Pregnant + working out

[stirb]

Hay, Im trying to gather info for my wife on how she can workout while pregnant.

She would go to the gym with me and do basically the same workouts at me but to a lesser extent of course and she would be fine with that. But now that shes pregnant I know shes gotta tone it down and do less weight and more reps. But the main problem is that she used to take Body Effects by Power Performance for a preworkout to get her going, but now thats she pregnant we decided to stay off of it till the doctor says ok or not. So now she doesnt really have any energy at the gym and can barly get thru half the work out, so my question is what can she take thats natural, like food, that will give her energy for the gym?


Also any other tips or concerns are welcome on this subject

[abirg]

How far along is she? Any type of man made energy concoctions should def be avoided. Especially if there's caffeine in it. If she's in her 1st trimester I wouldn't try to push her too much. A lot of stuff is going on & the energy will most likely return in the 2nd trimester. I was too sick to work out for the 1st 16 wks so if she just cant work out dont be too bummed about it. If a bit of time does go by & she picks up working out again she still will highly benefit from it. Just make sure she doesnt do anything on her back after the 1st trimester & that she can carry on a conversation while she's exercising. Oh ya & make sure that she's doing exercises that aren't messing with her balance too much since pregnant women produce a hormone that makes the ligaments relax so she can be much more prone to injury. You could check out fitpregnancy.com They have a lot of prenatal workouts & nutrition advice

[thecooliocooler]

Good luck!!

[stirb]

How far along is she? Any type of man made energy concoctions should def be avoided. Especially if there's caffeine in it. If she's in her 1st trimester I wouldn't try to push her too much. A lot of stuff is going on & the energy will most likely return in the 2nd trimester. I was too sick to work out for the 1st 16 wks so if she just cant work out dont be too bummed about it. If a bit of time does go by & she picks up working out again she still will highly benefit from it. Just make sure she doesnt do anything on her back after the 1st trimester & that she can carry on a conversation while she's exercising. Oh ya & make sure that she's doing exercises that aren't messing with her balance too much since pregnant women produce a hormone that makes the ligaments relax so she can be much more prone to injury. You could check out fitpregnancy.com They have a lot of prenatal workouts & nutrition advice

Thanks for the advice, I dont push her she just does what she can, shes only a few weeks in and this is her second pregnancy. She normally have her doing workouts that require her to sit anyways lol. I will check out that website tho.

[stirb]

Good luck!!

THanks

[hieronymous]

I have had a coffee a couple of times before going to the gym since I have been pregnant when I was tired. I wasn't in the habit of taking any energy boosters before training before though.

[stirb]

I have had a coffee a couple of times before going to the gym since I have been pregnant when I was tired. I wasn't in the habit of taking any energy boosters before training before though.

I know she can still take caffeine but I didn't know how much, she hates coffee so I was going to pick up caff pills, she mainly does cardio

[snshaffer]

I worked out thru my second pregnancy. I did everything I was doing prior, just listened to ky body and focused on maintaining (aka, wasn't pushing myself hard in the gym). I ate stuff like eggs or almonds...or chocolate milk, lol. Loved chocolate milk this last pregnancy.
I found it actually alleviated the morning sickness once I started working out, for a brief thirty minutes I felt kind of okay. Them I would be sick again in the parking lot, lol. Such is life...

[hieronymous]

I know she can still take caffeine but I didn't know how much, she hates coffee so I was going to pick up caff pills, she mainly does cardio

200 mg is the suggested cut off point.

Coke has a about 50 mg (I think) per serving.

[Cytrainer913]

If you have access to this article written by Brad Schoenfeld, getting his Phd. in muscle hypertrophy, also wrote a great article on fasted cardio and hypertrophy as well. It goes through each trimester and outlines so much about the entire pregnancy.

http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Ful...afe_and.9.aspx

[Kramerica]

Wouldn't her doctor be a better person to ask?

[sonti]

I'm almost 9 weeks along myself and this is my 3rd pregnancy which I have worked out.

I recommend that she gets the DVD Baby Bells by Lauren Brooks and get her a basic 8kg kettlebell (to start, I have up to 32kg). Kettlebells are perfect for pregnancy, particularly in the 2nd & 3rd trimester when it's difficult to maneuver around the bump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hexkG9Y4nIk

Pregnancy exercise is controversial, pretty much all doctors agree it is beneficial but what/how can cause some debate. I prefer to train for labour so that's why I like Brooks dvd because it's basically a bunch of exercises focusing on the lower body (upper is important too but lower is the focus).

Some general agreement is no bench press after 1st tri and anything else that requires a flat back (oxygen distribution to the fetus). Other stuff is debatable (heart rate, deadlifts), so you should ask the midwife/doctor.

[sonti]

Might as well just quit caffeine then, no doctor is going to recommend caffeine pills when pregnant. You won't want to use them when nursing anyways.