Saturday, August 6, 2016

Second Trimester Fitness

If you missed my blog on first trimester fitness you can find it here:

http://www.crashintofitness.com/2016/05/first-trimester-fitness.html

Ahh, the second trimester!  The time during your pregnancy when your energy levels somewhat returns, your nausea goes away (hopefully) and you aren't yet so big and uncomfortable as you will be later on in your pregnancy.  Absolutely take advantage of the energy and get in some workouts!! As I said before, walking, light weights and prenatal yoga are all great workouts for those who were not regular fitness addicts before pregnancy.  I have days, especially after I travel, where I feel SO tired.  I really do feel better when I can get off of my sofa and get something done that day.  For those who were active pre-pregnancy, definitely keep going with your workouts.  Of course, you will probably need more breaks, modifications and lighter weights, but you can still go for it!

My current routine is hot yoga about 4-5 times per week and T25 about 4 times per week.  Some weeks I have more energy than others so I take advantage of that energy spurt.  And on those days where I'm tired, I rest.  No big deal.  I've learned not to beat myself up about it taking longer to get through a program.  Phase 1 of T25 is supposed to last 5 weeks but it took me 7.  It's ok!  Something is better than nothing!

I am still sticking with the hot yoga, I just end up in child's pose a lot more often.  I have also noticed that my balance is really starting to get terrible and the standing balance series is such a challenge for me.  I started adding some deep stretch classes into my yoga routine.  They are less intense than power yoga, and more stretching my body out.  I think at some point in my third trimester I will switch to just deep stretch and prenatal yoga (I'm so lucky that my studio offers that too!).  Doing so much yoga has absolutely been beneficial to me.  I am still pain free, and if you follow my posts you know that I had pretty bad sciatic nerve pain during my first pregnancy.  I am really hoping that I can hold any pain off for as long as possible!

For cardio I have been doing T25.  This is something I switched to during my second trimester.  If you are looking for a cardio workout to do, I would HIGHLY recommend T25.  Shaun T, creator of Insanity, does T25 but it's a much, much less intense version of his Insanity-type workouts.  The workouts are 5 days per week, 25 minutes per day.  I always shrugged T25 off as too easy for me, but I decided to give it a try 7 weeks ago when I was having trouble getting motivated for longer workouts.  I fell in love instantly.  Each workout has an awesome modifier who makes the workouts low impact.  I love it!  I always follow the modifier.  I just started the second phase of T25 today.  That was a bit more challenging, but, again, I stuck with the modifications.  I plan to do a T25 Alpha (first phase) review on the blog next, so if that's something you are interested in, check that out in a few days.

My main goals this pregnancy are to try to stay in good shape.  Nothing crazy, I just don't want to have to start from absolutely zero afterward like I did last time.  I'm trying to be the middle of the road between the people who do nothing during their pregnancy and those who are doing crazy CrossFit workouts at 40 weeks.  So far I think I am succeeding.  I'm taking it day by day and really listening to my body.  I just entered my third trimester so I am really hoping I can keep up my workouts for these next 12 weeks!

If you have any questions about pregnancy fitness, feel free to reach out to me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crashintofitness or send me an email at lauren.madara@gmail.com or you can always join my totally free ongoing accountability group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/865878936823860/



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