Pregnancy and gym

[Soontobemumoftwo]

Hi, ignore my username because I'm now going to be a mum of 3! I found out I'm pregnant today so I'll only be about 3 weeks. I was thinking of starting the gym to keep myself healthy with just light exercise, not full on weights and pushing myself etc. Only because when I was pregnant with my second I suffered pgp and bad back pain too so want to keep my muscles etc healthy but is it bad to start exercising when pregnant if it's not my normal routine? I have quite an active lifestyle chasing 2 kids and an active job, thanks!

The usual advice is to stay in your regular comfort zone and not do new things or push hard.

If the gym work is light and within your usual range of motion and effort that will probably be OK. I did some swapping in pregnancy and swapped a circuits class for gym resistance machines because it was an easier situation to control. Resistance machines have an advantage of controlling posture and range of motion more than free weights.

I had two SPD pregnancies and the second was better than the first because I had got stronger between and knew what SPD was and how to manage it after being brushed off with "pregnancy aches and pains" at 34 weeks when I admitted that I couldn't go through the agony of the supermarket again.

Good advice from BogRoll

If you go to a decent gym, and do classes there, at least one of the instructors and trainers should have some kind of certified training in exercise for pregnancy. Take their advice.

Also have a look at MegSquats pregnancy programme for women who lift weights. Scroll down to her "Plus 1" programme

megsquats.com/