sit ups

[oh4goodnesssake]

Am I OK to do the abs part of a body pump class at 11 weeks? I can't tell the teacher that I'm pregnant (don't trust him to keep quiet) and so far have been making excuses and leaving before the end.

I think your own safety and that of your baby is more important than him blabbing his mouth off tbh. And anything you tell him should be confidential, I would make it explicitly clear that you expect him to keep it under his belt. I wouldn't be doing the ab section if it were me. It might be a good time to start looking into pregnancy fitness classes

Q. Is it safe to do abdominal exercises during pregnancy? When it is best to stop doing them?

A. Through your first trimester you can continue doing regular ab exercises (crunches, reverse curls, leg lifts, etc.)

After your first trimester you can, and should (!), absolutely continue working your abs, just not in the traditional way. You shouldn't do any exercises in a back-lying position at that point because your heavier uterus could compress your vena cava (the main source of blood return), causing abnormally low blood pressure and restricting the amount of oxygen getting to the baby.

(Cut and paste btw - I thought it was fine during the first trimester but just wanted to check! There other exercises you can do after the first trimester, so you could continue doing Body Pump then and ask the instructor - assuming you will have 'announced' by then.)

Why don't you just talk to the instructor? They are obliged to keep your information confidential aren't they?

Hi
I admire you for doing body pump in first 12 weeks at all...I am a regular runner but cant find the energy to put one foot in front of the other let alone do a body pump class!
I do however do yoga and my yoga teacher is suitably preg qualified. She has said that abs work is fine in first 12 weeks however, after that the ab muscles begin to soften and part and she will give me some variations to do which are based more on pilates so less of the crunching and more of the core band work. As it happens I am not very comfortable in the abs area at the moment anyway so have started the gentler exercises earlier and find them very effective - stretching but not pulling iyswim.

I'm interested in this too (though I'm only 6 weeks) and my google search suggested that it's fine in the first trimester but later on you're advised against lying on your back as it can make you feel dizzy. I hope to carry on doing abs exercises as long as I can, but will probably start looking into pregnancy specific exercises soon.

Might be worth checking with your midwife or doctor though.

Thanks everyone, I think I'll risk it but just take it quite easy. I have had ms since about 5 weeks which is only eased by stuffing my face full of carbs every 1.5 hours so I need to do something. I'm also finding that I am waking up in the early hours and cannot get back to sleep so I'm hoping that getting back to exercise will help with that. Scan next week so if all goes well with that I can come clean and will feel happier to tell people. Until then, only me, DH, the doctor and the MW know.

I was told by my gym instructor to stop BodyPump as soon as he found out I was pregnant. Don't know how much of that is you shouldn't do it and how much of that is him. I told them all at about 6 weeks as didn't want to take any risks.

I've spoken to my fitness instructors (Bodypump and Pilates) when I found out I was pregnant. The Bodypump teacher suggested not doing the abs exercises where you lie on our back, so I'm now doing side crunches and some stretching instead. The Pilates teacher is also giving me alternative exercises for some of the positions, anything where you have to 'hold' up your body and tense the abs for a longer period she doesn't want me to do. Although she said that I'd be fine after 12 weeks again with that...

I think it's a bit confusing at times and depends on the teacher you talk to, but they all agreed on one thing - that you should feel comfortable at all times with what you're doing!

In the USA, many pregnant women do these and you can trace comprehensive answers on various websites. The big question is "what is the point?" You would have much bigger benefits from stretching and stenthening your core and legs. Maybe try pilates and/or yoga instead?

i don't understand what you mean by - what is the point. I had terrible SPD in my last pregnancy from my abs splitting apart (despite exercising throughout pregnancy) and would look to have them as strong as possible during pregnancy.

Normally, the joints of the pelvis are stabilised by large ligaments. But when you?re pregnant, your levels of the hormone relaxin increase. SPD is caused by increased levels of relaxin which losens ligaments making the joints more vulnerable to becoming misaligned. Your increasing weight and changes to your posture also contribute. Doing sit ups would hardly help you, but surely you can try! Yoga and pilates seem to be more appropriate for this conditions imho (although, I suppose one ought to have been practicing these pre-pregnancy as it is hardly the time to try a new form of excercise). Good luck!