I recently had a baby boy, and I am delighted to be back to work and workouts!
I firmly believe in the importance of exercise during pregnancy. When I was pregnant with my daughter (seven years ago), I didn't know what was safe to do, so I just walked a lot. After I trained as a fitness instructor and learned about prenatal exercise, I knew that I should have been doing so much more.
The birth of my son (three months ago) was incredibly easy compared to my daughter's birth, because my body was strong and able for it. I kept up strength work and continued to lift weights, although slightly lighter ones.
I had no back pain, no varicose veins, no swollen feet or waddle. I slept fine, and only had to go to the toilet during the night on three occasions throughout the whole 40 weeks (thank you pelvic floor exercises). I put on exactly 15kgs, and lost 10kgs in the two weeks afterwards. I felt great for most of my pregnancy, and I can put that down to all the exercise I did.
A typical workout during my pregnancy was:
5 minute free movement warm-up
10 x Squats
10 x Lunges each leg
10 x Press Ups
10 x Tricep Dips
10 x Pelvic Bridge Lifts
30 seconds leg lift - each leg (lying on the side, don’t go up too far)
Repeat the above exercises (in that order) three times. Cool down using free movement and then do some light stretches.
Steph Sinnott is a prenatal and postnatal fitness trainer. She founded the Baby Body Fit website in 2010 to help women get through the maternity cycle while maintaining a level of fitness and staying healthy. Baby Body Fit is Ireland’s first and leading prenatal and postnatal exercise company. Find out more or book a classHERE.
