The simple answer is yes; you absolutely can exercise when you are pregnant. Not only that, but it can actually prove to be immensely beneficial. You are about to push out a baby – which is a miracle, a moment of beauty, and also bloody painful (and trust us, we get it – between us we have 7 children). Without question, the stronger you are the easier your pregnancy will be, the “easier” the birth and the quicker the recovery time.
That being said, you should absolutely tell us as soon as you know you are pregnant. Being pregnant does not mean you can’t exercise, but it will affect your workout. Workouts like our HIIT are absolutely not for those carrying a future new-born. That feeling when your heart is beating out of your chest and you can feel your head pounding will not make baby happy.
Far better to try our brand new yoga class aceFLOW, on a Thursday morning at 9:30 at Free Church Hall in Hampstead Suburbs, or our aceCIRCUIT class in Hendon Leisure Centre on a Thursday evening. These classes still offer serious workouts, without putting your body under unnecessary strain.
Now, of course, we know a lot of women worry about weight gain during pregnancy. As we mentioned during last week’s blog – exercise does not exorcise calories. It will help create a stronger, healthier you, but you cannot uneat a Kit-Kat. During pregnancy, you actually don’t need to be eating that many more calories than normal, which of course is far easier said than done.
And, trust us, we have been there. During her last pregnancy (her fourth), Anna gained five stone(!!!), and it took around 9 months to lose. This was mainly due to intense cravings, dangerous hunger pangs, and gut-wrenching nausea that saw her eat cracker after cracker just to get through the day. Obviously, we are not advocating eating whatever you want whilst pregnant. We also have a number of women concerned that they are pregnant with the next without losing the weight from the previous, which is an extremely common complaint. The point is, we do get it – it is a tremendously difficult time as your body goes through a whole range of weird and bizarre changes. Don’t get us wrong – the results are awesome, but growing a baby for nine months is no mean feat. So please do come talk to us, we are both qualified ante & post-natal trainers, and we can work to create a plan that makes sure you doing the right things during your pregnancy.
Now fast forward 9 months and a bit – baby is out, you are starting to sleep (a little) and you feel ready to get back into shape. What happens next?
After having a baby, you can start exercising around six weeks after a natural birth and 9-10 weeks after a caesarean so long as you have been to the doctor and been given the okay. Obviously this timeframe may well change, so please do come speak to us to make sure you are ready for a full workout. That being said, just because you are ready to exercise doesn’t mean you should hop back on that spinning bike or start jumping up and down. Instead, we have created a special BABYace class, which runs at Finchey Synagogue – which is full of exercises specific to the post-baby bod, and you can even bring along your baby – although they are under no obligation to participate!
If you have any more questions feel free to give us a call on 07815 209 112 or drop us a line on info@ace-lifestyle.com