4 signs you need to start adapting your workouts in pregnancy

There’s no doubt that a fab prenatal fitness programme can help us continue to move in a way that feels great throughout pregnancy and keep those pregnancy aches and pains at bay but it is worth being aware of a few signs that can tell you when you might need to adapt your workouts to make things feel more comfortable for you and your baby. Some of these signs will be more obvious in your first trimester and some more so in your third trimester.

Here’s an overview of a few things to watch out for and how you can modify your workouts to ensure you can keep moving throughout your pregnancy safely:

Dealing with nausea, fatigue and breathlessness

If you’re in your first trimester and feeling less than fabulous then this is absolutely the time to listen to your body and not feel guilty about resting. There’s so much you can do to start working on your pelvic floor and core engagement which requires next to no energy and will be the perfect form of gentle, prenatal movement for you at this time. Dedicating some time to this in your first trimester will put you in such a good position for restarting all your full body workouts once your energy increases (probably in your second trimester).

You might notice you feel a bit more breathless than normal which is again, totally normal. The general guidance is that whatever form of exercise you’re doing, you should be able to hold a conversation throughout the session. If you can’t hold a conversation then you’re likely to be overexerting yourself so you’ll want to prioritise low impact workouts instead.

Heading into the third trimester, there are a few key things that you’ll want to be aware of;

When to adapt your core work

The most common thing to watch out for as your bump grows is how your ability to use your core muscles changes. Up until your second or third trimester you might have felt really good with most core work but as your bump grows and your abdominal muscles separate to make space for the growing baby, things might start to feel or look a little different. You might notice something called ‘coning’ down the front of your bump which you’ll see as a sort of bulging in this area. This coning is essentially telling you that you’re putting extra pressure on your separated abdominals so it’s time to be really mindful of how you’re engaging your core to avoid causing any significant abdominal separation issues postnatally. You can read all about abdominal separation here.

It is absolutely possible and I would encourage you to keep going with core work even after you’ve noticed coning - we just want to change the way you’re doing it so we avoid putting this extra pressure on abdominal separation. This is all about managing pressure well within your core and you can learn all about it here.

When to stop lying on your back

You may have heard guidance around avoiding lying on your back in your third trimester and it’s generally advised to avoid it from 28 weeks. You're advised to avoid it because the weight of your bump can put pressure on an important vein that carries blood and oxygen to your baby. You’ll notice if this is happening as you’ll start to feel a bit light headed and nauseous so if you’re feeling like this then you can modify core movements where you’re lying on your back by propping yourself up on your forearms and continue with the same leg movements (i.e. leg lifts / deadbugs, etc).

What to do if you’re struggling with pelvic pain

Something that might crop up later in your pregnancy is pelvic pain but the good news is, there’s lots we can do to make this feel more comfortable. Pelvic pain can be common during pregnancy and you might hear it referred to as PGP (pelvic girdle pain) or SPD (symphysis pubis dysfunction). You might notice it more when standing in positions that open up the pelvis (i.e. a wide second position plié) or in single leg movements (like lunges or single leg squats). If possible we still want to encourage some movement when you’re experiencing pelvic pain but you might want to modify that so it’s more focused on creating as much stability as possible in the pelvis - that means limiting the amount of single leg work you’re doing and focusing on narrower positions where your feet are in parallel. All your core strengthening work (including your pelvic floor focus) will be really helpful to help with pelvic pain too as it’ll increase the stability in your pelvis, so make sure you keep doing lots of that!

Here’s a link to a workout that will help increase your pelvic stability and make you feel much more comfortable.

This isn’t an exhaustive list but it does give you an idea of a few things to look out for and how you can modify your workouts to keep you moving in a way that not only feels great but is really safe for you and your baby.

Discover the full Bump & Beyond Movement Series here.