exercise queries - can anyone advise?

[Cheshire Cat]

I've read all sorts about not exercising on your back from the 2nd trimester and was wondering....

I did Push Pull upper body 2 sets this morning but instead of lying flat for a couple of the exercises I used the stability ball instead. Is this kind of incline enough?

Also for the abs I did some woodchops on the ball (like in Supersets) using a 1.5kg weight then turned over onto all fours and just contracted my abs. Is it OK to do ab exercises or should these be avoided completely?

I've managed to modify various exercises so far but am a little clueless where exercise and pregnancy is concerned. (Most books I've looked at suggest walking or swimming as suitable forms of exercise. Don't really like walking and I loathe swimming ) So long as I can modify and feel comfortable then I'm happy but I don't want to put the little one at unnecassary harm, it's not like s/he can dig me in the ribs and say "stop that, I don't like it"!

As far as stepping goes. I tried Cher Fitness last week and it felt great to step (I was going to avoid any aerobic stuff but got the OK to go ahead) however, in time I want to go back to Cathe's step - how has everyone else done with Cathe's? I'm not sure whether these are too fast paced or not but if all's OK then I'd like to give one a try at some point. I'm missing my Cathe workouts so much it hurts!!! Hubby thinks I'm mad.

Thanks!

 

[shopaholic]

Hi,
Congrats on your pregnancy. I had a little girl last sept. During my pregnancy I continued to do abs but avoided being in suppine position for abs. Depending on how you feel, ab work on the ball should be ok. I did some floor work, i.e chest on step on an incline. For ab modifications 2 good tapes are, fit for 2 (step tape for pregnancy) and cia's tape two jammin workouts by gay gasper(this tape has pregnancy modifications). I did step aerobics throughout pregnancy , modifying to low impact about the 5 th month. The cathe tape I used the most was her wedding tape.