Body Attack, combat & pump - pregnancy experiences

[kmini]

Hi

Anyone's experiences with doing these classes during pregnancy? How long were you able to do it for & what exercise group did you cut out?

Thanks!

I did combat and pump twice weekly until I found out I was pg. Tbh I was so tired I didn't feel I had the energy to do it! I know you can do pump when pg as one instructor I had was pg leading the class.

I'm still doing all 3 at nearly 35 weeks! Have cut down to 2 pump classes, an attack class and a combat class compared to what I did before I got pregnant, and I stick to low impact options, incline my step for chest and triceps work and do back work instead of sit-ups. I've been doing the classes for years and intend to keep going as long as I can. The only thing I've had to give up is spinning as I've been suffering from coccyx pain since about 7 weeks and the seat just aggravates it.

Thanks cariad. I am only 6 weeks along & I did Attack the other night. I quietly asked the instructor if there was anything i need to consider & he just looked at me like I was an alien. Very unhelpful.

How did you handle exercise in the 1st trimester. I am absolutely exhausted and very nausous at times & my DH keeps saying not to push myself. Wondering how you found that balance between wanting to keep healthy and fit & keeping relaxed and rested for the baby.

I did body pump up until about 22 weeks, I only gave it up because another lady in the class told me in front of everyone that I shouldn't be doing it and argued with the instructor when the instructor pointed out that she was qualified and had been giving me alternative exercises every time we did something that might be unsuitable. It just upset me too much to continue, although physically it was fine.

Yes did all, stopped combat ant attack around 8 months pregnant but was doing (teaching) pump pretty much til due date.
Was also tired in 1st trimester, but I actually found that I was more exhausted on the days I didn't work out.
There are special pregnancy options in pump, as the instructor, and in attack and combat, just take the low options if it's too hard otherwise.

treacle that's horrible!

treacle i can't believe someone said that to you. Unbelieveably rude.

hazel thanks for the tips.

Will keep perservering. Hoping morning sickness doesn't get any worse.

I used to do classes at least 5 times a week and continued to do so till I had some hip pain at around 5 and a half months. At that point I had a week off completely and now at 7 and a half months i do body attack twice a week, a swim midweek (most of the time!), and the first half hour of super Saturday. I try to fit a couple of long walks in too but it doesn't always happen. I don't do the body attack abs track and I do all the low impact options. I'm nowhere near super fit but I'm gonna keep going as long as I can.

kmini I did take it easy first trimester as I tended to feel a bit nauseous and bloated in the evenings, which is when most of the classes were on. But once I hit second trimester I felt fine. The most important thing to remember is not to overheat and let your heart rate get too high - you could wear a monitor to keep track of it, although I don't bother.

treacle that is so out of order. I have noticed a couple of people giving me funny looks in class but if anyone says anything to me they are going to be told politely to mind their own business! The nerve of some people.

I would not worry about the heart rate too much - of course, you should take it easier in pregnancy, but the guy who first came out with the "no higher than 140" has himself said that this was just a guess.

In 1985, Artal said, he and other doctors suggested guidelines to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to have pregnant women keep their heart rate below 140 beats per minute during exercise.
Artal said that, in 1985, he and another doctor used intuition and calculation to determine the 140 beats rule. Six months later, when actual testing of women in a lab proved them wrong, Artal said he asked for the 140 beats notation to be stricken from the guidelines.
"For some reason, people caught onto that and they never let go," he said. "Each time I get asked about it, I said forget about it. I think it should be ignored."

sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=4693739
onefitmom.ca/2011/02/12/pregnancy-myth-1-dont-let-your-heart-rate-get-above-140/

yes, it was pretty horrible, although most people were very positive and thought it was great that I wanted to stay active, so I shouldn't have let it put me off.

I looked at it this way. My instructor had a very well established and lucrative business as an instructor, the last thing she would have wanted would have been for me to injure myself because the damage to her reputation would have been irreparable really.

As for the first trimester, I used to spend half the class running to the loo to be sick, blasted morning sickness. I don't think there was a single person in the class who was actually surprised when I announced I was pregnant !

I was to tired to do combat in 1st tri (felt dizzy and washed out) and stuck to walking / cross trainer / weights and Pilates. Now feeling much better and went back to combat yesterday (im 14+4). Listen to your body and do what it tells you!

Also im starting aqua tomorrow as it is low impact and i want my body to be used to it when i'm bigger. its going to be me and a load of 65+'s!

I did combat, pump and occasionally attack through to the end of the second tri in my first pg. I was given alternative excercises for ab crunches and things that involved laying on my back for the second tri after a quiet word with the instructor in early days, and kept well hydrated - actually started carrying sports drink for sips after a while. Maybe call your gym and ask if there is anyone qualified in pre- and post-natal fitness you can talk to if the instructor at your particular class is unhelpful?

For me, it became more about keeping moving than going for the burn. I always took the low impact options (so no jump kicks/star jumps etc) and kept my weights steady at pump.

On ML with DC2 and haven't been to a class since I found I was pg with him. I really miss combat! Enjoy it.

I did pump up to 35 weeks and only gave up because of my gyms piss poor air con and the fact we were having a heatwave. I came over a bit dizzy one class and decided that it was probably a bit risky to continue.

Used normal weight until 12 weeks then lowered slightly and inclined step. Then gradually lowered weights when i felt i needed to as i went along.

Switched from attack to sh'bam and body jam as soon as i found out i was pregnant as i often couldn't breathe in attack and didn't think that was wise to do whilst pregnant.

I also never got any negative response to working out whilst pregnant, although i did become a bit of a celebrity at the gym towards the end!

Thanks for shedding light on that, Hazle, really helpful. I'd read that that advice was 30 years old and out of date, but nobody really gives any solid alternatives or justifications behind them! I think that pre-natal fitness is an area with massive scope for improvement.

I didn't realise these classes were ok in pregnancy! Not sure I'm up to starting the more high-impact ones while pregnant but I should be fine to do Aqua Aerobics and BodyBalance then?

I did all of those up until about 8 months..increasingly slowly but was still there! I found best thing for me was to get up and straight to gym before I had time to think about being nauseous/tired.
One thing I read recently to bear in mind though is to watch out doing things like plank/side plank/core stuff..your obliques take over to compensate for the central core but if they get too strong can contribute to separation post partum. Fairly sure this added to my seperation after dc2.

Moomin general rule is not to start something new and hardcore while pregnant but carrying on with things is fine or starting up something gentle. Aqua aerobics is great in pregnancy..can't remember what you do in body balance as haven't done for ages but should be ok I think it's pretty gentle. Always just ask the instructor they should know.

moomin it is generally not advised to start with new sports when pregnant, especially high intensity ones, but it's ok to continue if you're used to them.
Aqua Aerobics and balance should be fine though - there are also special pregnancy options for exercises in balance, ask your instructor.

I think it's fine, as most people have said. The only thing I would be cautious about is getting too hot, but you sound mega-fit anyway so shouldn't be a problem.

Congratulations too!

getting hot is similar to the heart rate issue, we are always told that we must not, but based on what? I have not found any research showing that getting hot during exercise (and that would be a bloody boring attack class, if you didn't get sweaty) would have any negative effects on baby. For example, see here:

"one study found that for women exercising at moderate to high intensity for 20 minutes, temperature increased by .5 degrees C to 37.3 degrees C in late pregnancy. There is no evidence that exercise raises body core temperature to a level likely to cause problems."
www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/pregnant-athletes-is-it-safe-to-exercise-when-youre-pregnant-545

That's interesting, and it annoys me more than a little when the evidence for telling pregnant women not to do something is based on studies that were done years ago and haven't been updated since.

My combat instructor is starting to annoy me a bit as he keeps telling me to march on the spot instead of doing knees. I'm going to ask him what the evidence that I shouldn't do knees is because I don't even go as high as I used to pre-pregnancy!