Talk to me about lifting during pregnancy. I'm way early yet, but morning sickness has hit me already (before I even missed my period, oh joy). I'm not letting my $150/mo. gym membership go to waste. I know I can plod along on the treadmill some, & weights don't have to change too much, but if anyone has any BTDT experience to share I'd appreciate it.

You can keep at it! As you get bigger, you want to avoid prone positions and direct ab exercises. Also, don't get your heart rate too high or get too hot. Do NOT hold your breath through exercises. There are whole books out there about lifting and exercising pregnant. You might want to pick one up. As your body changes, what you do should change.

Congratulations!

Mel

Congrats on the pregnancy!

I gained a lot of weight during my pregnancy, but that was due to giving myself free-reign to overeat. Both my trainer and my doctor said that my lifting weights could continue -- basically they said that whatever weights you were accustomed to pre-pregnancy would be fine. It's just that most women aren't used to lifting more than 20-25 pounds, so that where they usually draw the line. As my pregnancy progressed, my trainer switched me to an incline position by using a foam wedge, and we were very careful about balance exercises (I got to hold on to things more).

Hope that helps!

Heather

I went into my pregnancy in awesome shape, I had planned on continuing weight training, but I tapered off till I was only doing a little cardio. I was also over eating. I went from 131lbs to 199lbs, and had no strength by the time my baby was born. This is a major regret that is hard to get over. I had little strength to even do the basics for my little baby girl. So I tell you this just to encourage you. Don't give up! keep at it... I wish someone had warned me, but instead everyone(Including my trainer) said, ahhh just eat what you want, and enjoy it. I did, and boy did I pay for it.

I'm seriously hoping that if I manage to exercise it will help with the morning sickness. I got really clobbered by it last time. I'd rather lift than do cardio, but I am going to try to keep up both. It's going to be funny to be visibly pregnant and working out in the freeweights section. I guess I'll have to figure out how to use those incline benches!

(I'm also hoping I'll have an easier time of it in labor if I'm in better shape!)

I'm surprised that you'll be alone in there. Today I saw two pregnant women lifting at lunch time. One is an old trainer friend of mine- she's not old, I am!

I wasn't lifting much at the time, but I played a mean game of racquetball up til the beginning of my ninth month both times. I was actually a better player because I had to play smart instead of just launching myself all over the court. Unfortunately, through my first pregnancy, I also ate whatever and whenever I wanted.

Do you have access to a pool? I also swam laps until the day before I went into labor. Great cardio for preggos!

Mel

Perhaps it's because my gym is in one of the chicer parts of town, but we don't have a lot of serious female lifters. As in, I've seen one woman other than myself lifting anything halfway large.

We do have a pool, but I don't know how to swim. I need to look at the class schedule, because I know the gym offers water aerobics.