use props for her workouts & generally felt good about knowing what to modify in terms of the moves by just listening to my body & what felt good each day.
My typical routine throughout the second trimester included a shorter arm & lower body workout every day. Then, I would alternate pelvic floor/breathing videos with meditation videos every other day. When the weather would allow, I’d go for a walk, but this really only happened a handful of times.
The Third Trimester
In the third trimester I carried on the typical routine I was doing during most of the second trimester with doing a shorter arm & lower body workout every day or a longer one focused on one of those areas. I slowly stopped doing full body workouts as I progressed because I was just having to modify so much from them. I also continued alternating a pelvic floor/breathing video & meditation videos every other day. Luckily, the weather started to cooperate a bit more & I was able to go for more walks outside first thing in the morning before it got too hot. Most days, this is what felt best to do so I would get a walk in then do my pelvic floor or meditation video after.
I really only did prenatal videos the last two weeks of pregnancy. They just usually felt too slow to me based on what was available on the TSS or MWH apps at the time. I did buy a big workout ball to use for some workouts & that helped a lot as I progressed on.
My workouts definitely changed as I progressed through pregnancy, but I am so grateful that I was able to find a way to intentionally move my body every day of pregnancy. I just listened to my body & did what felt good each day. Some days I had to do less & others I felt great & could do more. I wasn’t afraid to stop or adjust mid workout if needed! Most importantly, moving each day really helped my mental health throughout all of it. Never underestimate the power of five minutes of movement in your day. I truly believe that consistency is key & it’s not always about fitting in a one hour workout. It’s just giving yourself a little bit of time each day. Intentionally moving each day also helped me gain at the lowest end of the recommended amount of weight for my BMI, & I think it helped me throughout labor & delivery so much. It’s also helped as I get back into a routine postpartum as well. I’ll share more on my postpartum recovery & workout routine, soon!
If you have any questions about my pregnancy workout routine or about any of the programs I referenced throughout this post, please let me know. I’m here to answer questions & help however I can. Please remember that I am not a trainer or a doctor, so be sure to consult your doctor to talk about your specific needs & what they recommend (or don’t) in terms of movement for you throughout your pregnancy. Every woman & pregnancy is different! Hopefully this was helpful. XO
