It’s natural to slow down during pregnancy as your transforming body adapts to different stresses and centre of gravity changes. Pregnancy is the time to reduce exercise intensity and continue with ‘safer’ exercise options.

Stay active during pregnancy with exercise that is best suited to the pregnant body and protects you from aggravating abdominal muscle separation, back and pelvic joint, ligament and PFM strain. Choose one or a combination of these exercise suggestions that are ideal for low risk pregnant women.

The inner cylinder of core muscles comes under considerable stress during pregnancy (and birth). Keep all core muscles strong with suitable pregnancy exercise and regular PFM lifts.  Your core gains great benefits by changing some of the ways you use your body with regular daily habits.

Ways to maintain core, floor and trunk stability

Studies show that women can reduce the risk of muscle tears and stitches by practicising regular perineal massage in the last 4 to 6 weeks of pregnancy (especially with their first baby).

It’s usual to sit more and rest with your legs elevated during pregnancy as you slow down and baby changes the way you stand and move. However, the way you sit, work and stand during pregnancy (and postpartum) affects your trunk and core muscles and even baby’s in-utero position.

Let’s start with your body

My name is Beth - this is my second pregnancy and I wanted to get into shape to be fit for this birth. So I started exercising with a trainer when I was 20 weeks pregnant. She was great and set out a strength program to improve my strength and I trained with her usually two, sometimes three times a week. At 26 weeks I developed a pain in my lower abdomen that got suddenly worse so my doctor put me in hospital for tests. After 4 days of tests and rest it was a bit better but no one was any the wiser about the cause.