The Best Pregnancy Exercises

Becoming pregnant may bring up questions about which exercises are safe and which aren’t, or what to do if you want to move, but aren’t feeling so great. 

This entire pregnancy exercise list can be completed at home with no equipment or with a single dumbbell, kettlebell, or bands. That’s it. That’s all you need from this list. These are the basic movements that we are thinking about when we are creating our online programs or programming for the B! Community.

1. Squat

• Air Squat
• Staggered Stance Squat
• Single-Leg Squat (i.e. Single Leg Box Squat,)
• 4. Box Squat

2. Lunge

• Walking Lunges
• Reverse Lunges
• Side Lunges
• Elevated Lunges (i.e. Lateral Step Ups)

3. Hinge

• Glute Bridge
• Kettlebell Swing
• Good Morning
• Deadlift

4. Push

• Horizontal Push (i.e. Bench Press and Push Up)
• Vertical Push (i.e. Shoulder to Overhead, Push Press)
• Single-Arm

5. Pull

• Horizontal Pull (i.e. Standing Band Pull Aparts, Standing Sled Pull)
• Vertical Pull
• Single-Arm

We also want to consider a bird’s eye view of pregnancy exercise and training.

In pregnancy it’s convenient to view each week from a bird’s eye view and make adjustments for the next week. We program for the best scenario possible- —quality sleep, effective nutrition, and feeling good. We understand that life happens and we have to adapt. With an ideal week, our pregnancy exercise training program will include these suggestions and recommendations:

• Move Daily
• 10 Squats per Day
• 4 to 10 Reps BIRTHFIT Basics per Day
• 2 to 20 minutes Breath Work per Day (Try Nasal Breathing for 2 minutes)
• 1 to 3 miles of Walking per Day (throughout day)
• 20 minutes of Lunges per Week (chill, conversational pace)
• 2x per Week General Strength and Conditioning
• 2x per Week Medium to Heavy Load
• 2x per Week Medium to High Volume
• 1x per Week Longer Aerobic Conditioning

This is a good place to start when reflecting on your training and/or your client’s training.

When considering pregnancy exercises please make that YOU ARE TRAINING for birth; therefore, this program needs to embrace movement in all planes of motion, squatting and lunging, and challenge all energy systems.

We hope to see you in our BIRTHFIT Education and at a future BIRTHFIT Coach Seminar!

LINDSEY MATHEWS, DC
CEO & Founder

Want more?

• Here are three tips for exercising while pregnant
• If you’re into visuals then take some time to explore the BIRTHFIT YouTube channel.
• What if you have urinary incontinence while exercising? Lindsey Mathews shares three exercises to help here (hint: kegels are not included).