What Feels Good NOW Might Just Hurt You LATER

I’ll be honest . . . I almost don’t know where to start with this. Plus, it just feels a little weird to be writing about this since I’m such an advocate for working out during pregnancy. For so long, when someone would ask me about whether a certain exercise was okay for pregnancy, the majority of the time I answered, “If you did it prior to pregnancy, you should be fine.” and/or “Just listen to your body.” But then things changed . . .

I created my best-selling pregnancy workout program Expecting MORE® almost eight years ago (when I was pregnant with my first). Even then most pregnant women weren’t doing (or at least not publicizing) much more than prenatal yoga, swimming, and walking, and most doctors were still not advising much more. In many ways I’d hit the jackpot with Expecting MORE® because there wasn’t much out there on the DVD market – at least not when it came to strength conditioning and cardio for pregnancy, and especially when it came to offering challenging workouts to women who were already fit prior to pregnancy. Looking back I was pretty progressive.

But alas, there was no Instagram where fit pregnant women were showing what they were really doing, including extreme cases of running marathons, doing CrossFit, and sometimes even skiing. As we know, social media went bonkers and now everyone (professionals and non-professionals) are sharing their amazing pregnancy workouts . . . and now I want to take it all back. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but I do feel the need to add an addendum to my previous prenatal workout advice:  Just because you did it prior to pregnancy doesn’t mean it’s good for you NOW (that you are pregnant), and just because something feels okay on your pregnant body NOW doesn’t mean it’s going to feel good in your postnatal recovery or in your future years of motherhood.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BP7vypkA7r_/?taken-by=sarahaleyfit

WHAT?

Yes, that’s what I just said. Here’s the thing moms-to-be:  You don’t know what’s going to happen in labor and delivery. You don’t know exactly how big your baby is going to be. You don’t know what the tissue strength of your pelvic floor is like. You might not even know how tight (or not so much) your abs are. These unknowns are the things I now encourage you to think about now that you’re pregnant.

Cleaning and pressing 90 plus pounds, or running a marathon, might feel okay in your pre-conditioned never-had-a-baby before body, but it might not feel so good on your pelvic floor after 9 months of pregnancy plus labor and delivery of your 9-pound baby or three kids later when you’re pregnant with your fourth. #justsayin

The same goes for my yogis who continue your Up Dogs, Wheels and Natarajasanas (Dancer’s Pose) over and over again. Your heart opening might feel good in the moment and your baby is probably fine, but that continuous spreading of the abdominal wall is only going to exasperate the potential for a diastasis recti, which could also potentially mean a belly pooch that won’t go away for a while after baby. Watch the video below to see what diastasis recti looks like during pregnancy as well as what to do and not to do.

You might say, “Whatever Sara, that’s not going to be me – I’m super strong.” And to that, I would say: You just never know. I’ve seen and heard of the worst cases of diastasis recti and prolapse in athletes, dancers and fitness fanatics. That intense training is what makes our bodies strong for those passions, but unfortunately not always so resilient for the process of pregnancy. I’m not saying don’t do the things that make you feel amazing and alive ever again. Trust me I get it – throughout my pregnancies, I’m constantly creating ways to modify how I dance, jump and perform the exercises I love to do most. I’m just saying think about the exercises and movement you are doing a little more, maybe do them a little less often or with a little less intensity, and maybe take some modifications sooner rather than later in your pregnancy. If you’re looking for more guidance on which exercises are safe, effective, and NOT boring, my Pregnancy Workout Essentials Collection is for you.

And for those of you who are silent observers on social media, I just warn with caution as you “like” away.  “Like” all you want, but please please think about what you’re doing before you imitate what you see.