Physical Activity by Trimester

Lexie Zaniewski MS, CPPC, CSCS*D, SCCC, USAW 

When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, I thought I’d be physically active throughout my pregnancy and postpartum. Given my education in exercise science and career as a Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach, I assumed this would be simple. Unfortunately, it was anything but that. I realized I knew nothing of my pregnant and postpartum body. I, like many other women, became discouraged and frustrated. Who was I now? What is this body? How was I going to get my pre-pregnancy body back? Well, the truth is, I wasn’t, and I didn’t. My body didn’t go anywhere, and neither did yours, although it has changed. The goal is not to “snap back” to a person or body we once were. Rather, it is about making time to take care of yourself and your health in the safest way possible. Especially now, so close to the Holiday season, we often find ourselves setting all of these goals, standards, and resolutions that we want to stick to in the upcoming year. As a result, it’s important that as a woman and a mother, we take careful thought in setting these intentions, and we truly understand the benefits of physical activity to our health during all stages of our motherhood journey.

The benefits of physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum are immeasurable. Not only does it help us to be more efficient physically so that we can parent more easily, but, mentally and emotionally, it allows us to feel fulfilled by partaking in self-care. We can all benefit from improved mood, cognition, attention, memory, strength, stability, and endurance. 

The First Trimester (Weeks 0-13)

Your first mission is to establish a connection between your core and your pelvic floor. We do this with breathing practice, called, connection breathing. Relax and inhale through your nose allowing your body to expand and fill with air. Contract your abs and pelvic floor as you exhale through your mouth and feel your body stabilize. Once this connection is established, which can take lots of time and practice, so don’t rush, you may apply it to exercises you include in your workouts. Focus on strength and endurance, and yes, even if you were not active prior to becoming pregnant, you can still exercise during your pregnancy in most cases. Exercise is extremely beneficial for both Mom and Baby, but still, take care to listen to your body, if at any point anything feels painful, makes you dizzy or causes bleeding, cease activity immediately and contact your medical professional.

The Second Trimester (Weeks 14-27)

During the second trimester your body is growing more and more. Here it is beneficial to add more stretching in order to manage any back and/or pelvic pain. Continue to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles with connection breathing and core work. As the baby grows, and pulls you forward, focus on posture. Add more back exercises to assist with proper alignment and strength through the posterior chain. Depending on the individual, it may be time to eliminate any exercises where you lie flat on your back due to increased pressure on the inferior vena cava. You will know to do this if you become dizzy, light headed or nauseous after a period of time on your back. Maintain strength and endurance as best you can.  You may also notice that you become short of breath more easily at this point due to increased blood volume.

The Third Trimester (Weeks 28-40)

As you enter the final 3 months of your pregnancy, I encourage you to check in with your body physically and mentally more frequently. It is most important to maintain a comfortable level of activity at this point. Try not to be hard on yourself if you require an increased amount of rest days. Focus on decreasing discomfort with gentle stretching, mobility, strength and stability work. Incorporate movements which can assist in birth preparation. Eliminate any and all front-loaded exercises like planks or push-ups as well as any crunching or traditional sit-ups as this puts excessive stress on the abdominals which are no longer in a position to handle such stressors. With that, also eliminate additional downward pressure on your pelvic floor.  It may be time to stop loading your body externally and focus on body weight exercises to stay active.

The Fourth Trimester/Postpartum

For many, we have no idea what to actually expect postpartum. It becomes easy to get ahead of ourselves and set unrealistic expectations for this time, physically, mentally and emotionally. I like to remind women that childbirth recovery should be considered the same as any other orthopedic injury which generally takes 12-16 weeks to heal from. Levels of Relaxin, the hormone responsible for increased laxity of our ligaments, can remain elevated above normal levels for up to 12 months post-delivery. Therefore, the standard 6 week follow up may or MAY NOT be an appropriate time to return to ALL physical activity. The type of delivery, vaginal or cesarean, impacts this as well. There are also many common musculoskeletal dysfunctions that can occur postpartum; including, low back or pelvic girdle pain, Diastasis Recti, pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction. That said, the first thing I recommend to all postpartum women is to find a Pelvic Health or Women’s Health Physical Therapist to work with. Although these dysfunctions are common, they are not normal and should be treated, however most physicians do not screen for these dysfunctions at the 6 week postpartum check up.

The benefits to postpartum exercise include improved mood and body image, decreased occurrence of postpartum anxiety and depression, improved cardiovascular function, improved bone mineral density and improved metabolic rate. Exercise during this time gives us an outlet for all the stress that comes along with motherhood.  It is a wonderful form of self-care. As we progress in our motherhood journey, it becomes even more physically demanding as toddlers’ activities and behaviors can be quite unpredictable at most times. As a result, Mommy needs to be prepared to react appropriately at any moment. Remember that self-care, physically, mentally, and emotionally, is NOT selfish. It is a necessary component to optimal functioning throughout motherhood.

I’d like to end with a quote which to me paints the perfect picture of why mothers should resistance train, “motherhood happens asymmetrically, in less-than-optimal positions, with ever increasing, non-compliant load.” -Farel Hruska

Lexie Zaniewski is a Certified Pre & Postnatal Coach in RI. She specializes in assisting women in achieving optimal physical health in all stages of their motherhood journey. Lexie can be reached via email at coachzstrength41@gmail.com or via phone at 978-335-8223. Also, feel free to follow on Social Media at coachzstrength41 and join her Facebook Group, Mission Mama for additional support.