I was looking at my polar history just out of curiosity and nostalgia, and figured I’d share my trends and personal experience on how I modified my training during pregnancy. I’m currently 34+2 and just counting down the days.
Background on me: I’m a relatively competitive masters rower that raced regularly prior to pregnancy. Prior to getting pregnant, I rowed 6x/week on the water, averaging about 80k/50 miles a week, and averaging about 10 hours of training a week. I also weight lifted 2x/week so some days would train 2x a day.
First trimester (winter - Jan to end of March - all training conducted indoors):
- Immediate drop in volume - I sent from averaging 10 hours a week to averaging 4-5 hours a week.
- Immediate drop in intensity - the week prior to getting pregnant, I spent the majority of my effort in zone 3 and zone 4 heart rate zones. The week when I found out, I spent most of my time in zone 1 and zone 2.
- Immediate change in activity. Indoor Rowing was extremely hard and I couldn’t breathe and had 0 endurance. I was able to switch to my erg bike and still lift without too much modification.
- kept the weights the same for lifting (145 lbs for sets of 3x10 deadlifts, 85 for sets of 3x10 front squats, etc)
Second trimester (April - beginning of August - most training conducted outdoors).
- this truly is the golden trimester!
- I resumed practicing with my team 3-4x/week, which meant waking up around 4:30 AM to be at practice by 5.
- increased total volume by about 2 hours, averaging about 7 hours each week.
- majority of work was spent in zone 3 and zone 4, but speed was SLOW. Aka I was working really hard but not really going anywhere and that was a mindfuck.
- had to stop rowing at 28 weeks when I no longer felt comfortable in a single (they can flip and getting back in would have been tricky)
- continued weight lifting but weight dropped significantly - deadlifts were now 95 lbs, squats now 40.
Third trimester (August to present)
- cut out rowing all together
- intensity of exercise is way way down. Most time spent in zone 1 and zone 2.
- what constitutes as active has changed - most of my “workouts” are longer walks, easy indoor bike rides, and prenatal yoga/Pilates.
- total volume of exercise has increased to 7-8 hours but again, most of it is really easy.
- focus is just to move everyday in some capacity.
I hope this helps for those just embarking on their fit pregnancy journey! And again - everyone is different!
Background on me: I’m a relatively competitive masters rower that raced regularly prior to pregnancy. Prior to getting pregnant, I rowed 6x/week on the water, averaging about 80k/50 miles a week, and averaging about 10 hours of training a week. I also weight lifted 2x/week so some days would train 2x a day.
First trimester (winter - Jan to end of March - all training conducted indoors):
- Immediate drop in volume - I sent from averaging 10 hours a week to averaging 4-5 hours a week.
- Immediate drop in intensity - the week prior to getting pregnant, I spent the majority of my effort in zone 3 and zone 4 heart rate zones. The week when I found out, I spent most of my time in zone 1 and zone 2.
- Immediate change in activity. Indoor Rowing was extremely hard and I couldn’t breathe and had 0 endurance. I was able to switch to my erg bike and still lift without too much modification.
- kept the weights the same for lifting (145 lbs for sets of 3x10 deadlifts, 85 for sets of 3x10 front squats, etc)
Second trimester (April - beginning of August - most training conducted outdoors).
- this truly is the golden trimester!
- I resumed practicing with my team 3-4x/week, which meant waking up around 4:30 AM to be at practice by 5.
- increased total volume by about 2 hours, averaging about 7 hours each week.
- majority of work was spent in zone 3 and zone 4, but speed was SLOW. Aka I was working really hard but not really going anywhere and that was a mindfuck.
- had to stop rowing at 28 weeks when I no longer felt comfortable in a single (they can flip and getting back in would have been tricky)
- continued weight lifting but weight dropped significantly - deadlifts were now 95 lbs, squats now 40.
Third trimester (August to present)
- cut out rowing all together
- intensity of exercise is way way down. Most time spent in zone 1 and zone 2.
- what constitutes as active has changed - most of my “workouts” are longer walks, easy indoor bike rides, and prenatal yoga/Pilates.
- total volume of exercise has increased to 7-8 hours but again, most of it is really easy.
- focus is just to move everyday in some capacity.
I hope this helps for those just embarking on their fit pregnancy journey! And again - everyone is different!