Hey everybody! I am excited to be a part of this board, this is my husband and I's first baby and needless to say we are super excited! I am curious as to what are some of the best workouts that are pregnancy friendly that some of you may have done while pregnant, or known of family or friends who have worked out while pregnant.

Right now I am walking a few days a week and doing a couple of 10-20 min workouts on Youtube through the FitSugar channel.

What were/are some of your favorite workouts while you were/are pregnant?

Congrats on your pregnancy! I'm in my first one too.

Be sure to ask your doctor for any recommendations. I'm considered high-risk because of my age and previous miscarriage, so my doctor recommended low-impact workouts, and to not do any heavy lifting above my head. She also gave me the green-light for specific equipment at the gym, and I worked with a trained instructor who was informed of my needs for a session to make sure I was doing everything correctly.

Walking is definitely a great option for anyone! I enjoy the pool, which can be a great, low-impact workout even if you can't swim. The pool at my gym has aquatic dumbbells to add extra resistance, and even noodles can be used for exercise.

Good luck with everything!

I think it is highly dependent on your activity before getting pregnant.

This pregnancy, I was running 25+ miles/week (6.5-mi tue&thu, 12-mi sat) and weightlifting 3x/week and kept up close to the same routine through my first trimester. I eventually tapered down my running and quit by 28-weeks, I actually ran a half-marathon at 18-weeks (albeit slow w/a lot of walk breaks & snacks). But kept up with Bodypump 3x/week, my last class was the thu before I went into labor! I felt great and had no problems, 39yo, but no risk factors or complications and had pretty fast healing and recovery.

BUT...my first pregnancy I was overweight and mostly sedentary. I walked, and would get heel (plantar fasciitis), back, & knee pains. It's been a tale of two pregnancies! I had no pregnancy complications with the baby, just inflammation pains.

Thank you for the input ladies! I am seeing a high risk OB because my mother had gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia with my little brother, and I started out this pregnancy overweight, though I had lost some beforehand. So far my blood pressure has been great, blood sugar was normal when they did the early one hour glucose test, and everything looks good!

I asked my dr about exercise and she said light and easy does it, I was doing Insanity before I got pregnant, so I figured prenatal yoga and light strength training could benefit me, as well as doing things like planks, squats, and push ups if I can! I want to build up strength for labor and to be able to bounce back quicker PP, so I am hoping I can make it through the rest of my pregnancy health and risk free!

I am definitely going to look into gyms around here that have a pool, I didn't even think about water workouts Ella!

I used Lauren Brooks Baby Bells through 2 pregnancies and lvoed it There is an option with kettlebell or unweighted option.

Okay I will definitely check that out too!!

Search in youtube for pregnant yoga and pregnant pilates. You can get several ideas there on what to do.

I've started swimming, since I'm pretty high risk and need to avoid high impact sports (twins), so far I feel great, even if I'm just treading water 75% of the time.

I love the Walk Away the Pounds DVDs. They're usually to where I can easily modify them if it gets too high impact for me. I LOVE swimming too!

I loved Walk Away the Pounds and other walking videos during my pregnancies, too!!! They were great, especially for winter. I also loved going outside for walks, but I was not going out in rain or snow or freezing cold weather or overly hot weather because I was miserable enough as it were. lol

I am about to be 18 weeks pregnant and these are my preferred exercise:

swimming
power walking
pregnancy yoga
Wii Fit

If I had to choose one though I would say I feel the best after swimming. And if you are also wanting to lose weight think that a 45 minute swim is more calories than an hour workout in the gym.

This is what I did, too. I usually muted the videos and listened to music while I did the workouts.

My mom had dozens of those Walk Away the Pounds DVDs! Sounds like a good idea.

I started out doing my old exercise but at lower intensity, but now I just don't feel comfortable doing some things... I mostly stick to light weight training on the machines, and found some youtube videos for good ab exercises (I'm very concerned about the whole split abs thing I hear can happen!). And I try to walk for about an hour every day outside. Plus, I stretch a LOT now, get lots of aches and soreness that I need to stretch out, more than before, and again, there's a lot of good pregnancy yoga and such videos online, like someone mentioned.

Not that I'm in a place to give advice, since it's my first pregnancy and still quite early, but I think the most important thing is to go slow and listen to your body, and don't do anything that feels uncomfortable! I see plenty of stories about women who run marathons and whatever while really pregnant, but there's no way I personally would feel good running...

I also bought one of those maternity support belts... Has anyone seen those? I'm not big enough to need it every day, but I feel much better and more supported when I put it on whenever I'm going for a walk or doing any sort of exercise. Don't know if it's actually doing anything, but it feels safer, haha.

Having had two children (not that it makes me an expert) with easy pregnancies and almost embarrassingly easy births, I wholeheartedly agree.

Hi,
Newly pregnant. I am focusing on yoga (was a yoga teacher and have a private yoga teacher to watch safety while preg), light arm weights, swimming, and elliptical.
Good luck!