Pregnancy Exercise Routine- Good Prenatal Dvd's?

10 minute solutions Prenatal Pilates was good. 5 ten-minutes workouts, plus one for after childbirth.

Hey D.-

I am pregnant with my second child, but am fortunate enough to be married to a personal trainer who specializes in pre- and post natal women. He has me focus on maintaining my leg strength through squats, strengthening my back (to support your growing bust and prevent the awful breastfeeding posture most of us assume) with reverse flys and lat pull downs, and strengthening of the glutes, which often get under used once your belly gets big, with hip extensions while laying on the floor with your legs bent.

Now, everything I've said may be Greek to you and I haven't discussed using proper form- but the main idea is to find exercises that emphasize strength rather then just stretching. Although prenatal yoga is excellent for preparing the mental aspect of labor, I found the strength training to be the key to getting through my labor.

Also, check out www.perinatalfitness.ning.com which has an awesome video of a pregnant woman doing core strengthening. The woman who runs this site is a peer of my husband's in Spain. Or you can always contact my husband at ____@____.com or check out his website at www.fifthpowerfitness.com. He is always more than willing to give whatever advice he can, and of course he does private and semi-private training.

Good luck in staying strong. My labor and recovery are proof of strength training's power!

Try Prenantal yoga. it is fun, keeps you moving, is not strenuous, and your other kids may enjoy doing it with you as well. I checked out a couple of prenatal yoga videos from my local library as well as purchasing a book "prenatal yoga and beyond" i think it was called that showed safe variations of the poses to do with each trimester and some poses that may help with the labor and delivery. Also, walking is great excersise and well as lifting very low weights.

you should never consider dropping pounds while pregnant. You should work with your OBGYN to decide on a healthy gain for your current weight. Walk, swim, yoga. Stick to what you did before pregnancy, if you did nothing keep it to the activities I mentioned, it is not the time to start a weight loss routine.

You have two young children at home. Do you have any kid friendly exercise tapes for them? Barney puts out some, and there are probably others. The exercise that the kids are encouraged to do is usually low impact and for short periods of time. Since you haven't been working out, this could be the perfect beginner level for you.

As far as trying not to gain too much weight with the pregnancy... focus on eating healthy. When you crave sweets, reach for fresh fruit or freshly cut pineapple. Get protein with every meal to fill you up. My GYNO also had me drink a gallon of water every day. Keep water next to you at all times, and you will find it easy to drink a gallon.

Besides the children's exercise, you can do some forward stepping squats without weights to work your legs. A low back exercise that I used to do was to stand with feet shoulder width apart, bend at the waist, let my hands drop to about mid-shin, and then slowly bend back up to standing position. Build some muscle for the delivery room. ;-)

Were you exercising pre-pregnancy? If not, during pregnancy is not the time to start. If you were, then continuing with pregnancy DVDs are certainly an option. While I understand your weight concerns (I have three children as well), I believe starting an exercise routine during pregnancy for the first time can potentially lead to miscarriage.

I just responded to Beth A on the same topic. I used the "Fit Mama" series of DVDs. There are also videos for post-pregnancy workouts, including routines you do with your baby, really fun stuff! Note that I was never trying to maintain or lose any weight with pregnancy, only stay in good health. I was in a workout routine before I got pregnant and continued (with some modifications, obviously), until the last trimester.

Quick Fix Pregnancy workout

Long walks with my first pregnancy was key...I always felt great after a walk. I wouldn't be concerned with actually losing weight though. That could be problematic for you and the baby.

I'm pregnant with #2 and am trying hard to eat healthy and exercise also, but I'm not too hard on myself if it doesn't happen. It's hard enough just carrying the babies for 9 months! Do what you can and don't stress about weight gain.

Lynsey