Exercise in pregnancy?

[smogsville]

So in my first preg I cycled to work an hour total mon-fri until 20 weeks then switched to public transport but this involved nearly an hour of brisk walking each day due to distances to and from stations/ home / office.

This time around we've moved, biking isn't an option and I'm only part time. I do however have a three year old now, meaning I don't have much sitting still time at home except in evening. We walk everywhere but distances aren't very impressive as everything's very local.

I'm now 18 wks and toying with signing up to preg exercise class that I did in first preg but it would mean not getting home until after 9 on Tuesdays and then forcing myself to go swimming on Saturdays.

Would be interested to hear what other people are doing. I don't know if I'm just being lazy and calling it tiredness (suspect yes!).

I swim 14 hrs a week and go on long walks with my dog . I am 28 wks and starting to get tired but happy to keep it up .

14 hrs a week?! Really?! How do you fit that in? Impressive.

Have just emailed a local swimming club to see if they let people come and swim without being required to 'compete' for them. Otherwise it's a short drive to nearest public pool which is enough to put me off.

I might do a trial of the maternally fit class next week too, to see how I find getting home late. If I do I'll be one of those awful people chowing down on the tube en route home as no way I can hold out until after 9 for food!

I have run every day since Jan 2011 and with slightly less frequency for a good 10 years before that. Am now nearly 30 weeks and my runs have slowed and have wee stops but am still getting out there! Also swim 2-4x per week with masters club. There have been a few threads on this, one lady was doing weightlifting including heavy dead lifts and quite a few fitness class instructor mum-to-bes! I think the consensus is to take into account a) what you did before and b) how you feel, listen to your body. Those of us for whom exercise has always been a big part of life are definitely not going to become overnight couch potatoes but at the same time if you are normally very sedentary or have poor cardiovascular fitness then joining a boxing gym at 4 months' pregnant is going to be a bad idea!!

My god i feel unfit just reading the op! Id research your options. I very much enjoyed pg yoga this time. last time i was a zumba instructor until week 26! No idea how i did it.

Ooh, is zumba ok was preggers then? I read somewhere that doing too much jumping/twisting wasn't good, but I love zumba!

Im starting to really miss exercise - did jogging, cycling (regularly up to 20 miles a day) & gym classes before getting pregnant, but a combo of chaotic house renovation & morning sickness meant I haven't done much since getting my BFP - think I need to ease myself back in!

Hi. I have a preganant yoga DVD and a prenatal work out video that I do when I have 30-40 mins to spare. I also go to a pregnancy yoga class once a week and I try to go swimming twice a week. To be fair this is all I seem to fit in with working full time and having two teenager step children - I do try to walk when I can. I am not fit though - I am just trying to keep hold of what I've got! ps. I am 23 weeks.

the advice i received was not to pick up any exercise once pregnant (unless yoga or something not cardio) but if you're already active then you can maintain routine until you keep fit. i was still going to my spin classes till 34 week and i swam my lengths the day my waters broke (before this obviously!!)

I'm a fitness instructor mum-to-be (DC2). With DC1, I was still teaching Bodypump 9 months pregnant. As said before, do not start anything new and intensive when pregnant (of course, swimming, pregnancy yoga etc are fine) - but it is generally fine to continue with sports you are used to. If you have been doing several high intensity classes per week, it's understandable that a pre-natal relax and stretch class won't give you the same high.
Zumba is fine too, but yes, the twisting and shaking will get a little challenging - I enjoyed a normal dance aerobics class more in 3rd trimester.

I still do the same 4 classes a week over two evenings and a weekend morning (two aerobics, Pilates and a short HIIT one) as before, but have gradually reduced the intensity for all of them (now 20wks). No DC so no problem about fitting it in - doubt I'll be able to keep half of them on when we do have DC!

I try not to skip classes even when the sofa is so appealing because I do feel better afterwards and sleep better too - not sleeping well so anything that helps... It also helped (sort of and very short-term) with bad nausea in the first trimester - more that I was having to focus on doing something physical rather than sit at home or work feeling dreadful. I am finding the aerobics classes more of a struggle now and will probably have to drop one in the next month or so, but will replace it with a pregnancy yoga class - think this is one of the few things you are able to take up from scratch in pregnancy! Friends have told me you are entitled to take paid time off work for classes recommended by a doctor or midwife and this includes pregnancy yoga - might be worth seeing if you could do this and find an earlier class (lots of the ones in my area are during the working day) so it doesn't mean such a late night.

Thanks for responses everyone you've geed me up. Just left a message for the maternally fit woman to call me so I can try out the Tuesday eve class and sent an email to a local swimming club that seems from its website to have the odd session for adults who want to swim for fitness.

I like the idea of sleep coming more naturally esp as the pregnancy progresses and back ache kicks in.

I recovered v quickly from pregnancy and c section last time and I'm sure being active in preg had something to do with it. Will let you know how I get on.

Hello!

I'm still weight lifting and doing cardio 4-5 times a week!

Admittedly I dropped the weights slightly but I've been training for 8 years so see no reason to stop now!

I have nothing else to do with my day whilst my son is at school!

I did Body Attack until 37 weeks. It was fine as I was used to it and I adapted it where necessary.

Booked in for class on Tuesday no getting out of it now! Had better dust off those trainers...