Yes, I've continued to workout through both pregnancies. Cardio, weights, swimming, aerobics classes. Didn't help a bit, still gained 42 pounds each time ;) but it made me feel a little better. I didn't modify much until the very end when I was huge. My midwife always said pay attention to your body, if it hurts, don't do it and don't do anything that puts you at risk of falling.
amanda, don't tell me these things- i still have a secret hope it will help me on the other end. maybe you needed the 42- if i remember correctly, you are pretty tiny!
I worked out for a while with the last pregnancy, but I gave it up pretty much altogether once tax season started. I was just too busy. That said, my OB said I could work out until the end using the same guidelines as Amanda mentions above. Like you, I worked out a lot in HS and college and up until I got pregnant. Now I feel like a really lazy person since I haven't done more than walk since then. Ugh. You impress me:)
I have been active during this pregnancy but I wouldn't say working out per se, since my wporkouts pre-pregnancy were considerably more strenuous. I've done a lot of walking, yoga once a week and since about 28 weeks, swimming once a week. I'd like to swim a lot more, it's just not as convenient as walking unfortunately.
Other women in my yoga class who continued lifting weights have all said that around 18-20 weeks, they noticed a significant drop-off in their ability to lift. They said their joints felt differently, and they felt weaker and softer overall, so chose to stop rather than push it and risk injury. My yoga instructor has talked a lot about the soft strength that pregnancy brings, which is different than the hard strength of weight lifting, and that it's fine to keep lifting safely (like no bench presses obviously) but to pay attention to how your body and strength changes to make sure you don't push it. I'm loving the walking/swimming/yoga combo, though I wish I had more time and $$ to do all of it more often.
I have become a total yoga convert nut pache, I go around preaching it to everyone lol. But it really is remarkable- of course I've never been pregnant without doing the yoga, so who knows if it's doing anything at all. But I really do think it has a lot to do with me having a pretty easy pregnancy, and it's just a great experience overall.
Swimming wipes me out, and I like that it's not stressful on my joints. Plus I love feeling like a lovely frolicking manatee, rather than a ginormous preggo lugging herself around ;) It also really helps with swelling- even just being in the water, like jogging round in the shallow end, can be enough pressure to push the excess fluids in your tissue back into your system and really helps with circulation, which as you know gets harder as we tall women get more and more pregnant. Sometimes I look down and just feel sorry for my heart, having to pump all this extra blood all the way back up from my toes!
Seek out buffy0912. She's due in April and is still going to the gym all the time-- just enough to make me feel horribly lazy for not even considering it! And she looks great. Really, really good. I'll let her know you'll be looking for her. :)
THANKS B!!! i'm not a class person either, i use all the same cardio machines and the weight training modifications sound very similiar to what i'm interested in- i LOVE free weights, but so many excercises are on my back- any ideas? did you do those until 28 weeks
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How the heck did I miss the fact that you're pregnant?!!! OMG, congratulations!!!
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Congratulations!
Yes, I've continued to workout through both pregnancies. Cardio, weights, swimming, aerobics classes. Didn't help a bit, still gained 42 pounds each time ;) but it made me feel a little better. I didn't modify much until the very end when I was huge. My midwife always said pay attention to your body, if it hurts, don't do it and don't do anything that puts you at risk of falling.
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Other women in my yoga class who continued lifting weights have all said that around 18-20 weeks, they noticed a significant drop-off in their ability to lift. They said their joints felt differently, and they felt weaker and softer overall, so chose to stop rather than push it and risk injury. My yoga instructor has talked a lot about the soft strength that pregnancy brings, which is different than the hard strength of weight lifting, and that it's fine to keep lifting safely (like no bench presses obviously) but to pay attention to how your body and strength changes to make sure you don't push it. I'm loving the walking/swimming/yoga combo, though I wish I had more time and $$ to do all of it more often.
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i think i'm definitely gonna sign up for yoga and the swimming sounds like a fantastic idea....haven't done that in years!
there aren't any pregnant women at the gym...my gym is like old people and big boys (like very big)- it's funny to see me in the mix.
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Swimming wipes me out, and I like that it's not stressful on my joints. Plus I love feeling like a lovely frolicking manatee, rather than a ginormous preggo lugging herself around ;) It also really helps with swelling- even just being in the water, like jogging round in the shallow end, can be enough pressure to push the excess fluids in your tissue back into your system and really helps with circulation, which as you know gets harder as we tall women get more and more pregnant. Sometimes I look down and just feel sorry for my heart, having to pump all this extra blood all the way back up from my toes!
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