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I am about 4 weeks pregnant and about four weeks ago I joined the gym and have been doing bodypump and some treadmill and are going to bodybalance tomorrow. I know excercise is good if you have always done it but what if you are pretty unfit? I teally don't want to get too unfit or big this time (my last who is 5yrs now was 11 pounds:rolleyes:) and I am older too (33)...
I would love some advice...
Body Pump should be fine. Make sure you go to your Dr and get the ok from him and tell your instructor as well. There will be adjustments you need to make but not till your pregnancy progresses. As long as you start out sensibly with low weights and do the lower options you'll be fine :)
Good for you for wanting to be fit during your pregnancy! Pump is great, I did it till I was 38 weeks and I recovered far faster with my last pregnancy than the previous ones.
Good luck hth!
Just make sure you dont over do it with the amount of weight that you lift and be sure to inform the instructors at the gym. They are often trained to modif some exercises for pregnant women. Also dont go running on the treadmill if you couldnt before you were pregnant. Just stick to some walking.
They may be able to make up a training program for you so ask at the front counter.
Body balance will be great for you during pregnancy as well. Just again inform them that you are pregnant as some poses you will not be able to do, but they should modify them for you.
The most important thing to remember is to not overheat when exercising. You should make sure you are well hydrated and if you are walking make sure you can maintain a conversation with someone. If you cant then you are pushing yourself too hard.
Good for you for wanting to keep fit and healthy. :)
You won't be able to do some of the exercises such as shoulders as they can cause a change in Blood Pressure which can make you faint. You just need to let the instructor know that you are pregnant and they should modify the exercises for you.
Really? Can I ask why you think that? I did and have seen many pregnant women doing the shoulder track or is it just certain moves like the over head raises your talking about?:
Some modifications are inclining the bench for Chest and Tri's and skipping or doing different exercises during the conditioning track. Also I had real difficulty with the C & P when I was big, my belly kept getting in the way lol!
Like I said as long as your not using huge weight and doing dynamic lunges backwards of the bench you should be fine :lol: But DO see your Dr first and DO tell your instructor. It is early days so if you don't want everyone to know just have a quiet word first.
If you google contrindications to exercise in pregnancy you should come up with a lot of info. You can also join and post a question on the Les Mills website forum, they're a really friendly lot over there :)
I think doing any overhead press moves is the issue - at least that's what I was told.
Thanks Nai, i'm about to start learning about risk factors and diseases during exercise programming and pregnancy is classed as a "known disease" lol!
Oh dear I hope I'm not contagious :lol:
I was a body pump regular before my first was conceived and once PG I found myself totally exhausted afterwards. I think I'd done a couple of classes before my BFP and I thought I was coming down with the flu rofl ;) I could hardly get out of the car once I got home.
I also did lots of body pumps before I was pregnant. When I conceived DD1, I was so tired but still kept up with some of it. My doctor told me it's fine as long as I don't do heavy lifting and just keep up with those regular treadmills, etc. Well, now that DD1 is 11 months old and that I'm pregnant with number 2, I find myself pretty hard to keep in shape as I'm just exhausted by the end of the day not to mention that she's having crying spells at night due to teething pain! So hurray... these sleepless and unfit days are haunting me!
Sorry I know nothing about pump classes just though I'd add something about you not wanting another 11pound baby. With my first my Dr told me to go off sugar as my glucose levels were high - he said eating fat will make you fat eating sugar will make the baby fat! He was worried my baby would be huge, 8 weeks later and almost no sugar he was born at 7 pound 11oz. With my second I had no trouble with me glucose levels so didn't go off the sugar she was 8 pound 7. Needless to say I'll be going easy on the sugar for the last few months. Not sure it would work for you just thought I'd add my experience. Good luck with everything!
First of all, good for you, Tam for wanting to keep up the exercise in pregnancy!! I am a real avocate of this, and know that there is a lot of conflicting information about it all. The rule really does apply that IF you are used to it, continue and always listen to your body for signs of overdoing things - particularly in the first trimester, which is the MOST important time.
I think there are factors other than diet which affect the outcome of a large baby...diet is CERTAINLY one fo them - eat well and not too much sugar or fat like you say, but also regular, moderate exercise at LEAST 4 times a week for at least 20-30mins is important. Moderate means you are feeling a little puffed, but NOT stuffed !! (again, see your Dr for advice if you are a beginner!!).
I come from a competitive running and triathlon background so when I was pregnant with my first, I naturally wanted to keep 'training'. I had a healthy litte boy at 38 weeks weighing 3.5 kgs, so not big at all, just average. Babies also put on more layers of fat from 38 weeks so if you are overdue, your baby just continues to get not 'bigger' but fatter if that makes sense.
I am now 26 weeks with number 2 and doing 7 days a week of running/swimming/yoga/weights (not all each day of course!). But as the weather warms up, running time may get reduced and always early in the morning ( I feel better for it anyway!!).
I hope all goes FANTASTIC for you........there are some wonderful people on this forum to help out!!!!!
Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice - it has made me feel better about excercising. Although as it's new to me I am taking it very very easy. In bodypump I am only using 2kg on each side -that's enough for me;) I am also doing some tradmill but not getting too hot or puffed.
I am also working almost full-time at the moment and with the other two kids to look after - phew exhausting!!
Tam I will try and stay away from the sugar too - hope it helps. I only got to 70kg last time though so he was just a sumo in there
Thanks again everyone - all the best to you all
fazzamum (5 weeks 3 days)
I seem to get preg the same month i join the gym! I just took it easy. For my 1st preg the instructor was actually about 7 weeks ahead of me in her preg and quite a few preg women came to pump.
This time i am getting into pilaties. I will need to catch the instructor on her own to ask about restrictions as she's also friends with my manager this is going to be a bit tricky. But since it's still early days i am not too worried. I know restrictions are most likely going to be from 12 weeks(no laying on flat back etc) but i;ll be on hols and the annoucing preg when i get back so it should be fine.