I can’t say enough times how important your fitness is before during and after pregnancy to make your journey healthy, happy and comfortable. A lot of women however don’t know what to do or where to start. So here is a fitness guide for those looking to get on to a plan if you are trying to get pregnant or are pregnant and looking to implement a safe and effective exercise routine for you and your little one. I have developed a total package pregnancy fitness plan that can be downloaded on the Pear Sports Fitness App. My voice literally comes right into your headphones and trains you through each and every pregnancy workout. I monitor your heart rate for you, offer you modifications as well as provide motivation and education along the way. Learn more about the plan below!
PRE-PREGNANCY FITNESS
First things first, if you are thinking about pregnancy or trying to get pregnant, now it the time to start your pregnancy plan. It’s NOT too early. For women who are planning a pregnancy, establishing a fitness routine is an important part of the process. Nancy considered herself “Pre-Natal” for about 6 months before conceiving and she has her clients do the same. When her clients are planning to get pregnant, she begins implementing pregnancy training techniques into their programming. Learning how to properly breathe, engage the core, and improve the level of their strength and conditioning is going to set them up for a successful pregnancy. If you are looking to get pregnant this plan is a great place for you to start working on these techniques and building your pregnancy fitness baseline before conception. Going into your pregnancy with this baseline of fitness and core strength will set you up for success, support your body throughout the pregnancy, while also helping your body to bounce back quickly post-pregnancy.
FIRST TRIMESTER
Setting the foundation for your pregnancy by learning how to breathe and strengthening your core is most important during this time. All workouts on Nancy’s pregnancy plan are safe and effective to use during all trimesters, but it is recommended that the Labor Training Cardio workouts, Core Strength and Leg & Butt routines be done every week this trimester- that is if nausea will allow you to! Keep in mind that daily exercise in general is going to help during this period as it will assist in alleviating morning sickness, fatigue and weight fluctuation – common issues experienced in the first three months.
Taking time to go through the skill sessions on Nancy’s pregnancy plan (Core/TVA 101, Baby Breathing 101 and Pelvic Floor 101) on her pregnancy plan will allow you to become familiar with these important concepts and help you be able to successfully implement them during your pregnancy workouts. Nancy will remind you throughout all of her workouts how to do all of these things, but the 101 skill sessions are going to give you a foundation of knowledge on these concepts, explaining why they are so important to master during the upcoming months.
SECOND TRIMESTER
All workouts on Nancy’s pregnancy plan are safe and effective to use during all trimesters, but it is recommended that the focus this trimester be a blend of a few things. She suggests expecting Mama’s work on total body toning, core strength, and labor training cardio at this time. It’s important to make sure we are completing our upper body strength workouts, bringing some increased attention to your posture muscles, which by strengthening will reap benefits post-delivery, as women often hunch their backs while holding their babies or during breastfeeding.
Keep in mind that using Nancy’s labor training workouts will assist in preparing both you and baby for the demand that contractions will place on both of you during labor. Remember practice makes perfect! Labor training will help to ensure you and baby are prepared for the big day and will assist in making your labor shorter, easier and your pushing during delivery more effective!
THIRD TRIMESTER
As you belly continues to grow and you start to really feeling the difference from the pregnancy weight you have gained, you might notice that you feel a bit more fatigued during your workouts. Keep in mind that there are modifications for all trimesters and fitness levels in all of the workouts in Nancy’s pregnancy plan and she recommends you listen to your body and take those modifications when needed. It’s also important to consider that some days you might need to take longer rests periods during your workouts. Nancy encourages you to hit the ‘pause’ button when you need to, take a breather, then join back in when you’re ready.
In the home stretch of your pregnancy, it is important to keep up with your Labor Training Cardio and all core strength and toning routines. Even if your workouts are scaled back and your dumbbells are lighter, you have already built such a strong foundation of fitness from the first two trimesters, that you will still get all the benefits for you and baby. Just remember to try to keep moving! Working out will bring you energy, health benefits for you and baby, plus will help to alleviate the aches and pains that come towards the end of pregnancy.
LETS GET STARTED:
Download the free Pear Sports Fitness App on your smartphone and search under my name, “Nancy Anderson” and you will find the full pregnancy you can download and get started ASAP. Not sure what workout to do on the plan and when? Here is a 4 week starter workout schedule to get your started. Keep in mind that I also customized online training programs for pregnancy and post pregnancy Mama’s as well. To contact me about customized plans please email me: NancyAndersonFit@gmail.com
To print out your 4 week starter schedule click here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/mktg-assets.pearsports.com/prenatal_sample_starter_plan.pdf
For more information on Pregnancy Fitness and this plan check out our homepage: http://pearsports.com/pregnancy
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