Cardio Modifications for Pregnancy & Post

Do you ever wonder if your neighbor, the psychologist, is diagnosing you or if your friend, the nutritionist, is judging what you eat?  I would be willing to bet they are because when I see a pregnant woman working out, or moreover, someone I know is in early postnatal recovery, I’ll be honest, I can’t help but evaluate their choices.  It probably sounds crazy to say, but it’s only because I’m so passionate about what I do. Sometimes I can’t stop thinking about it!

As of late, I’ve actually been really impressed with the prenatal exercise choices I’ve been seeing mommies-to-be make at they gym, however, what I’m more often concerned about is the lack of women who are taking postnatal recovery modifications.  Just because the baby is out of you doesn’t mean you are safe to jump back into a high intensity and/or high impact workout. If anything, the first few months following pregnancy should be a time to be extremely self-aware and careful, as to make sure your insides and your outsides heal correctly and completely. To be honest, it has a lot to do with why I created Expecting MORE®: The 4th Trimester Workout. Time and time again, I’ve had women say to me that they aren’t sure what and when they should be making specific choices post-baby.  I totally understand, despite being a pre and postnatal exercise specialist, I felt very ignorant after I had my first son, Landon, when it came to how soon and how hard I could work out. It’s hard to make the right decisions when you no longer have a baby inside you.

One of the most commonly asked exercise questions I get from pregnant and postnatal women is in regards to cardio options.  What can I do? How do I modify certain exercises? The biggest key is going to be to listen to your body.  If something doesn’t feel good on the inside, or it just feels like it’s not the right thing for you and/or your baby, then you need to change it.  Furthermore, if you look in the mirror and it just doesn’t look right (meaning the exercise isn’t working for you and is negatively affecting your form), then you also need to make a different choice.  So what do you do?  I’m here to help. In this video I demonstrate some common cardio exercises and offer a variety of modifications you can use to keep working out in a safe and smart way during your pregnancy and after.  If you have any additional exercises you’d like to see modifications for, please leave a comment in the section below, and I’ll add them to my next video.

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