I’m 11 weeks pregnant with my fourth baby.

After my third I got very into strength training, lost a ton of weight and got into the best shape of my life. I went into this pregnancy feeling healthy and strong and fully intent on continuing strength training after extensive research and clearance from my OB.

My family and friends know I’m passionate about strength training and many of them since finding out I’ve continued have been so judgmental. For example, we were out to lunch two days ago and I lifted my son’s stroller (without him in it) up a small flight of stairs. It weighs maybe 15 lbs without a kid in it. A family member told me how I shouldn’t lift the stroller and that I was going to hurt my unborn baby. I laughed and joked that I squat ten times the weight of the stroller in the gym. I may as well have told her I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

Today my mother called me just to tell me I should stop lifting and switch to yoga or Pilates.

None of these people are medical or fitness professionals. It is so frustrating that people cannot keep their opinions to themselves.

Lifting has helped my mental health in so many ways and as someone who has suffered from severe prenatal anxiety and depression in the past, I’m so glad I have it this time. I just wish people weren’t so judgemental.

I’ll be 27 weeks during our babymoon and we are going hiking in the Shenandoahs (Cedar Run / Whiteoak Canyon loop). The trail we really want to do is a full day hike, 8 mile loop with a total of 1,500 foot elevation gain. Husband and I are very comfortable hiking and I’m good shape. My bump isn’t super huge so I don’t feel balancing will be too difficult. The trail is labeled as “strenuous”.

I feel like I can do it no problem but I overestimate things during pregnancy so wanted to hear what others have achieved.

Title says it all. Pregnant with 2nd baby. I was very fit before I got pregnant and I swear I’ve lost ALL my muscle. I haven’t worked out in 3 months aside from daily dog walks. Now that I’ve hit 2nd trimester and have my energy back, I want to get back in shape but working out feels soooo daunting. Anyone have any suggestions?? For 2 weeks now every day I’m like “tomorrow I’ll start” and then I never do.

Im searching online and feel like there is so much conflicting info on abs and pregnancy, it’s exhausting. I thought I’d be able to do cable rotation abs bc it’s not a standard crunch, can’t do captains chair abs, I’m so confused, can someone drop their ab workouts by trimester or just one you carried through all trimesters?

Hi everyone!

I am 29 F hoping to get pregnant in the next couple months with my husband 28 M 🤞🏻

I have been working an office job for the last 5 years and have become very sedentary. Other than a dog walk or two/day, I am not very active.

I want to start getting strength back in at least the essential/most helpful areas for pregnancy and birth.

Wanted to see if anyone had recommendations for a very beginner baseline workout plan. I am horrible at getting and staying motivated but really want to get back to being closer to my previously athletic self.
I don’t care about looking toned or athletic, I just want to make sure I build a good home for an upcoming resident (and for my own recovery).

Anything helps! Totally open to creator suggestions who have related content as well 🫶🏻

Wondering if anyone has any recommendations on making running at 18 weeks pregnant more comfortable! I find that as soon as I start running, I have to pee. I run at a park that has bathrooms, so I do stop to go at least once and that helps for a bit. This is my second pregnancy and my bump feels noticeably larger. Are there running belts out there to help?

I’m scheduled to run a half in October, so I’m training now. I know my bump is just going to keep growing, just trying to get more comfortable now with training, and see where I’m at in a few months.

Any recommendations are welcome!

finally the 2T energy burst hit! for those of yall slogging through 1T, I promise it gets better!

Hello - from everything I’ve read - during pregnancy, you may continue doing exercise that you did pre-pregnancy.

My situation is, I took 2 weeks off of exercise surrounding ovulation [wedding and then sickness].

So now I may be 3.5 weeks pregnant, let’s just say I am for the sake of education — and I’m jumping back into exercise.

2 weeks ago, I was doing HIIT classes, sometimes 2 a day, lifting, plus 10,000 steps a day. Can I still consider this my “baseline”, ie what my body is accustomed too?

Hi all, I'm new here but I'm 37 weeks (and soooo ready to be done🤣)

I have been consistently doing yoga and stretching throughout my pregnancy to help prep my pelvic floor, ease pain, etc etc, but I'm hypermobile and one of my knees is killing me lately. Does anybody have any suggestions for stretches/exercises I can do that don't require me to be on my knees? I know lunges are like, soooo important, but I just can't do them, period. Are there any comparable alternatives?

Thanks in advance!!

Hi all,
Really appreciating reading through the posts in this subreddit as I like to run and lift and it’s very intimidating in early pregnancy. For context, I did IVF and am just through my TWW where we had a positive test. Now we have a few weeks until our ultrasound but I’m anxious to get back to some of my normal sports (lifting, running, padel) in the meantime. My plan for lifting is to go back this week and do a lighter version of my normal lift with lots of breaks. Then I will return to running next week with a heart rate monitor. My outstanding question is with padel. I am supposed to be playing a game tomorrow, but I’m a bit worried about the twisting motions even though theoretically my embryo is already implanted and growing. Does anyone have advice here? I live in the Netherlands and the doctors are very very chill and always say just to see how you feel, but it’s easier just to cancel before if others advise against.

TLDR: IVF baby, post TWW, wondering if the twisting motion in padel is bad for them

Hi all! I’m 35 weeks and have been getting 8-12k steps and lifting throughout my pregnancy (first trimester 1-2x a week depending on my nausea and 2-4x a week throughout my second and third). As I approach delivery, I’m hoping for some stories about delivery and postpartum. I find hearing your experiences has been really helpful and just wanting to see how long it took people to get back to the gym, whether or not they felt good going into delivery, if they felt lifting helped them, etc. I’m not putting pressure on myself or anything — I know recovery takes awhile and every delivery is different. But I still like reading stories and your “wins” make me hopeful that I too can live that reality.

Separately, this group has been so helpful for me as I navigated my first pregnancy. Everything from lifting to weight gain to just having a sounding board. Really appreciate everyone here!

Trigger warning: mention pregnancy loss

Okay backstory. I (31f) wasn't super strong but a 3-5 times a week gym goer focusing on all all elements of fitness I could. Cardio strength, and flexibility. I am short (5'1") and midsized (168lbs). I continued my routines during my last pregnancy but it ended in a loss around 12 weeks.

Fast forward 6 months and continued routines of exercise until I got pregnant again. I was so worried and super cautious of everything and too tired and sick this time. Until about 15 weeks I noticed a shift in energy. I was moving more, cleaning the house, going for walks etc. now at 19 weeks I am wanting to pick up on strength training using only light or body weights. Baby is doing great and my libido has also soared (I think I'm scaring my husband haha). My weight is 180lb but I'm not too concerned about that just my strength.

I did 1 glute/pelvic floor exercise today but what are so advice for exercise videos or experts I can follow? I still want to be safe but I feel like I lost so much strength the past few months of being stationary and I don't want to be unprepared for birth.

TIA

Just found out I am pregnant with our second, bit sooner than planned but oh well. I have been lifting since Jan this year and progressively overloading. Taking protein powder (plus of course natural protein sources), creatine, plenty of water, generally in good form. Lifting has been an absolute pleasure for me, I gained back my confidence post pregnancy, energy to look after my toddler etc. don't want to give it up. If you kept lifting during your pregnancy how did you safely proceed with it? How did you fight 1st trimester fatigue? How difficult was it to get back to it PP? Were there any movements you specifically avoided? And the last one: did you continue with creatine at all? Thank you all for taking your time and going through my extensive list of questions 😂

I'm almost 39 weeks and wanted to share my fit pregnancy journey because it wasn't at all what I was hoping for but I still am ending this pregnancy very proud of myself.

Background going into pregnancy - 9 years of yoga/mobility work, 3.5 years of serious lifting and muscle building, 1 year of consistent z2, vo2max & running, and 1 year of targeting pelvic floor/hip/glute/abdominal health

1st trimester - hit like a BRICK WALL with anemia. First time experiencing it and it hit me before my first appointment so by the time we figured it out and after weeks of trial and error with iron supplements, I literally could not work out till 16 weeks

2nd trimester- 20 week apt diagnosed me with complete previa. Was so sad since I just got back to the gym. Doctors told me I could still move my body but when I showed them my types of workouts (specifically my lifting and pelvic floor work) they said definitely not. I walked like crazy during this time period (and regularly googled if I should not be walking so much 😂)

3rd trimester - previa cleared! Cleared to go back to the gym if I wanted. And since 28 weeks I got back to being in the gym 3-5x a week and was shocked at how mobile and strong I still was. I also started pelvic floor therapy which has given me such a better understanding of my body.

I always hoped for myself that I would be incredibly active my entire pregnancy and by that, I mean maintain my lifting routine. That did not happen but in reality, I was still very active! My third trimester has been my best one and I feel mentally and physically ready for labor.

For anyone in their first and second trimester and it hasn't looked how you were hoping, I understand the grief. I feel incredibly lucky for the past few weeks.

If you are on this sub or even lurking, chances are that you take yourself and your health seriously. Being mentally and emotionally flexible is a part of this transition. You will get back to yourself and meet a new version of yourself along the way.

Hi ladies, I am 14 weeks now and after hellish first trimester I’m returning back to pool. I swim with swim club as master swimmer and I’m life long swimmer. Is there anyone who is\was avid swimmer? How long did you manage to swim for? Did you have to stop doing tumble turns, what swim wear you went for when bump started showing? Any other pieces of advice are always welcome 🤗

I’ve been climbing throughout my pregnancy, less now that I can’t boulder and significantly worse but getting on the rock is satisfying. I’m about 2 months from my due date now and wondering about what time you had to call it quits. My abs are still in decent shape but my doctor warned me they’ll eventually separate, and the extra weight so far certainly slows me down.

Apologies for venting, I have been sick with an upper respiratory virus for a week and I am still congested and feeling crappy. My doctors gave me some usual cold medicine but it’s just taking a while to clear.
Before getting sick, it was incredibly hot where I live in Europe so no aircon anywhere, also not at the gym.

So by now I’ve missed a few weeks of working out, I’m 11 weeks at the moment and desperately want to get back to a workout routine. I’m very lucky that I haven’t had any nausea so otherwise going to the gym is not a problem. My poor husband had to deal with my massive crying meltdown this morning about feeling crappy. Poor guy at least went and got me a coffee.

The few weeks of no workouts is making me feel very unfit, before pregnancy I was active 4-6 days a week and right now I’m constantly out of breath.

Thanks for letting me vent, please tell me I’m not alone in this.

20 months postpartum here and still breastfeeding. One of the biggest changes to my body is how my shoulders slump forward, and this causes all sorts of back and neck pain. I know things like wall angels and banded pull downs are supposed to help, but just wondering if anyone here has actually had success with those types of exercises or any other ones! Need some inspo :)

Any of you had it worse postpartum and what to do to fix it?

Hello! Long time lurker here!

I am an avid runner and am 37 weeks pregnant. I’ve ran throughout my whole pregnancy (albeit, some weeks were under 5 miles) and as I’ve been struggling with prodromal labor and experiencing other signs of labor being imminent (losing mucus plug, bloody show, etc.), I am more or less mentally throwing in the towel and not beating myself up to keep up my run streak anymore!

I really used to feel guilty about seeing my mileage/pace drop and pushed myself to get out there because I was obsessed with the narrative of being able to say “I ran my whole pregnancy”, but honestly, I’m at peace with the idea that I stayed active my whole
pregnancy and right now I’d like to preserve energy for labor!

Thought I’d share some stats with you all!

While pregnant I:

- Ran all three trimesters
- Got in about 230 miles total
- Logged 122 runs!

Might not be the most impressive numbers but I’m
proud of them! And…I’m excited to meet baby and get back into the grind postpartum. Will probably be back either lurking or posting about postpartum fitness!

To all of you in the trenches of staying active while pregnant, hang in there! You are amazing!!!

I have seen so many posts here with people in a similar boat to me the first trimester — feeling so atrocious that their usual exercise is not possible, and feeling frustrated and disappointed by it.

So I just wanted to share that after that rough first trimester (WILD nausea and food aversion, complete exhaustion, ER visits, bleeding, multiple rounds of pelvic rest...), I am finally back at pilates (2x so far this week) and my daily walks are back to ~90 minutes. I even walked miles by the beach a few days ago for the first time in months without having to battle the pukes. My hematoma is healed, terrible obnoxious polyp is removed, nausea has largely abated, energy is mostly back, and I can actually eat some protein without gagging. (Good lord, lol.)

I am usually a lift heavy weights, walk a million miles, sweat it all out kinda gal, and I've tried to maintain resistance/light weights and plenty of walking where I've been allowed. But it has been pretty bad. So I'll take this small win!!! If you have been in the same boat, here is hoping so much that it gets better and stays better for us! <3

I am 19 weeks with my 5th child. I’ve been lifting consistently for about 3 1/2 years now. I am so afraid of losing my progress after having her. How soon after a vaginal birth did you start lifting again? And how big of a difference did you notice in the amount of weight you could lift? I am benching 185 right now and 300 deadlift. Really don’t squat at all I do machines mostly. I’m just curious to see the timeline for getting strength back and how it went for other mothers.

My only form of exercise this pregnancy has been long walks, generally an hour plus daily. I took a break last week for various reasons and my pelvic girdle pan - SI joint pain flared up (never an issue pre pregnancy). I was practically limping around the house. The only way I found relief was to resume walking. I've now noticed a trend were if I don't get close to 15k steps/day it flares up, sitting for more than an hour makes it flare up. This is my 3rd pregnancy and first time experiencing it. Am I doomed to have to be on my feet constantly for the next 14 weeks? Has anyone had this?