WARNING!!!
If you are pregnant and working out- PLEASE be careful. Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional, nor a fitness professional. I am merely an obsessive researcher when it comes to keeping my body and my baby safe during pregnancy. So through talking to my doctor and researching whatever I could find online I have a few tips.
1. DRINK LOTS OF WATER!! Like more than normal. After every work out, drink water. When we are pregnant we are bigger, which, at least for me, means that I sweat more. But you need more when you are pregnant to protect the baby. Beachbody recommends that for this 21 day cleanse you are taking your body weight in lbs and cutting it in half to know how many ounces you should drink per day. So I weigh right now about 126. Cut in half that is 63. So I should be drinking 63 ounces per day. My doctor recommended that if working out I should drink at least 80, so that is my personal goal, and if you are pregnant, I would suggest the same to you! As much as you can!
2. WARM-UP! I cannot stress this enough. The 21 day FIX program has a short warm up. I would suggest marching in place for about 2 minutes or even doing some sweeping or vacuuming before starting this just to make sure you're nice and warm. During pregnancy, your body is releasing hormones to help stretch your muscles and ligaments out to make it possible to pass a HUMAN through your birth canal. (Can we talk for a moment about what an amazing thing that is?! I seriously cannot believe we do that. Its a miracle!) Because of this, we, as pregnant women are more prone to injury and torn muscles. So warm-ups and cool-downs are essential.
3. STRETCHING! Stretching is a wonderful remedy for our aching backs and tight shoulders, and is a great tool to help prevent injuries. I have also found that stretching has helped me with the restless legs that I get during pregnancy. But remember those crazy hormones that are there to stretch your body for birth? Yeah they work here too. So please be careful. You may be able to stretch further than you ever have before, but that does not mean that you should. Stretch to where it feels good, but don't get to the point where it hurts. You will need all your muscles in tact when you deliver your baby so stretching is good as long as you don't take it too far.
4. CARDIO: You CAN do cardio while pregnant! In fact, you should! It will help your body become stronger and your heart to handle labor better. Some women are literally pushing for HOURS before they get to see their little one. You want to have the stamina to do that, and cardio will definitely help! I have just found that too much bouncing around feels uncomfortable. So I avoid jumping and bouncing and replace those movements with marching and very gentle bouncing, nothing where both feet are in the air at the same time.
5. POSITIONS/EXERCISES TO AVOID: Obviously you should not lay on your belly. Do not do any exercises where you lay on your belly. You can skip these ones and find another exercise to do, or simply march in place. You should also not be laying flat on your back or doing crunches flat on your back while pregnant either. I have found that I am usually ok if I lay back on my elbows, and can do most exercises that way. But please be mindful of the fact that there is another human occupying your belly right now, so don't squeeze them too tight. It is already pretty packed in there, so do very slight crunches, or if you feel more comfortable skipping them, then you can do that as well! Just replace it with something else.
Well that about covers what I have found out! Feel free to comment with any more advice that you have or if you have any questions.
If you are pregnant and working out- PLEASE be careful. Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional, nor a fitness professional. I am merely an obsessive researcher when it comes to keeping my body and my baby safe during pregnancy. So through talking to my doctor and researching whatever I could find online I have a few tips.
1. DRINK LOTS OF WATER!! Like more than normal. After every work out, drink water. When we are pregnant we are bigger, which, at least for me, means that I sweat more. But you need more when you are pregnant to protect the baby. Beachbody recommends that for this 21 day cleanse you are taking your body weight in lbs and cutting it in half to know how many ounces you should drink per day. So I weigh right now about 126. Cut in half that is 63. So I should be drinking 63 ounces per day. My doctor recommended that if working out I should drink at least 80, so that is my personal goal, and if you are pregnant, I would suggest the same to you! As much as you can!
2. WARM-UP! I cannot stress this enough. The 21 day FIX program has a short warm up. I would suggest marching in place for about 2 minutes or even doing some sweeping or vacuuming before starting this just to make sure you're nice and warm. During pregnancy, your body is releasing hormones to help stretch your muscles and ligaments out to make it possible to pass a HUMAN through your birth canal. (Can we talk for a moment about what an amazing thing that is?! I seriously cannot believe we do that. Its a miracle!) Because of this, we, as pregnant women are more prone to injury and torn muscles. So warm-ups and cool-downs are essential.
3. STRETCHING! Stretching is a wonderful remedy for our aching backs and tight shoulders, and is a great tool to help prevent injuries. I have also found that stretching has helped me with the restless legs that I get during pregnancy. But remember those crazy hormones that are there to stretch your body for birth? Yeah they work here too. So please be careful. You may be able to stretch further than you ever have before, but that does not mean that you should. Stretch to where it feels good, but don't get to the point where it hurts. You will need all your muscles in tact when you deliver your baby so stretching is good as long as you don't take it too far.
4. CARDIO: You CAN do cardio while pregnant! In fact, you should! It will help your body become stronger and your heart to handle labor better. Some women are literally pushing for HOURS before they get to see their little one. You want to have the stamina to do that, and cardio will definitely help! I have just found that too much bouncing around feels uncomfortable. So I avoid jumping and bouncing and replace those movements with marching and very gentle bouncing, nothing where both feet are in the air at the same time.
5. POSITIONS/EXERCISES TO AVOID: Obviously you should not lay on your belly. Do not do any exercises where you lay on your belly. You can skip these ones and find another exercise to do, or simply march in place. You should also not be laying flat on your back or doing crunches flat on your back while pregnant either. I have found that I am usually ok if I lay back on my elbows, and can do most exercises that way. But please be mindful of the fact that there is another human occupying your belly right now, so don't squeeze them too tight. It is already pretty packed in there, so do very slight crunches, or if you feel more comfortable skipping them, then you can do that as well! Just replace it with something else.
Well that about covers what I have found out! Feel free to comment with any more advice that you have or if you have any questions.
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