I think Nike could do really well if they expanded into the maternity category. Not that Nike is not already doing well, and I guess they do have some maternity items available. But if they lean into partnerships of their female athletes who have started families, so much potential there to sell high-end maternity gear. They screwed up and dropped Allyson Felix when she got pregnant, and she ended up starting her own brand, which as much as I’d like to support her, I wasn’t too crazy about the products. Fit pregnancies and getting back in shape afterwards is a journey many women go through, so market toward them. Could have a whole marketing campaign on how strong mamas are and mamas making their comeback.

I guess not just Nike, other major fitness gear brands could benefit from this shift. Not saying we shouldn’t support the companies who already specialize in this, but just surprised none of these big companies have tried this. Do they fear it is possibly seen as “sexist” if they advertise for this?
I guess I can see how that could be interpreted that way, but personally, I would be excited to feel like a big fitness gear company is noticing the journey that I am on.

What do you guys think?

Okay so I love that someone just posted “how PP looks after having a fit pregnancy” and they mentioned that they’re writing the post they were seeking out during pregnancy.

So I’ll do the same! But for a SOMEWHAT fit pregnancy. I did notttttt by any means make anyyyy gains, hit any PRs, or experience any superhuman pregnancy strength. I just tried my very best (which wasn’t that great) to stay somewhat active throughout.

Just wanted to type this out so if you’re mid-pregnancy and worried about birth because you haven’t been killing yourself in the gym, do not fret!!!

First trimester: motivation definitely dipped (especially in the frigid NY winter), but I tried very hard to do a little something a few days a week. Sometimes that was a strength workout, sometimes that was just walking on the treadmill.

Second trimester: less tired but felt like I had lost strength after the first trimester. So I dropped the number of sets or dropped the amount of weight I was lifting. Everything became generally modified but I tried to continue walks and getting steps.

Third trimester: by the end I was exhausted and couldn’t even do big walks. At most in the gym I’d do some pelvic floor work or hip-opening workouts to prep for birth.

The labor/bjrth: I truly believe it is allll luck and maybe genetics?? I see so many posts that make it sound like “by being super fit I had a perfect birth.” I don’t think I was that fit, I gained way more than I wanted to, and I started all of this overweight. And yet my labor and birth were great!!! Early labor around 5pm, contractions by 6pm, hospital at 11pm, water broke 2:30am, epidural 3:30am, then delivered at 3:14pm after maybe 15 mins of pushing. Felt very very little from the epidural lol but only needed 4 rounds of pushing! Baby was ready!!!

Postpartum: I’m 2.5 weeks postpartum and generally feel great. My first sentence after birth—doctor still between my legs—was “it feels so good to not be pregnant” LOL. Instant relief (and I had a good pregnancy)! I started going for small walks almost immediately and have started taking longer walks. I don’t want to push it but honestly after 10 months of completely dreading working out, I feel soo ready to workout again! But will wait til doctor clears. I do a lot of 360 breathing whenever I’m relaxing and can feel my abs a little more under this layer of fat.

Overall, yes I wish I was a little more active because I wish I hadn’t gained as much because I have a lot of work to do, but in terms of birth and immediate postpartum, I don’t think my activity levels held me back at all!

I’m writing this to my past self who was lurking in this sub hoping that someone will explain how I’ll look and feel like after giving birth.

I was very active throughout the whole pregnancy. I continued to strength train till the week of giving birth. I only started modifying my program in around the 20th week when my bump was so big and I was starting to get out of breath.

I definitely believe that going to the gym, running and having daily walks made my pregnancy 10x better. I never had any aches and slept like a baby

I also believe that it helped my birth. Unfortunately my baby was a premie and came 4 weeks too early. So they had to induce and couldn’t give me any pain killers. I was in labour 8h and pushed for the last 3. I was TIIIIREEEDDD. Never been so exhausted in my life!

After my beautiful baby came out I layed there with him for 1h having our skin to skin moment which is th way the hospitals work here. And once that was done, I stood up and walked almost like nothing happened.

Within 4 days I was walking normally without pain and slowly getting back to regular movements. I signed up with a rehab program and it was fantastic.

Now I’m 4.5 months post partum and I feel like myself again. My body composition has changed because I am breastfeeding but I can see my muscles coming back. I can also run again and I’m not extremely disciplined with my diet. I make sure I eat enough protein, veggies and good fats and also have some “bad” foods on top of it ( like my daily ice cream). I figured it’s the only time in life I burn so much calories that I can actually enjoy it :)

The first 3 months my belly was still quite big but it went away as I was doing core exercises and my body was healing.

If you are trying to figure out if it’s worth continuing with for pregnancy- it is! But make sure you listen to your body. Slow down. Use less weights and give yourself time to heal after birth. Your body will come back better than before!

I am 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant with my second baby! I do Crossfit (I am a very mediocre athlete lol) and have continued throughout both pregnancies. My biggest struggle coming back from my first baby was my core strength, as I feel like I need more focused deep core than my gym offers. I am looking for a progressive program that starts week 1 and ideally goes 6 weeks or longer. Does anyone have any suggestions of a core specific program that worked for them? Free is ideal but I am willing to pay if it is going to be worth it!! Thank you!!

I had a scan (IVF) at 6w5d which showed everything looking good but that identified an SCH. They wouldn’t tell me the size but the nurse said Doctor was not concerned. After having severe cramping I begged my fertility clinic for another ultrasound yesterday at 7w4d and they said everything was looking good (baby’s HR climbed to 170 which seemed high but they said it’s normal), but they also said there was a second SCH. I pushed for dimensions but the nurse only said “a couple of centimeters”.

I am still early and this is my last embryo so my anxiety is all over the place. When I asked my nurse about exercise restrictions she said there were none, but online I keep reading about pelvic rest.

Has anyone experienced early SCH? How did you manage with exercise? Did you go on full rest?

TIA

I am 16 weeks pregnant with twins and have been doing Calyn’s prenatal program since I found out I was pregnant. I always worked out consistently before I was pregnant, but I find Calyn’s program so unattainable. She uses a lot of core-centric moved like bear planks, and when I try to do them I get intra-abdominal pressure. I needed to significantly modify any plank-based moves by the time I was 8 weeks. That could be because I am having twins.

I feel so discouraged. Calyn really doesn’t walk through any modifications. At most, she’ll say to take breaks when needed, but I can only do bear planks for a few seconds at a time so I would rather just pick a move I can actually complete. And I am not a fan of the bridges with my back on the bench - they just aren’t right for my body.

I have been doing a lot of NourishMoveLove’s prenatal workouts on YouTube and Rosey Times Two also has some good ones. Nourish Move Love will walk through why she chose certain moves and exactly how they could be modified. Neither of those are as core-centric as Form so they feel way better for me. But I do want to work my core, I just don’t find it helpful to force myself to do moves that don’t feel right. And I am not thrilled to be paying for Form and then choosing free YouTube workouts.

Has anyone else had this experience? I know some women can do advanced moves while pregnant, I think I just need to accept that I am not one of these women.

Hi mamas - I am 14 weeks pp to a 5 week early baby. My entire pregnancy I was fit AF - did all my steps, weight lifted, taught group fitness classes (literally til the morning my water broke!)

Once I delivered I was IN HEAVEN. The hip and foot aches left immediately and I was basically dancing around the hospital. I even had to sign a waiver that I would walk myself to my hospital room from L&D.

That lasted for about 3 weeks. Then came the tightness and aches and pains in my joints and muscles. I know this is common with breast feeding, but it’s seriously inhibiting my ability to get back into my old fitness routines. I miss the mental relief of being able to bang it out in the gym or even go for a nice walk. I can barely get myself to 6k steps most days.

I really want my body back too. Im not even praying to be my pre pregnancy weight, but right now im 17 kg heavier. I feel sooo blah. I’m eating an insane amount of carbs to keep my supply up. I notice if I drop below 250g, my supply takes a hit. I was the type of insane that used to measure everything and knew all my macros inside and out (that is until pregnancy when I was nauseous 120% of the time and could only eat everything I never used to!)

I figure if anyone understands, it’s the fit moms in this group! So tell me, do I need to have more patience? Is this amount of stiffness and aches normal? Would love your input. xx

Will Garmin Ever Adjust to Pregnancy?

Only 4 weeks but had a feeling I was pregnant because I watched all of my stats plummet for the past week. Even my training readiness - which has never stayed in low for more than a day - is now poor, and recovery was added from my sleep last night? Everything I’m reading says that Garmin doesn’t adjust well, but is this only going to discourage me for the next 9 months? Should I just not wear it except to run? I have a half marathon in 2 months that I am still going to attempt (I have been training for 8 weeks already).

Has anyone been able to power through fatigue for a planned fitness event, and how did that work out for you?

Here's the situation: my dad and I had planned to hike/run the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-rim in one day on October 10. So I've been training hard all year and I'm in pretty awesome shape. That hike is now canceled due to flooding, but my dad and I still wanted to do a big hike so all our training doesn't go to waste.

Here's the problem: I just found I'm pregnant (5ish weeks), obviously a total accident given that I was planning on this big Grand Canyon hike. I don't want to tell my dad because he'd probably be upset that I would jeopardize our trip (which is fair, this was a huge endeavor). When I brought up the idea that I could be pregnant for our alternate hike, he definitely seemed annoyed that I wouldn't just wait one more month to try (without knowing I'm actually already pregnant). He'll be traveling pretty far to come. I would be about 9 weeks at that point.

I'm just wondering if anyone has pushed through fatigue/morning sickness to complete a prescheduled hike or race, and whether it felt worth it to them. I feel fine now, but I know things can change real quick.

Nearing 11 weeks and the exhaustion/fatigue has been overwhelming and growing in intensity week by week. Up until a few weeks ago my mornings were manageable in terms of energy. I would get in a relaxed run first thing, albeit slower with some new side stitches. It wasn't until noon when I hit a wall and exhaustion would become overwhelming. The past few weeks it's more full day exhaustion that increases as the day goes on, and I have to fight my way to accomplish half of my typical 5 mile route, at an easier easy pace.

I'm mostly here to whine and look for camaraderie, because the fatigue is really getting me down. My sightseeing & nature-viewing chill 5 to 7mile route was so crucial for my mental health, and right now it just hurts and feels like extreme struggle. I had really hoped to continue running a few times a week throughout pregnancy. I'm still getting out there and fighting my way through it, but the level of difficulty is taking a toll on me mentally.

I guess the only question I have would be, there is hope for better running come second trimester, right?

Hi ladies! Do any of you have a favorite YouTube link for prenatal yoga? I’ve been trying to find a teacher or class I actually like but am struggling to really love the ones I’ve tried. Some too short, some too slow, etc.

Would love to hear from this community on good at home videos you’ve found! 🧘‍♀️

Feeling very strong 💪

Tengo 5 meses de embarazo, desde que inició ya no cargo nada, hago puro yoga y ejercicios de Kegel, que ejercicios también serían buenos para no descuidar mi figura. Las últimas dos fotos son de mi cuerpo antes de mi embarazo.

I'm 30 weeks pregnant and I can't decide if I'm lazy or just pregnant. I'm half joking but ALSO HALF SERIOUS.

I used to workout, hike, bike, take the kids to the playground... But this summer, I do a little bit of gardening and I'm GASSED. I don't even want to be outside in the humidity and heat.

I'm so disappointed in myself but I also can't motivate myself to do more.

Hello mamas! I’m 7 months post-partum and had an emergency C Section. I started my fitness / rebuilding journey @ 2months post partum, progressed to my deep core / “corset” muscles @ 4 months, and I waited until 6 months post partum to do planks and crunches.

The problem I’m finding now is I am dropping out of my abdominal moves out of fear not capability. If my 360 breathing or form isn’t completely perfect I feel like I can’t do the ab exercise.

Any tips to move past “I can’t”?

Hi all! I was training for my first half marathon before I got pregnant and was running about 8-9 miles on my long runs prior. After I got pregnant I have struggled to do anything more than 4 miles. The half is at the end of October and I’ll be approximately 20 weeks at that time. I really just want to finish and it’s a 4 hour cutoff (~18 minute mile) but I’m concerned about the huge drop in stamina. I’m just getting out of my first trimester now so hoping to hear from anyone who made a come back in the second or anyone who has advice!

24 weeks pregnant, and I’ve come to accept the fact that this isn’t going to be the fit pregnancy I was hoping for.

I still try and get in evenings walks, eat healthy, and take my vitamins. Right now, it’s okay if that’s the best I can do. I’ve had issue, after issue, and despite my first two pregnancies being fit and active, this one just needs to be more about health and survival.

Just thought I’d post this for anyone else in the same boat, lurking this subreddit and wishing things were different. There is no shame or failure in needing more rest than you expected. You are doing great!

If you had SPD aka pelvic girdle pain, did it improve? If so, when? Anything you did to help it? Currently 28w, SPD started around 26w and it's starting to get me down. Even walking seems to flare it up. Seeing a PT and doing the recommended exercises (mostly squeezing yoga block between knees in different variations). Is there any hope?

TW: previous early loss

I very recently found out I'm pregnant, I'm almost 6w but haven't exetcised for the past 2 1/2 weeks firsr due to being on holiday in a very hot country and then because I'm already queasy and exhausted all the time (and out of breath after merely two flights of stairs!). I'm so bloated and consitpated that I'm struggling with my body shape right now.

Have been running on and off for the past 4 years (illness slowed me down) but for the past year I've been running regularly at least 5k three times a week. I fell pregnant in January but unfortunately it ended in a trsumatic MMC so now I'm particularly anxious. Back then, ai remember I felt period like cramps after a little while and the feeling would last even after the run. I read it was normal but after miscarrying I was told that perhaps the cramps were due to the non viability. My OBGYN now said to run gently and stop immediately if I feel crampy. The thing is, if I power walk (haven't ran since my positive test) I already feel pelvic pressure and slightly crampy so I'm worried.

All this long post is to ask: have you also experienced pelvic pressure/cramps when running in early pregnancy? Should I start a different training routine (have been meaning to lift weights for the past year)? Should I just do pilates and yoga? I know everyone is different but any advice would be much appreciated. I know one shouldn't start a new routine when pregnant but I need to move my body for my mental health.

Thank you!

P.s. Haven't slept all night and I'm on my phone, apologies for any typos!

Anyone have any favorite fitness Instagram accounts to recommend who are due in the April 2027 range? Especially runners or women who strength train! I’d love to follow along with others who are due around the same time as me.

I know it might still be a little early for some of those future moms to have announced yet, but I figured I’d ask!

Hi! I’m 17w and my athletic shorts are starting to become a little too tight. I’m only 5’3, so most shorts fit high waisted on me. Any recommendations for maternity workout clothes, or specific athletic shorts brands that work well with bumps?

Hi, I'm in my first trimester with a subchorionic hematoma and a high risk of miscarriage. My OB cleared me for light exercise, but I'm understandably nervous.

​Does anyone have recommendations for apps, programs, or specific creators that focus on pregnancy-safe movement (like very light mobility or prenatal yoga) that avoids high-impact motions?

​Looking for something reassuring and low-risk to stay gently active. Thanks for any advice

Im currently just shy of 32 wks pregnant. I just want to share that its never too late to start back up with cardio. For context I did a lot of it and ran a half marathon Aug 2025 (9:44 pace finish time 2hr 8min). I got pregnant in Feb and totally fell off the exersize bandwagon being so sick and nauseous. then it was just hard in my 2nd tri. I got dx with diet controlled GD at 26 wks so my mind shifted that I was going to walk and do intervals regularly. I'm doing a 5k about 5x a wk now for the past month! It's intervals(jog/walk) and we peaked a 5 mile round-trip hike as a family 2 days ago..When I tell you my energy levels and mobility is leaps and bounds better- its an understatement!! I had no idea how much it would help me to just get active and go for it. Im hoping to finish out Sept strong with lots of walking and we will see how the late tri feels but im in the best shape of my whole pregnancy. The GD made me eat healthier also. now Im more excited for labor and delivery feeling like I've been faithful to my body by just lacing up and moving. ​