Inspiration Mama: Fit Pregnancy Workout Essentials
We are thrilled to feature Anne as our featured fit mom guest blogger today. Anne is expecting her first any day now!
Hi, For Two Fitness fans! I’m Anne, a work-from-home editor living in Cincinnati, OH, and I’m excited to be expecting my first baby in mid-October. I like to read, travel, DIY – and blog about all of it at In Residence. And I also love to run!
As a lady with a vigorous exercise routine, I was definitely going to be a pregnant lady with one too. There have definitely been times that it’s been harder to get motivated thanks to that pregnancy tiredness or ligament aches and pains, but I’m so glad I have kept up a good (if slightly slower…) program. At 32 weeks, I’m still feeling great, and I think it has a lot to do with all the running, spinning, and weight lifting I’ve been doing. It keeps me feeling strong, boosts my energy levels, wards off some of the hormonal crazy, and helps me get better nights of sleep too.
It does take some adjustments though. So here are a few things I’ve found to be essential in my prenatal exercise routine:
1. long, stretchy tops: they’ll grow with you, keep your belly covered, and be comfortable for workouts the whole way through. My absolute favorite are of course my For Two Fitness tanks – so soft and stretchy, and I never fail to get compliments on them. But I also wear a lot of regular exercise tops too, especially these Gap’s breathe line of tanks and tees.
2. bottoms with wide waistbands: I’ve found you don’t even need to bother with maternity-specific exercise bottoms, because so many regular ones have wide waistbands just like maternity ones would. I’ve continued to wear my same Old Navy capris this whole time and they’re still perfectly comfortable; I’ve also fallen in love with the Lululemon groovy run short, which is working great now and will still be usable after!
3. ID band: I always wear an ID bracelet for safety’s sake when I’m out running or at spinning class anyway, but when I got pregnant, I ordered a new one from Road ID with my due date and blood type (since I finally learned it after that first prenatal appointment!), along with important contact information in the event anything happens while I’m on the road or at the gym. Definitely worth the $18.
4. a big water bottle: exercise for two also means hydration for two, right? And I don’t know if it’s just me, but pregnancy seems to make a girl quite thirsty in general. While we’re taking good care of our bodies, a BPA-free one like this CamelBak seems a good idea.
5. support band: even before the baby bump got big enough to feel cumbersome during exercise, I had some ligament aches and pains (and have heard that plenty of people get SI joint pain too), so a band has come in handy to combat those. In the next few weeks supporting the weight with something like the Gabrialla maternity support belt might become a must for belly comfort too.
Finally, the most essential thing: a pregnancy-appropriate attitude toward exercise.
It’s easy to get frustrated with lower energy levels or body limitations or to fret about whether I’ll ever get back to the pre-pregnancy race pace I worked so hard to achieve – so exercising for two means a priority shift.
Now instead of exercising to be at a certain weight or body shape or level of fitness, I try to remember I’m exercising because it’s healthy for me and for this little guy I’m growing and gets the happy hormones flowing for us; because I want to teach him from the start the importance of an active and healthy lifestyle; and because even if I’m running a little slower these days, getting out there and doing it is something I enjoy and is part of maintaining my sense of self, so I’m going to be out there as long as this changing body will allow. My goals aren’t to be at my peak any more – they can’t be – but instead to keep myself feeling energetic throughout pregnancy, and to be ready to be strong for bringing this baby into the world and taking care of him after!
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