How Do You Know If An Exercise Is Safe To Perform During Pregnancy?

My favourite part about working with pregnant women is showing them how much they’re capable of at a time that can sometimes shake their confidence.

There’s so much conflicting information and judgment, but exercising during pregnancy has so many amazing benefits:

✅ Reduced pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain and stress levels

✅ Lowered risk of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia

✅ Improved pelvic floor, core function, mood and energy levels

✅ Improved labour and delivery outcomes and postpartum healing

While there are always exceptions, my general rule for prenatal fitness is to do what feels good. This sounds simple, but with all the changes going on in your body, it’s not always easy to decipher what feels good.

So here are my top 3 guidelines to follow to help keep you safe and active through pregnancy:

1. Make sure you can breathe through the exercise

Breathing helps you manage the pressure in your body and makes it easier for you to maintain control in an exercise.

2. Make sure there’s no risk of direct impact to your belly

If you’re doing any agility, power or speed work, you may want to scale down to an intensity that gives you total control and lowers your risk of falling or hitting yourself with any equipment.

3. Avoid anything that causes pain, adverse symptoms or discomfort beyond normal muscle fatigue

Some symptoms to look out for include dizziness, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, incontinence or feelings of anxiety.

Your body will generally do a good job of guiding you to what’s safe, but I know it can still feel hard to trust that during this time. If you want that extra support to feel 100% confident in what you’re doing, this is a great time to book a Prenatal Fitness Jumpstart session with me!

In this 45-minute virtual 1-1 session you'll get a personalized plan to start addressing your biggest fitness struggles so you can start exercising to support and heal your body right away.

Now let's get moving to support your body!

Coach Dee

@coachdee_fitness

info@coachdeefitness.com

coachdeefitness.com

*This is a fitness and personal training blog for information purposes only and shouldn’t be seen as health, nutritional, or medical advice. This site is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis or treatment. Any information you use from this site is at your own risk. Never disregard professional advice or delay seeking it because of something you read on this site.