Although exercise is good for you, there are certain exercises that you should not be doing now that you’re pregnant. While you incorporate exercise as a part of your daily routine to enjoy a healthy pregnancy, if careless, you could be causing yourself (and your baby) more harm than good.
1 - No physical activity at all: This is a big mistake! All pregnancy literature I’ve read says that if you haven’t been working out pre-pregnancy that now is not the time to start, and I agree that it’s a bad time to increase the intensity of whatever you were doing before, but not working out doesn’t mean not moving at all. You should absolutely include daily walks, swimming, stretching, yoga, and any other gentle physical activities that you like.
2 - Using the same workout intensity as before: If you were working out before pregnancy then continuing at your same intensity is not the best idea. I suggest you knock your intensity down several notches…to about half the intensity you were using before pregnancy.
Pregnancy does put additional stress on your body so even if you feel great and strong it’s just not a good idea and also not necessary for you to be going beastmode right now. One more thing to keep in mind is that fat loss should not be the goal of your workouts. You actually do need some body fat to nourish you baby and yourself.
3 - Choosing the wrong exercise types: Types of exercises you want to avoid during pregnancy are: high intensity, plyometrics, most calisthenics..(like unassisted dips and pull-ups), and sprints of any kind.
You don’t need to be doing box jumps, or jump rope, or downhill running, anything that would be jarring for baby.. just avoid it. I hope that you will continue to be active throughout your pregnancy and not be making any of these mistakes.
- 14314 views
