Studies have shown that exercises have great benefits to both you and your unborn baby. Exercises stimulate blood circulation that nourishes the child and improves its intelligence, give your skin a dewy glow, strengthen your muscles and relieve the pain associated with pregnancy. They also address constipation problems experienced by pregnant women and facilitate childbirth.
Today, we will introduce ways to exercise safely during pregnancy…
How to Exercise Safely During Pregnancy:
Before you exercise, you need to ask for your doctor’s advice about practicing because they are more familiar with your situation and your baby’s growth and development. After that, you need to drink a lot of water during exercise and immediately skip it when you are tired. You should also avoid violent exercises or those that increase your heartbeats and sports involving falls, such as climbing and fighting.
When should you avoid exercise during pregnancy?
Healthcare providers advise pregnant women not to exercise if they experienced or have any of the following:
– Previous abortions.
– Chances of a premature birth.
– Gestational diabetes and high blood pressure.
– Joint and muscle injuries.
– Overweight or underweight.
Steps to Safe Exercises during Pregnancy:
Studies have shown that daily exercise holds greater benefit to both you and your unborn baby. Follow these steps if you want to be healthy:
– Warm up first: Stand up straight, keep a space between your knees, knit hands in the middle of your belly with opened arms. Move your body to the right and then to the left while bending your knees. Repeat the sequence for about ten times then draw circles by your hands while repeating the previous sequence.
– Walk for 20 to 45 minutes a day: Take a short walk in your first trimester. If you do not want to join a gym or you do not have a large area for walking, you can walk in place with practicing some athletic movements by hands, such as moving them at the shoulders level so that the elbow remains at shoulders level, and move both hands forward, backward, outside and inside.
– Exercises allowed during pregnancy: You can swim and do yoga, while focusing on relaxation and breathing exercises, since they are useful in all stages of pregnancy and labor.
– Pilates Exercises: They help to increase and strengthen the body’s flexibility so that the body can carry the excess weight during pregnancy. They also increase your ability to control the abdominal muscles contractions when giving birth. All you have to do is to stand up straight, leave distance between your feet, put your palms on the thighs, and then slowly go up and down.
– Weightlifting During Pregnancy: If you used to lift weights before pregnancy, we advise you to reduce the weight during pregnancy. You can practice this sport as you used to do in the past, put place one of your legs to the back to relieve pressure on your back.
– Stretching Exercises: These exercises can help relieve back pain. You can repeat each exercise for ten times a day. All you need to do is to put your hands and knees on the floor; leave a space between your hands and make them parallel to your shoulders; adjust the hip at your back level; leave a space between your legs; put a pillow on the floor under your belly; go down slowly and try to sit on your feet for several seconds. Repeat this again.
Using the same position; raise one of your legs while raising your opposite hand, if possible, so that you lift the right leg and the left hand and vice versa. If you could not raise your legs with your hands at the same time, you can raise your leg first and once you put it down raise your hand, stay on this position for seconds then switch legs and hands.
Stand against the wall so that your back is straight, leave a space between your legs so they are at your shoulders level, bend your pelvis a bit then turn it back to its normal position, lean back till you stick to the wall, stay on this position for seconds then return to the start position.
Sit on the floor with your feet crossed, hold your left knee with your right hand and twist your torso to the left, hold on for seconds then return to the start position. Hold your right knee with your left hand and twist your torso to the right side, hold on for seconds then return to the start position.
Follow the above mentioned steps if you are afraid of exercise during pregnancy and would like to stay fit and beautiful, because they would help you exercise safely, so do not hesitate to try them.
