@soniabhardwaj I’m in my first trimester and weeks 7-9 have only been working out sporadically, due to nausea and intense fatigue. I just take it a little slower and take longer breaks if I need to.
It’s a hard change coming from working out very regularly, but I hope to be more consistent when I start feeling better. When I can’t manage a workout, I try to at least take a walk.
@soniabhardwaj I didn’t modify much if anything in the first tri. I continued to CrossFit and run until the end but gradually added more modifications as needed. Pace and intensity changed gradually but it was very organic and a case of my body letting me know when it was time to back off. Also some days were better than others, especially towards the end so i gave myself some latitude to dial back a workout if needed.
I stopped planking in the early second tri when I noticed coning in my abs. I continued burpees but modified with ab mats under my thighs to give my belly more room until the mid second tri. After that, I did burpees on a bench. Core work can be continued but there will come a point where you can’t do it the traditional way.
@ross_souls Can I ask a follow up question? I’m confused about core work because I’ve heard people say you need to stop in your second trimester to prevent separation or coning, but it sounds like a few of you guys are saying that it’s all completely fine until you just don’t feel right. I’m just over 15 weeks now and am not showing at all and haven’t modified anything. Just not sure what to do moving forward.
@wearethelight2010 I totally get that- there’s a lot of mixed messages! And I think when people say that core work isn’t safe, they’re referring to things like sit ups/crunches. Things that I did to continue to do to work my core were med ball slams, goblet and barbell front squats, push ups against a box (and eventually against a raised barbell then to the wall), ring rows, dead bugs, leg raises. As I got bigger, coning became more obvious so as that happened, I just dropped whatever was causing it. Some of these things I was able to keep to the end though.
I believe it’s safe to focus on the transverse abdominis but to avoid anything that focuses on the rectus.
@wearethelight2010 In my first pregnancy, I didn’t have much of a baby jump until after twenty weeks so physically I was able to to them until then or so. This pregnancy, my second, I dropped around 15 weeks as I was seeing ab separation.
@soniabhardwaj The only modification I made was to stop doing dedicated core work as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I continued with the same intensity of training for running (marathon at 14 weeks, 15k at 28 weeks...then walk/run from 30 weeks to 35ish) and powerlifting (until my gym closed at roughly 30 weeks - thanks covid).
As far as tiredness in the first trimester...I made my training a priority, so even if it meant falling asleep mid dinner or football game, I worked out first.
@soniabhardwaj If you'd like a plan, I've been doing (for my third pregnancy in a row using it) the Glow Body PT prenatal workout program. It's organized based on how many weeks you are and Ashley is pregnant in almost every video (I've seen a handful where she's not pregnant that she added after seeing something she missed that would be helpful). It's 3 days a week of workout videos and 2 days a week of walk/jog workouts outside. I like that I can scale up or down the intensity as I feel the need to, and if I skip a week I just move down to the next one instead of feeling guilty and feeling like I need to double up workouts.
The best part has been feeling my fitness improve though. Like who gets more in shape while pregnant? When my energy tanked during first trimester I skipped like 6 or 7 weeks straight. I've been back into working out again for 4-ish weeks now (with a few skipped workouts here and there early on after I restarted) and yesterday's workout was a 100 squat challenge (with upper body exercises after every 10 squats) and my legs were barely sore at all. Then today my hamstrings were tired when I went for my interval workout but by the end of my 40 minutes out there I still felt strong and could have kept walking if I'd wanted to (and hadn't had to come home for my husband to go to his in person work thing). It's been amazing to feel stronger now than before I got pregnant.
