Adjusting workouts when pregnant

[Kalodin]

8 weeks pregnant and really struggling to follow my usual routine in the gym this morning as feeling rather faint and nauseous.

I have switched from free weights to machines. But I am hoping someone has some tips on adjusting workouts.

I usually focus on powerlifting as prior to getting pregnant I was prepping for a meet.

Unfortunately there isn’t any clear guidelines from what I understand. Though, in the first trimester listening to your body is absolutely key. If machines instead of free weights feel good then go for it; but also listen to your body if it is asking for time off, even if it’s weeks at a time. If you’ve been prepping for competition I assume you’re not new to lifting and have a good understanding of your limits; the few people I know who lift seriously have focussed on maintaining strength or switching lower weights/higher reps.

The BEST thing you can do though would be to find a qualified trainer in your area who can review your plans with you and make sure you’re proceeding safely. As well, when your bump makes an appearance it changes your form and centre of balance which may require some modifications/dropping of certain exercises or weight. Finally - all of this assumes you have a healthy pregnancy. I’d let your maternity team know about your workouts and see if they have any suggestion.

Thank you @TTCAbroad - yes definitely know when I'm a few away from failure. My medical team advised that I just stay away from hitting failure but can carry on as I am.

Great idea about seeking someone locally you can advise me in person. Shall seek someone out.

The general guidance is that you can keep going with what you were doing pre-pregnancy (don't start anything new), and adjust depending on how you feel. First trimester is a bit wierd because it's more about feeling naseuous than anything else (I do crossfit and burpees yesterday were a no no - face to the ground made me want to throw up!). Everything else is go by feel. I've got friends who do crossfit and weightlifting and have just decreased their weights depending on feel, and carried on until near enough the final weeks of pregnancy.

It's a great suggestion to find a pregnancy exercise specialist (not all trainers know enough about it, so a specialist is worth it) if you want to push on with training whilst pregnant. As @TTCAbroad says, lots of stuff like centre of balance changes as you go through pregnancy, and they'll be able to help make sure you're safe and healthy throughout.

My plan is to carry on as I was for now, when bump starts to show then that'll be the first major adjustments for me with cleans etc. as I won't feel safe (even though many people do carry on with these).

Agree with PP about continuing what you already do, just listening to your body.

I weight train and have continued as normal mostly. However from immediately knowing I was pregnant stopped anything that put pressure on my pelvic region (hip thrusts etc).

From about 10ish weeks stopped doing anything abs wise that puts a lot of pressure through abs, so most ab exercises. These have been replaced with pregnancy friendly things like diaphragmatic breathing to 'hug' baby and anything basically on all fours doesn't put too much pressure through abs.

I'm now almost 22 weeks and in my legs session yesterday was the first time I had to drop the weight to listen to my body. Bump is also now very much there so just accommodating around it!

But I plan to continue training for as long as I can. I've also started walking a lot more as alternative to anything HIIT wise I did. It's just more gentle on the body for me but still really good exercise at a moderate pace. And walking also very good for blood flow and promoting placenta health.