Is it safe to exercise through pregnancy?

I’VE just received the exciting news that one of my clients is 13 weeks’ pregnant, so it seemed relevant for this week’s Fitness Topic. My priority for pre-natal clients is that they get safe and relevant exercises they can cope with working towards and beyond their third trimester.

First trimester is the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and providing your doctor has examined you and confirmed everything is fine, you can pretty much continue with the exercises you have been doing. Even running will do you no harm at this stage providing again you have been running prior to pregnancy.

Second trimester is 13-27 weeks. Now you may feel more comfortable to move to low impact choices of cardio exercise such as the bicycle, cross trainer or low impact aerobic style classes. She is able to use the cross trainer and the rower as long as I watch her technique and it is not uncomfortable for her. We did a class yesterday using light weights with low impact cardio.

Third trimester 28 weeks to birth. Your body will tell you how much it can cope with at this stage, I would not recommend that you train on your own especially with weights, as it is important you are able to adapt to the moves correctly and comfortably, and that you avoid flat lying exercises. No over-stretching, however certain lower back exercises will help to relieve lower back pain.