Cheap maternity sports wear/ exercise in pregnancy

[Extraminty]

I have two questions:

1. Can anyone recommend any cheap maternity sportswear, preferably mail order? I do a lot of running, yoga and gym work

1. How much exercise do you do in pregnancy? I am trying to keep up what I can, but have been getting every cold under the sun and wonder if I'm overdoing it. I try to do an hour or an hour and a half 3 or 4 times a week, plus I walk about 4 miles a day.

thanks!

Indoor gym wear is quite easy to find - GAP have leggings, gym trousers and t-shirts (you need to search for all maternity rather than sports wear), and specialised sites like badabump have capris. Outdoor wear is much more difficult. I eventually found warm tracksuit bottoms and hooded tops on-line from New Look. I looked for ages and there was nothing else.

How much exercise depends on how far along you are. 4 miles a day plus 3-4 gym sessions is a lot. OK if you are relatively early and can manage this without getting hot, breathless, or causing a bleed. I'm 32 weeks and try to do an hours walk each day, and one gentle gym session a week. More than that would exhaust me. Pre pregnancy I was super fit, ran 10km several times a week, and worked in an outdoor job lawn mowing etc.

Hi extraminty how much exercise were you doing before pregnant? Like worstershire I'm very fit - 10k run at least once a week with at least a couple of spin classes/yoga/weights etc i.e four visits to the gym a week. Oh and I'm training to be a fitness instructor. But to me what you are doing sounds like a lot! But if you are fit...
Sporty bump does great pregnancy fitness gear.

Thanks for the gym clothes advice- I will take a look in the gap sale. I've never heard of Sporty bump but it sounds ideal!

Before I got pregnant I was running 10km three times a week, and 20km once a week, as well as yoga and walking. So I've cut it down (also, I really don't do a lot in the gym -just some very gentle cardio and minimal weights, and have certainly noticed that I get very tired and need a much longer warm up than before.)

Am only 13 wks so I expect things will get tougher.

Amnewtoallthis, as a fitness instructor, do you think it's ok to do chest presses with dumbells while leaning your shoulders and neck on a stability ball, when pregnant? I know you're not meant to lie on your back after 12 wks, so I'm not sure if this is dangerous as well. (sorry for the technical question!)

I'm also a fitness instructor and yes, it's ok to do chest presses if you keep your upper body elevated. On a ball, it should look like this:
babyfit.sparkpeople.com/pregnancy-exercise.asp?ID=229
You can also use an incline bench, step bench where one end is set higher or fold a few exercise mats under your upper back and shoulders.

Thanks HazleNutt - much appreciated!

If you're only 13 weeks you're absolutely fine to carry on as you are, provided you don't get get hot and sweaty, and stop if you are breathless. The only other thing to think about is care not to over stretch and remembering to warm up well. Pregnancy causes ligaments etc to loosen so it is easy to injure yourself.

As you get further along everything changes - in a few weeks you may find you feel faint if you stand up quickly or hold your arms above your head. This is due to rapid increase in blood volume. I passed out when my PT instructor stretched my arms out after a class!

Also, breathlessness increases, making running impossible and power walking on an incline difficult.

If you're in London the Maternally Fit classes are pretty good. Beyond that, the walking/swimming/yoga trinity has worked for me so far - I'm 26 weeks. I've never been as fit as some of you, but am very glad I've made the effort to stay mobile as I feel so much better after exercise. Re: clothes, I'm not sure how much you need. Bikinis are fine to swim in, e.g.

I'm 33 weeks and can still wear "normal" sports tights/leggings under my bump and I've just got a couple of cheap men's running tops which I wear to exercise in. I used to exercise 6 days per week - usually just 30-45 mins at a time with a long run at the weekend, now am doing max 25 min jogs or swims and some yoga - usually about 3 times per week so have cut down quite a lot but feel good for keeping it up a bit.

H&M do good tracksuit bottom type things for about £14.99. I have two pairs and am finding them to wash well - wear them for an exercise class and yoga. Am thinking of getting a few more pairs for wearing around the house as I get bigger because they are just so comfy but not completely slobbish looking!

Maternity-Sportswear.com do tops and bottoms for between £27.99 to £34.99. I have reviewed them here wp.me/p37cd9-xS Hope this helps x

I am 7 months pregnant and have been wearing Bumpfit leggings for running and yoga. They have been good and stretched with my belly would recommend...

My GP advised me that I could carry on as I was exercise wise - just don't start anything new. Before pregnancy I was running 5k + twice per week and also do martial arts and other fitness classes. I'm still doing martial arts - obviously non contact! And running but I tend to do intervals rather than a flat out run. The guidelines I was given are that it's a ok to get hot and sweaty as my body is already fit and used to exercise but to make sure I am never exercising over 80% effort. Easy to way to determine this is of you can speak comfortably when exercising. I did this with my first baby and he is absolutely fine - if anything I am sure that keeping as fit as I could in my first pregnancy helped me recover quickly from a traumatic birth. Just listen to your body... Your belly will probably be too heavy to do much running after a while so swap it for a swim or alternative cardio when you feel it's getting to be more effort! Good luck with everything.