Best Workouts for Pregnant Women

Best Workouts for Pregnant Women

May 20, 2021 mindpump

Pregnancy is not the time to slow down on your activity. In fact, keeping an active lifestyle throughout pregnancy can help you avoid issues like back pain and make the birthing process go more smoothly. Staying active can keep you healthier overall which will ultimately impact the health of your baby. Your body changes quickly during pregnancy but that does not mean that you have to completely change your workout routine. There are many types of workouts that can be done during pregnancy with no or very few modifications. Resistance training is the best option for working out – whether you are pregnant or not. If you want to incorporate resistance training while you are pregnant, three options for doing that include bands, free weights, and machines.

Bands

Exercise bands can provide you with resistance and help you protect against injury. There is not heavy or complicated equipment involved in doing a workout with resistance bands. All you need is a set of high-quality bands with varying levels of resistance. You can step on the bands to increase resistance or loop them around something stable to provide you with additional resistance. You can use bands to work out every major muscle group of your body. It is easy to make modifications to various exercises using bands. That fact makes bands a great option for pregnant women because the exercise can easily be adjusted to accommodate a quickly changing body.

Free weights

Free weights are an excellent choice for anyone who wants to start a resistance training routine. A full set of free weights that you will find in a gym provides options for just about any level of strength. You can continue to build strength and muscle throughout your pregnancy by using free weights. There are literally thousands of moves that you can do using free weights. It is easy to adjust the weight and make modifications to moves if you need to throughout your pregnancy using free weights.

Machines

Machines are not typically a top recommendation when it comes to getting a high-quality resistance training workout. You have much more freedom and flexibility in your workouts when you use bands or free weights. However, the quick changes that happen to your body during pregnancy may leave you feeling less stable on your feet than usual. For example, you may not feel comfortable doing a squat or lunges without some type of support. If you find yourself feeling like you need some extra stability in your workout, using some of the machines in the gym can provide that stability. The leg curl and leg extension machines, for example, can hit some of the same muscle groups as a squat or lung. Doing actual squats or lunges is preferable but your safety is top priority. If you need to make use of some of the machines in the gym in order to feel safe continuing with resistance training, that is preferable to stopping completely.

Resistance training is the best type of workout program for pregnant women. Exercise bands, free weights, and exercise machines are all options for getting in resistance training during pregnancy. If you have approval from your doctor to continue working out during pregnancy, the most effective thing to do is to continue on with a resistance training program.