Pregnancy Diet and Fitness : Forms of Exercise For Pregnant Moms

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Are you a fitness buff or a very active person before you got pregnant? Do you worry now that exercise might harm the beloved baby inside your womb? Well, worry no more, because there are many forms of exercises or activities that expectant moms like you can get engage into or habitually execute during the course of pregnancy.

Exercising is mostly recommended for pregnant moms to strengthen the muscles and build endurance. By keeping your body strong and fit, you can manage to carry the baby inside while the he/she continuously grow bigger and heavier as months pass by up to the time you give birth.

Proper exercise can help keep your heart healthy, make your whole body more flexible and provide you greater endurance and tolerance for pain. Here are some of the safest and highly suggested exercises for soon-to-be moms.

1.) Stretching — is good form of exercise to perform before doing your main exercise routine. It is important for you to do first some stretching exercises to prepare your body for the real workout. Moreover, stretching can help avoid muscle strains and pain in the joints and ligaments.

2.) Walking — considered to be one of the best cardiovascular exercises for expectant moms. It is very safe to perform and can be done from the first to the last trimester of your pregnancy. A 15-min of walk daily can help strengthen your heart and lungs. It can also assist in managing your weight by burning excess calories or avoiding too much weight gain. Walking keeps you fit without hurting your knees, joint or ankles.

3.) Swimming — another harmless exercise for pregnant women to execute. It focuses on cardiovascular health and strengthens muscles in the arms and legs. Swimming is also fun for pregnant women because you will feel very light when you’re in water. Just make sure not to bump your stomach on a hard surface when swimming. You can also join an aquanatal class for pregnant so you can develop friendship with fellow moms in your class.

4.) Aerobics — You can sign up and join a specialized aerobics class for expecting moms. It would also be cool to do aerobics with other expectant moms. Just make sure that your instructor is a professional one and really knows the right movements or routines for pregnant.

5.) Yoga — is a form of exercise that can help relieve you from stress and keep your body fit and flexible. You can partner yoga with swimming and walking for best cardiovascular workout.

6.) Pelvic floor exercises (sometimes referred to as Kegel exercises) – exercises that aim to toughen the muscles of our pelvic floor. Pelvic floor refers to the muscles stretching from the pubic bone to your backbone. Your pelvic floor needs to be strong especially when you’re pregnant so as to avoid stress incontinence (releasing drops of urine unintentionally).

Pregnant women are usual victims of stress incontinence because their pelvic floor tends to weaken during pregnancy. You can perform a simple pelvic floor exercise anytime, anywhere.

How to do this? Find first the right pelvic floor muscles to target. Pretend that you want to stop urinating and when you do that, you can feel a certain pull in those muscles. Doing this every now and then (as long as you are really not about to pee) can help control or reduce incontinence. It is best to practice this when coughing or sneezing.

7.) Bicycling, jogging, running and Pilates are other forms of exercise that expectant mothers can do. Just remember to keep everything in moderation and never exhaust yourself when working out.

8.) Stomach-strengthening exercises can help lessen backache that pregnant women usually feel and are always complaining about. Have a professional instructor guide or supervise you while doing the exercise to ensure your doing it the right way.

Avoid lying on your back when you have reached your second trimester until child delivery because it can affect the flow of blood in your body as well as your baby’s. You should also avoid exercising during hot weather as well as standing for a long period.
Keeping these things in mind will definitely help in making your pregnancy a safe and healthy one.