Here is a question for all you gym bunnies

[Lizziewhizzie]

Ok so here it is....before I found out I was pregnant I was a gym regular - Im talking bootcamp 3 times a week as well as spinning 3 times a week. Like most ladies on this site In early pregnancy I was pretty much exhausted and from about 6 weeks I stopped going and my only exercise has been walking the dogs for maybe 20/30 mins a day.

Im now 13+3 and am starting to feel better and am wondering about starting up some exercise again (Not to the same level, it would be too much and im not sure i can be bothred) but wondered about doing a short run or something.

Here is my main concern: Everyone says that if you exercised before pregnancy you are fine to continue so long as you feel well enough - but im worried about the nearly 2 month break ive had? would a run be ok? Im really not going to push it hard.

I have heard that staying fit on your pregnancy can help you to have a shorter / easier labour so im keen to try and stay fit(ish)

Also in a vain note - i get married in 7 weeks (I will be 20 weeks then) I know I will put on weight and am happy to but would like the none tummy part of me to stay a bit tonned (arms, legs) Am I being unrealistic??

What do you all think? what have you done?

Muchly appreciated :)

x

I would think going for a gentle run and see how you feel would be ok. I stopped running, but only because I didn't really fancy it once I stopped feeling knackered. But I do a lot of fairly brisk walking and have also been playing netball (only training with my team, nothing competitive). Occasionally I've had a week or two off and have felt ok going back - I've taken it easy on weeks when I've felt more tired or had more round ligament pains, and I stop and rest more than I need to. Having said all that, I'm about to stop all netball. I'm 24 weeks tomorrow so need to stop that kind of activity, think I will start swimming instead
I also do pregnancy yoga, which I love.
Obviously this is just what works for me, the best thing you can do is listen to your body and what feels comfortable to you.

I found swimming to be perfect for my last pregnancy and plan to do it again for this one. So much support from the water and can really go all out with the effort, doesn't have to be a gentle stroke lol. I did karate up till 7 months last time and wish I was still active now so could continue. I used a specialist yoga class last time too and plan to this time. I plan on starting slow with exercise and building up.

Apparently each contraction is the physical equivalent of running 100m at full speed. Being unfit at the time of birth must make things harder. Long as you listen to your body and don't push to hard and have spoken to your GP or HCP about your plans you are probably doing what's best.

Hi
I am a huge gym fan, go 4 times a week. Lifting weights and bench pressing 6 stones!!. Well I am 11 weeks preggy and have been managing twice a week still. Work 40 hours as well so that is exhausting as it is. My trainer has said I should swim regularly for all over low impact. Weight wise less is more so very light weights. Biking is ok and so is the tread mill , gentle jog and up hill walking. The key he says is to not get out of breath or sweat to death. He is use to me after an hour session being bright red and sweating. He agrees that if you are a regular gym goer continue as long as you can, listen to your body and rest if you need to. drink plenty of water and rest between each change of exercise. Yoga is great also. Not done that my gym does not do it so may get a dvd or something. keeping fit will be good for giving birth better to be fit at least we will have the stamina to do it !!! hopefully she say . I lost nealy 6 stone in the last year and a half so it will be hard to put some weight on, so I have decided not to keep jumping on and off the scales every week. Eat well, sleep well, enjoy your gym time. I have my partner who comes to the gym with me which is good ( he keeps a beady eye on me in case I get carried away )) xx

I'm very exercisey and what I learnt was that your body very quickly tells you what is too much! I'd say give a run a go, but if you feel bad in any way - just walk instead.

I did bugger all first trimester because I felt awful, but second trimester was fine, did a 40min walk a day and ate sensibly - apart from belly no weight went on. Now towards the end of third trimester I'm just about waddling about and having to sleep a lot and I'll admit, pigging out a bit mostly through boredom. But, I figure I'll be breastfeeding and active again soon so I'm not too worried about a few extra lbs.

As long as you keep HR below 135 and don't lay on your back you should be fine. I wouldnt have thought 2 months would have meant you lost your previous fitness. Go and get yourself a pregnancy Programme from your gym to be on the safe side. Keeping flat abs is working against nature though, your abs start to separate. I have constantly kept up Ab work but been advised by everyone to drop it. You can still work back, quads, glutes which helps support your tummy muscles.

I ran until about 6 weeks, then did next to nothing until about 14 weeks. I then ran until about 25 weeks, just a couple of miles about twice a week. I also swam 2-3 times a week for half an hour to an hour each time. I'm now 31 weeks. Still swimming twice a week for half an hour a time and walking every day for at least half an hour. I've also started to use my bike on a turbo trainer for 10 minutes at a time a few days a week. Prior to being pregnant I was doing triathlons and half marathons and playing water polo so I'm really frustrated at only being able to do such a small amount of exercise. I do always feel better after exercising though and I certainly don't feel like it's doing any harm.

I'm 33 weeks and as well as yoga, swimming and walking the dog I also do 50 mins of cardio in the gym 4/5 times a week.
As soon as my bump made it uncomfortable to run I switched to the cross trainer. The issue I mainly have is with over heating, and will fight people for the machine in front of the air conditioning unit!
For toned arms, my yoga teacher can't praise Tracy Anderson enough and frequently uses exercises from her DVD for arms which look harmless but are a killer!

If it's your first baby and you aren't gorging on crisps (like I did when I had morning sickness - needed fat & salt!) then you might not even have put on any weight or got a bump by 20 weeks. I was still in my normal clothes when I had my 20 week scan - it was about 2 weeks after that when I moved on to stretchy things for the expanding belly, just for comfort.

You might find a bump support band helpful - I was still doing high-impact stuff at 20 weeks but then stopped shortly afterwards as my bump started growing and it was uncomfortable. I thought about getting a bump band but was too lazy so I just turned into a couch potato for the rest of my pregnancy! Obviously you have to be a bit careful with any mat work to not lie on your back and stuff too.

I didn't exercise between about 6 to 12 weeks (normally at the gym 5 times a week) as I was so tired all the time. When my energy came back I did gentle runs a couple of times a week till about 5 months pregnant then did long walks. I asked the gym to make me a programme for weights which was based around low weights and helped keep me toned.

My midwife told me that exercise was great as long you don't overdo it, overheat and stop if your body feels 'wrong'.

The gym instructor told me which exercises to avoid, which to phase out as my pregnancy progressed etc.

I also heard that being fit meant a better labour, have no idea if it is true but I was lucky and had a short labour that went really well. No idea if exercise helped but I thought I wouldn't lose anything by trying!

Good luck!

A 2 month break will be fine. I missed a month or so at the start of both pregnancies and 12 weeks after both my c-sections and my fitness didn't really suffer at all.

I did slow down on my workouts during pregnancy, lots of yoga and pilates, gentle weights and running in the gym and non-contact kickboxing.

Never made any difference to the births as I had to have sections but I'm still in good shape for my age and fitter than a lot of people younger than me.

Just make sure you listen to your body and think 'maintenance', not pushing yourself to your limits!

Thanks for all the advice, I think I will try to locate a local pregnancy yoga class and start swimming. Might try a little run this week and see how I feel, part of me says just do it but part of me is strangely nervous about the idea of all that bumping about.

It's a glorious day today so am planing on getting the dogs out for a good old run around.

Omg a 100m sprint I'm doomed how many contractions do you have hahaha

Enjoy the sunshine ladies :)

X