Exercising whilst pregnant

[K8eee]

I'm into my 2nd trimester, and pg with baby no 2. 8 months after having dd1 I started up exercising and joined a local bootcamp class. Bloody hard work, but I really enjoyed it the more I went.

Once i found out I was pg with dc2, I told the instructor who told me he'd much rather I didn't attend any classes until after i'd had the baby. the classes involved some heavy lifting, lots of cardio and some weights with kettle bells.

I'm desperate to exercise, and I really want to go back. I've asked him if there is by any chance any low cardio or low weight toning exercises I can do in his gym. Do any of you know of anything I can try, or something you can suggest? I don't want to start up swimming, or aqua natal classes if I can avoid it, as I live a bit out in the sticks and its the only local place I can go (plus I know most of the people that go too!)

Walking? Yoga? Pregnancy exercise DVDs?

The general advice is that you maintain fitness instead of trying to increase fitness. It's a shame your instructor doesn't want to offer you modifications to make the class work for you since you enjoy it so much.

Loads of pregnancy cardio/aerobics-y stuff on YouTube, also Pilates and yoga videos. I did loads of long walks.

2nd trimester is a great time to exercise, and you should be able to carry on with the sort of exercise you were doing before, but at a lower intensity. You should not be looking to increase your fitness or push yourself which is what you would normally do in a bootcamp style class.
If I was you I would try and find a class with a different instructor. You don't need a specific class for pregnant women but your current instructor is uncomfortable with you in the class, probably as he has no experience of what is safe exercise in pregnancy.
I was lucky enough to be able to continue with all of my usual gym classes through the 2nd trimester as my instructors were women who had taught the classes throughout their own pregnancies and knew what was safe. Could you ring around a few places and see what they say?
I'm now 35 weeks and have given up on exercise other than pregnancy yoga and swimming as I feel too tired and heavy! Can't wait to get back to my bootcamp class!

I guess you could try and find a personal trainer with knowledge in pre natal exercise and go from there?

I do pole fitness and still going but just adjusting what i do, so the abs stuff and inverting hurt so im sticking to spins and seats.

Yeah my instructor has never dealt with a pregnant lady in his classes. I haven't been for a good couple of months, but stuff like tricep dips, light weight work and if I could do a light amount of cardio I'd be happy. walking just doesn't do it for me, I like taking dd out for a walk in her pushchair but we love somewhere where anything to walk to is a fair distance apart from a local tesco, crap village high street and the beach. sounds absolutely fine I know, but everyday doing that would bore me

If you're already fit, you'll be fine running and doing circuit classes, plus gentler stuff such as aquarobics, yoga and Pilates.

IMO, bodyweight stuff is fine as long as it feels comfortable. Just stay away from the heavy weights and kettlebells.

I carried on with my cardio and just made sure my heart rate didn't go too high. Think I tried to keep it at around 140bpm, although it may be allowed to go slightly higher, I think it differs from person to person.

My friend continued with lighter kettle bells, worth asking your midwife, I only know the don't s are abdominal stuff like sit ups etc

That's a real shame - I guess you need to find a pre and post-natal trained trainer. Mine has told me I can do more or less everything we were doing before, (which was nothing too heavy, mind) and on core stuff you have to be careful on the type of exercises. We still do kettlebells for circuit training but I don't use anything too heavy.

Also maybe it's just me but I'd trust a female trainer rather than a male one in this instance!