Yoga/Pilates/Exercise when pregnant (sorry if this is in the wrong place)

[Lizziewhizzie]

Before I found out I was pregnant I was in the gym 5/6 days of the week, I wondered why I was finding it difficult to get up and go before work (as I usually would) now I know :) I'm currently 10 weeks gone and still feel pretty wiped out by it all, I really dont want to let my fitness slip too much so am thinking of swapping spinning for yoga/pilates and running for swimming.
I live in county Durham and am struggling to find any pregnancy classes in the area, the classes in my gym are prob a little too intense for me right now (never thought id say that) plus would also like to meet people in the same situation (hate that word) as me.
Any one know of anywhere??

Can't help you geographically, but you may want to leave it another few weeks before you do some yoga. I think it's due to changes in your blood pressure, but lots of yoga/pilates teachers recommend no yoga before about 12/15 weeks. I did yoga regularly before I was pregnant and during pregnancy (and after!), but had to pause when I was 9-15 weeks because I kept getting light-headed and feeling faint. Don't worry - you will be able to get back to exercise/yoga soon!

Also, the yoga I did at my Virgin Active gym had two other pregnant women in it, although it wasn't specifically antenatal - but the teacher was really good and qualified for it. This time round, I'm no longer a member, but am using DVDs at home as the antenatal yoga classes I did find were too gentle and focussed on socialising/talking about giving birth, which isn't what I like about my exercise and not really relevant when you're booked in for a c-section!

Look out for aqua natal classes in your area and ask your gym to set you up with a suitable low impact programme that meets your current needs - I ended up doing lots of walking on a treadmill, cycling and doing balances.

Thanks for the advice - didnt think about the light headed thing haha - can you tell im new to this! I will defo speak to th egym about their body balance class which I have done before maybe that will be ok if I skip certain parts/moves. I was a big spinner but to be honest I did a brisk walk with the dogs the other day and it left me shattered so I think for me personally I would be pushing it with that at the min.
It funny how you can go from feeling super fit to shattered in a few short weeks haha!

Look for pregnancy classes - pregnancy yoga/pilates are excellent form 12 weeks onwards. If you're at a gym, see if you have any person trainers there who are trained in pregnancy fitness - you'll be able to keep up training with them. I carried on training when pregnant with DS1 till 36 weeks and DS2 till 37 weeks - swapped out the bodycombat/bodypump classes to pregnancy pilates and yoga, cross trainer and gentle weights in second trimester both times and trained with a pt once a week. If you are finding it all too tiring, listen to your body and drop it down a notch - train only 3 times a week - and look after yourself.

ps tell your instructor in any class you're pregnant - they will give you pregnancy options for Les Mills classes (like body balance, pump, attack, combat etc.)

Oh fab - thanks Dinky :)

Hi, I run pilates classes for antenatal and post natal mums in Durham.
check out my web site for details. www.pilatesbyphysiotherapy.com/