Everyone is different and everyone’s pregnancy is different. This worked based on my personal experience and permission from my doctor. Please connect with your doctor and a professional trainer on what is best for you prior to trying any new workout regimens.
I would like to start off by saying that I am eternally grateful for how graceful and cooperative my body was throughout my first and second trimester. I experienced very little to none of the common pregnancy side effects – outside of ice cream cravings and a few overly sensitive moments that my husband handled with the poise of Olivia Pope.
Thanks to my fortunate “easy” pregnancy (let’s be honest, it’s still hard) I was able to maintain my gym schedule. The routine undeniably took a hit but for the most part, I proudly managed to keep my gains.
My go-to second trimester workouts were A LOT less intense. I stopped running altogether at week 14 and replaced it with low-intensity cardio such as swimming, the elliptical or a stationary bike. Swimming is known to be good for circulation and relieving internal pressure. I actually found it soothing and looked forward to the meditative motion and floating stretching.
As a general rule I aimed for 5 strength exercises accompanied by 20-30 minutes of low impact cardio at least 3x a week. I completely dropped the individual leg, arm, back, bottom focus I had in the first trimester and aimed for full body. Depending on the day and how I felt I turned to the strength exercises listed below. Always five, always cardio. This structure continued to keep me at a healthy weight (gaining 1/2lb a week).
Maintaining my strength would get frustrating at times because there wasn’t any muscle progress but it did help to remind myself of the bigger picture – I was making a human! By week 28 I was unavoidably larger but still confident, strong and mentally prepared for delivery. Again, I am grateful that I was able to do this much, it kept me in a healthy place both physically and mentally.
- Squats w. dumbbell 4×10
- Leg extensions 4×10
- Single leg deadlift 4×10
- Cable Kickbacks 4×10
- Modified dumbbell snatch squat 4×10
- Glute bridges 4×10
- Single arm dumbbell row 4×10
- Dumbbell curl to press 4×10
- DB hammer curl 4×10
- Bench dips 4×10
- 1/2 kneeling DB shoulder press 4×10
- Dumbbell upright row 4×10
- Wide lat pull down 4×10
- Rope lat pull down 4×10
- Modified side plank crunch 4×10
- 20-30 minutes of low impact cardio
- 30 minutes swim once a week.
Check out how I kept in shape during the first trimester!
