Every
pregnant woman is told from the beginning to stay active during pregnancy. There are so many health benefits to having
an active pregnancy: not gaining too much weight, less back pain, potentially
easier labor, and easier recovery after birth. I can personally speak to the
last benefit - it’s been 4 weeks since giving birth and I am now less than 10
pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight.
Obviously, not every woman who has an active pregnancy will lose all the
baby weight immediately. It’s definitely
a combination of factors: genetics, diet before, during and after pregnancy, as
well as staying active during pregnancy.
There’s nothing you can do about genetics, but there is plenty you can
do about diet and exercise.
While
pregnant with Malcolm, I stayed as active as possible, I think I was even more
active during this pregnancy than I was with Guinevere. I danced up until third trimester and then
did fitness videos at home when I had the time.
If you are interested in doing prenatal fitness videos at home, here are
the ones I did:
*This
is not a sponsored post; I just wanted to share the videos that I did as many
people have asked about my method to staying fit during pregnancy. However, I am using affiliate links to
Amazon.
Shiva Rea Prenatal Yoga
Shiva
Rea is apparently the “go-to” person for pre- and postnatal yoga. This DVD has three women in various stages of
pregnancy all practicing yoga together.
If you are first trimester, you follow Shiva. If you are second trimester, you follow the
woman who is also second trimester. If
you are third trimester, you follow the poor woman who was forced to wear a
unitard in her third trimester and looks like she’s about to pop! (I guess
“forced” isn’t really the right word – clearly she signed up for appearing in
the video and voluntarily wore the unitard.
But I can just imagine the look of disappointment on her face when she
showed up on set and the wardrobe department showed her what she would be
wearing.)
If
you already practice yoga regularly (or pilates or ballet or anything where you
already have flexibility and good core strength), I would recommend waiting on
this DVD until you are further along in your pregnancy unless you just want a
relaxing yoga session. The first couple
times I did it, I found it too easy. But
believe me, by third trimester, suddenly things are way more challenging!
The
running time of this DVD is 70 minutes, but you can cut out about 20 minutes of
that if you skip the intro and the guided relaxation. Some people love guided relaxation – I just
often didn’t have time for it.
Special
equipment needed: chair, yoga strap, block (though you can modify based on what
you have available and you don’t need anything special for first trimester
poses)
Knocked –Up Fitness Pre-Natal Pilates-Infused
Fitness
I
received this DVD as part of the swag bag from the Big City Moms Shower. I was so excited to get a prenatal Pilates
DVD! No offense to my yoga loving
friends, but every time I do Pilates, I am reminded how much more I like it
than yoga. I just wish Pilates classes
were as cheap and ubiquitous as yoga classes!
Erica
Ziel leads this DVD in what looks like her bungalow studio. Some of the shots are a little awkward
because the studio is fairly small, so they have to angle the camera in a weird
way. Due to the weird camera angles, if
you are not already familiar with Pilates, it may take a couple times before
you figure out the exact right form.
My
favorite aspect of this DVD is that she breaks up the workout into 5 different
sections and you can pick and choose based on your mood and/or amount of time
that you have. The sections are: 1) Core
Warm-Up (this is the only section where you will need the balance ball), 2)
Prenatal Fitcamp, 3) Pilates Arms, 4) Pilates Legs and 5) Total Body
Pilates. My favorite workouts were the
Core Warm-Up and Total Body Pilates.
The
one complaint about this DVD that I have is that she doesn’t really show any
modifications based on how far along in the pregnancy you are. There are a couple exercises that she does
that are on her back, which is not good for pregnant women after 4 months. Also, if you are not already in relatively
decent shape, you may find this DVD difficult.
I didn’t get the DVD until I was already in third trimester, so I don’t
know how it feels to someone without an extra 25 pounds strapped to their
belly, but I am in pretty good shape and I found parts of the workout really
hard!
Special
equipment needed: exercise ball, set of 1-3 lb dumbells, resistance band
(theraband style), chair.
Summer Sanders’ Prenatal Workout
Summer
Sanders was an Olympic medalist and now she’s put out a DVD to help other moms
stay in shape during pregnancy. This DVD
is a general fitness DVD – you get a little cardio, some strength training, and
some stretching. It’s led by Summer and
her personal trainer, Keri Crockett.
They like to banter during the exercises and offer encouragement and
tips on proper form.
There
are three separate workouts based on which trimester you are in. They also have a full-length version or
express version of each workout, which is nice for those of us strapped for
time. I never did the first trimester
workout, so I can’t comment on that one, but I loved the second trimester and third
trimester workouts.
Of
all the DVDs that I did during my pregnancy, this one is my favorite! I always came away from a session feeling
like I had actually challenged myself. I
like that the trainer does everything with Summer and helps give
corrections. It almost feels like you
are in on a semi-private workout session with a personal trainer.
Special
equipment needed: resistance cord, pillows, chair
Thanks for linking up with us. I love this. My first pregnancy wound up being perfect until I delievered at 26 weeks so this next pregnancy I will pretty much be on bedrest until I deliver. I give props and envy those who can workout throughout their whole pregnancy.
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