Pregnancy is a time of excitement, anticipation and, for most women, worry. Women often hear conflicting advice about what to do and what to avoid during pregnancy, and one of the most confusing subjects is the safety of different types of exercise. Working your abdominal muscles during pregnancy is a good way to keep your body strong and healthy, but contact your doctor to make sure ab workouts are safe for you.
Benefits
Regular exercise is one of the most common recommendations that pregnant women receive. Staying active can help you feel your best and prepare you for the challenges of labor and beyond. Strengthening your abdominal muscles in particular can help prevent backaches by helping to support the weight of your changing body rather than putting the burden entirely on your back.
Safe Exercises
During the first trimester of pregnancy, you can safely do regular abdominal exercises as usual, including crunches, bicycles and sit-ups. Once you reach the second trimester, however, it's time to stop doing any exercises that force you to lie flat on your back. Instead, try modified ab exercises like pelvic tilts while standing up against a wall; abdominal contractions while on your hands and knees; lifting your legs in front of you, one at a time, while sitting reclined against a stack of pillows; and lifting your rib cage toward your hip bone while lying on your side with your knees bent in front of you.
What To Avoid
Virtually all abdominal exercises are considered safe in the first trimester; as long as you're not putting your belly at risk of trauma from a dropped weight or a collision, you're not restricted to any specific exercises at this point. But things get trickier in the second trimester, when you need to avoid moves that require you to lie on your back; in this position, the weight of your growing uterus puts pressure on a major arteru, which can lower your blood pressure and reduce your baby's flow of oxygen.
Exercise Plan
In addition to other exercise you should be doing throughout pregnancy, try to target your ab muscles three to five times per week using a variety of strengthening moves. If you experience discomfort while performing these exercises, stop doing them and discuss your workouts with your doctor at your next visit. You may be experiencing diastasis recti, a separation of the abdominal muscles that usually occurs during pregnancy. While this is a normal occurrence and usually corrects itself after you give birth, you don't want to aggravate the condition further. Your doctor can determine whether it's safe for you to continue your abdominal workouts.
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