Pregnancy Workouts??

[CLD]

Hello everyone. I just found out I"m pregnant, and I'm finding a lot of conflicting information on safe workouts to do while you're pregnant.

I'm almost 6 weeks, but I don't have my first appointment for another 3 1/2 weeks. I know a lot of what's safe depends on your fitness level before you got pregnant, and I'll be honest, mine wasn't awesome... I had, however, just joined a roller derby team and was going through their fresh meat program, which was pretty intense. We practiced once a week for 3 hours, and since there were so few of us, we worked the entire time. I did this for about 4 weeks before I got pregnant.

I probably worked out 2-4 other days in the week with cathe videos (butts & guts, step workouts, HiiT, ab videos), and I did open skate once or twice a week, which wasn't intense but I definitely still worked my lower body and got a good sweat going.

Would anyone have any ideas as to what I could do in addition to walking my dogs and a prenatal yoga video I bought? I did purchase a couple of pregnancy workouts, but to be honest, they're way too easy and they're kind of lame.

Thanks everyone!

 

[melimcn]

You're totally fine to keep doing what you were doing.
The short answer is that doctors don't know much at all about how fitness impacts pregnancy, other than that it makes delivery and recovery much eaiser. You'll hear all kinds of things from "don't lift over 10lbs to don't get your heart rate over 140". Both very antiquated and totally baseless recommendations.

You'll find many ladies on here, including myself through 2 babies, that continued with their Cathe workouts all the way to the end, without adjusting the intensity one bit. Listen to your body. Take it easy on tired days (PS: working out will HELP you with the crushing fatigue in your first trimester). As your belly gets bigger, things like pushups may not feel good (or may not be possible!). Just modify to differnet moves to work the same muscles.

Bottom line, if you are doing something that would potentially put the baby in danger (overheating, heart rate too high), YOU would feel it LONG before it would have any kind of negative impact on the baby.

So, keep doing what you're doing! You'll have an easier pregnancy because of it.

Congratulations!

 

[owltx]

Just wanted to chime in here and say I also think you are fine doing what you are doing. The general guideline is that if you were doing it before, you could do it after. I talked to my doctor and I was pretty active and already doing Cathe videos prior to the pregnancy and she said I could keep up my activity levels - but I had to keep my heart rate around 140. This was tough for me, as it was fairly low for some of the more intense videos. However, I soon found what worked for me, and got into the rhythm of lower intensity, and much more stretching (which will feel wonderful to your hips and pelvis during the 2nd and 3rd trimester). I was able to keep up with some of Cathe's videos throughout, just modifying where necessary to bring my heart rate down.

Also, Shive Rea's Prenatal Yoga and Suzanne Bowen's Long and Lean Pregnancy Workout were ones that I actually enjoyed, if you wanted tome other pregnancy videos to try. I think these two really helped my with my hips, etc strength and flexibility, to make birth & recovery easier.



Good luck to you!

 

[mrsprincess07]

I'd check with your doctor, not forum members. Depending on your Blood Pressure, sugar levels, cortisol levels, and were the baby implanted will greatly impact the types of workouts that you can do safely as well as the intensity. Most doctors agree to not let your Heart Rate go above 140. If you have issues or need to take certain meds for clotting issues, sugar issues, and/or anything else, you shouldn't let your HR get above 120. Unlike what others have said, many times you don't know if you're over heated until it happens and you get sweats, chills, and cramping. By that point, your internal temp has already increased too much. In the first trimester, it's the most dangerous and happens very rapidly.

Check with your Doctor, it's the safest thing really. I'm in my 4th pregnancy and lost from first 3 and working with 3 different types of specialists. I can tell you from experience that what is fine for one woman during a pregnancy isn't right for another. Your internal anatomy and blood pressure will play a large role in that as well.

For me, Cathe is not allowed until at least 3 months post pregnancy. I have been using Cathe for years and stay quite active. Sometimes your activity level doesn't mean anything when it comes to what is healthy and what isn't. Better to be safe than sorry, trust me.

 

[CLD]

I want to thank you all for taking the time to post your thoughts!!

I think I'll call my doctor to be safe as I did have a miscarriage about 6 months ago, and I really don't want to repeat that experience. Thank you for the workout video suggestions as well!!