Written by: Sabrina Stockel
Yes, you can absolutely still workout and the training goal remains the same, prepare you for the main event: BIRTH! When it comes to the third trimester, we want to maintain the strength that we built up in trimesters 1 and 2. You will need that strength for your birthing process. So we want to carefully and strategically keep you strong during your third trimester.
What can I do?
You can mostly do everything you have been doing. When it comes to lower body strength training, keep doing your squats and deadlifts. These are movements that are essential to our every day life and you will be doing a ton of these when the baby is born. Every time you pick the baby up from the crib, bath tub, bassinet, etc, you are squatting or deadlifting. It is best to perfect your form in these movements now! You can also keep doing single leg exercises (lunges, step ups, etc) as long as they still feel good. If there is any pelvic girdle pain during single leg exercises, stick to exercises with both feet planted.
When it comes to upper body strength training, keep doing pulling (rows and pulldowns), pushing (elevated push ups and chest press), and carrying (farmer’s and suitcase carries) exercises. You will constantly be holding a baby that gets heavier by the day! Not to mention, for such small humans, babies have a lot of baggage! You’ll be holding the baby, diaper bags, a car seat, and so on! You need a strong upper body and core to maintain proper posture while holding your ever-growing baby and all of the baby’s necessities!
When it comes to cardio, this might be where you take a little step back. If you were previously running or doing any high intensity cycling or classes, you might want to dial it back at this point. As the baby grows, the pressure on your pelvic floor is increasing. Therefore, your pelvic floor might not be able to handle the high impact exercises at this point. If you are a runner, perhaps consider walking. If you love high intensity classes, consider dialing back the high impact movements like jumping.
What can’t I do?
We touched on removing the high impact movements, like jumping and running, when you reach your third trimester. In addition to removing high impact movements, we also suggest dialing back planks and any core exercise that pulls you out of neutral alignment and puts added pressure on the abdominal wall. This can vary from person to person. A bird/dog could be a great exercise for one person while another person might struggle to maintain neutral alignment while on all fours. Some safer core exercises are those that keep you upright like banded or cable pallof holds, farmer’s carries, suitcase carries, and marches. These exercises will challenge your core in the safest way.
You also want to be very careful with twisting movements. If you do want to continue these types of exercises, be sure that you are moving your hips and shoulders in unison. Avoid exercises that dissociate the hips and shoulders, where the hips stay put and you rotate the shoulders. These types of twisting movements put a ton of pressure on the abdominals and can accentuate diastasis recti.
Bottom line?
Keep moving. You are almost there! Do the things that make you feel good and keep you strong. Prioritize good posture through every movement within your workout and daily life activities. Eliminate anything that causes discomfort. You got this!
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