Pregnant women

[drewboy86]

Hi all I'm training my first pregnant lady soon and was wondering if you guys have any advice and tips in exercises or stretches, I don't know the ladies goals as yet however their obviously not going to be any conditioning type goals! Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

[rdferguson]

1. Make sure she has a medical clearance to train, and have her seeing her doctor regularly. While exercise can improve the pregnancy, she is a high risk client (which, here in AUS, means that anyone without a university degree in human movement/exercise physiology legally shouldn't be training her), and complications can occur.
2. Warm her up and cool her down slowly - 10 min of each at a gentle pace.
3. Give her a 5min break every 10min, and make sure she's getting plenty of cool water. SHE can expell excess heat through her skin. BABY can't.
4. Don't stretch her beyond her pre-pregnancy ROM. Pregnant women are full of hormones that loosen up their connective tissues, making them prone to overstretching and causing damage.
5. Consider ergonomics of each exercise. Lunges may be a good leg exercise for her; squats, leg press (these especially; refer to 5b and being supine) and deadlifts maybe not so much.
5b. No trunk flexion, especially after the 1st trimester, and no supine positions as the foetus may block blood flow through the inferior vena cava, restricting the return of blood to the heart.
6. Progress slowly, or even regress the loads she's working with as she comes closer to giving birth.
7. Kegels.
8. Read the ACSM guidelines.

[Carjack]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=143401993

[Endureign]

1. Make sure she has a medical clearance to train, and have her seeing her doctor regularly. While exercise can improve the pregnancy, she is a high risk client (which, here in AUS, means that anyone without a university degree in human movement/exercise physiology legally shouldn't be training her), and complications can occur.
2. Warm her up and cool her down slowly - 10 min of each at a gentle pace.
3. Give her a 5min break every 10min, and make sure she's getting plenty of cool water. SHE can expell excess heat through her skin. BABY can't.
4. Don't stretch her beyond her pre-pregnancy ROM. Pregnant women are full of hormones that loosen up their connective tissues, making them prone to overstretching and causing damage.
5. Consider ergonomics of each exercise. Lunges may be a good leg exercise for her; squats, leg press (these especially; refer to 5b and being supine) and deadlifts maybe not so much.
5b. No trunk flexion, especially after the 1st trimester, and no supine positions as the foetus may block blood flow through the inferior vena cava, restricting the return of blood to the heart.
6. Progress slowly, or even regress the loads she's working with as she comes closer to giving birth.
7. Kegels.
8. Read the ACSM guidelines.

ACSM's monthly fitness guides have recently posted several articles on cardio and strength training for pregnant clients, very good and informative reads, well worth your time.