Prenatal Exercise Guidelines: Safe Ways to Stay Active During Pregnancy

When you’re pregnant, your body spends the better part of a year going through a number of changes to accommodate new life including in your hormones, mood, weight, senses, skin, and circulation.

To compensate for many of these changes, you have to rethink how you take care of yourself and your unborn child, and exercise can play a role in keeping you both healthy. Let’s examine how physical activity helps and which exercises can maximize fitness safely.

If you’re pregnant and live in the Lake Mary, Florida, area, Dr. Christopher Quinsey and our team can help you navigate many issues you will deal with during this time, including the best ways to stay physically fit.

How physical activity helps while pregnant

Exercising under normal circumstances is a powerful tool in continued physical well-being, but when you're carrying a child it’s essential for:

• Improving your posture
• Reducing backaches and fatigue
• Lowering stress
• Increasing your stamina

It can also help lower your risk of gestational diabetes, a condition that would affect your child even if you don’t have diabetes.

Establishing a physical regimen during this time will be down to your health, comfort, and doctor’s recommendation. Other factors that can affect how much exercise you should get include possible complications during pregnancy, a weak cervix, bleeding and spotting, heart or lung disease, and premature labor.

Exercises to use during pregnancy

The exercises you can do changes over the course of your pregnancy. Only some cardiovascular routines are generally safe to do throughout, such as swimming, cycling, walking, and jogging. 

Here are the exercises to consider doing during each trimester:

First trimester

As long as your pregnancy is not high risk, you can do 150 minutes of cardio weekly and up to three days of strength training targeting the major muscle groups. The primary goal should be to work on making labor and childbirth easier on your body.

Focus on exercises like pelvic curls, pelvic brace, kneeling pushups, squats, and bicep curls.

Second trimester

At this point, many women say they’re feeling their best, with a general feeling of calmness and increased energy in this three-month period. But with your uterus growing, you should be mindful of the exercises you’re doing. 

Incline pushups, hip flexor and quadricep stretches, side lying leg lifts, and mermaid stretches are the exercises to consider.

Third trimester

This is the time where your body is getting ready to give birth, so expect a slowdown in activity. Mobility and abdominal strength are the best areas of focus, so some cardio (walking, Pilates, swimming, prenatal yoga, pelvic floor exercises) are certainly helpful. 

Other exercises to work on include:

• Diastasis recti correction
• Tricep kickbacks
• Modified planks
• Standing shoulder presses
• Sumo squats
• Lightweight bicep curls

We recommend a specific regimen based on your needs. Request an appointment with Dr. Quinsey today to find out how to keep yourself healthy, fit, and safe while you’re pregnant.