Many mothers ask themselves to what extent they are physically restricted or less resilient due to their pregnancy. In general, one can say that pregnancy is not an illness that condemns you to bed rest and rest. On the contrary, a healthy amount of exercise and exercise during pregnancy is good for the body and mind of an expectant mother. From today's perspective, sport during pregnancy is viewed as healthy and beneficial for maternal and child well-being. Studies even prove the preventive effect with regard to typical pregnancy symptoms, such as water retention during pregnancy.
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Especially exercises for the muscles of the lower back (please refer: Back training during pregnancy) and the stomach strengthen the back and thus also ensure a healthy posture during pregnancy.
Abdominal muscle training is also recommended to prevent an umbilical hernia, which often occurs during pregnancy because the pressure in the abdominal cavity increases.
The training of the abdominal muscles is subject to a few special rules.
If you train for the first time during pregnancy, you should consult a doctor beforehand and the exercises should only be performed under the guidance of a specialist. Abdominal muscle training is possible without any problems in the first twenty weeks of pregnancy. The straight abdominal muscles can be trained as well as the oblique abdominal muscles. However, the load should only be chosen so high that you feel comfortable.
Also read the following article: Umbilical hernia in pregnancy.
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In general, during pregnancy, every sport should be done in moderation and not be too strenuous. It is important that you do not overload yourself during training and that you always feel good. It is also important to warm up sufficiently before each training session.
In general, you should keep your previous sport and, if necessary, adjust the intensity, duration and frequency to the pregnancy. It makes sense to individually reduce the intensity of stress during pregnancy - if you were a passionate long-distance runner before, for example, you don't have to cut the distance overnight.
Personal risk factors should always be weighed individually. Ask your doctor for advice on whether and how much exercise you should do during your pregnancy.
When jogging in particular, a rough guideline is to avoid pulses over 140 / min and to choose the pace so that you can still talk while you are. As long as jogging is not perceived as too strenuous or the waist circumference begins to disturb, there are basically no limits for runners.
It is still possible to visit the fitness studio. However, lifting weights should be avoided and a cardio or gymnastics program should be chosen. Depending on the course offer, there are different sports such as dance, gymnastics, yoga and Pilates at different levels, which can be attended according to individual assessment.
Read about this: Yoga for pregnant women
Of course, you can also fall back on traditional pregnancy gymnastics courses to specifically train the most important muscle groups for pregnancy.
If you have not been very active in sports up to now and would like to change this at the time of pregnancy, sports such as Nordic walking, cycling, swimming, gymnastics, Pilates or general aerobic exercises and stretching are recommended.
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Sports activities with high loads, many jumping elements and a high risk of injury are generally unsuitable. Classic risk sports such as Skydiving, technical diving, etc. should be avoided.
Abdominal muscles
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Pregnancy is not a contraindication for abdominal muscle training, even if many pregnant women are very hesitant and unsure about it. In the following, advantages are given, tips are given and examples are explained in order to train the abdominal muscles adequately and to a healthy degree during pregnancy.
The advantages of strengthening the abdominal muscles during pregnancy are, on the one hand, the prevention of back pain during pregnancy, which is a common complaint in pregnancy due to the increased weight and volume of the abdomen. In addition, adequate abdominal muscle training helps stabilize the position of the uterus. In addition to the abdominal muscles, the back and pelvic floor muscles should also be trained. A balanced relationship between the abdominal and back muscles is important for good posture and stability.
Targeted training can take place, for example, in the fitness studio on machines or at home. The rule of thumb for abdominal muscle training is that you should do it carefully, gently, moderately, in a controlled, clean and orderly manner. The preferred muscles that should be trained are the oblique abdominal muscles (lat. M. obliquus externus abdominis and M. obliquus internus abdominis), but also the pelvic floor muscles (please refer: Pelvic floor training during pregnancy).
Static exercises are particularly suitable for training the straight abdominal muscles. Static means that the muscle is trained without changing length. In what is known as "isometric" training, the muscle is activated purely through muscle tension. It is also very important that no pull or pressure is exerted during isometric training and that no resistance has to be overcome.
However, it is important to know that isolated abdominal muscle training should be avoided from the 20th week of pregnancy, as this provokes the abdominal muscles to diverge - called diastasis rectus. In principle, this is physiological and occurs in some pregnant women towards the end of pregnancy, regardless of certain abdominal muscle exercises.
Read about this: Diastasis recti exercises
In addition, in advanced pregnancy, no more exercises should be performed from the supine position in order to minimize the risk of "vena cava syndrome". The voluminous uterus and the child squeeze the nearby vena cava, which hinders the return of blood to the heart and can lead to circulatory problems. Other starting positions for abdominal muscle training (sitting, quadruped or standing) are therefore more advantageous.
Should be preferred obliques be trained:
Some exercises are particularly suitable for this:
All of the following exercises should be individually designed in terms of intensity and repetition. If the stomach is an obstacle to the correct execution of the exercises, other exercises should be chosen, as the orderly and correct execution has priority.
Inclined sit-ups:
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Here, the pregnant woman takes the supine position with bent legs. The hands are put behind the head and the elbows point to the side. Now the stomach should be tensed so that it can be lifted a few centimeters. So that there are also oblique sit-ups, the left elbow must now be brought to the right knee. After returning to the starting position, the right elbow is now brought up to the left knee.
Crossed sit-ups:
The starting position is similar to that of the oblique sit-ups, i.e. lying on your back with your hands together behind your slightly raised head and your elbows pointing outwards. Here, however, the legs are raised at a 90 ° angle so that the calves are held in the air parallel to the base. Now alternately pull the opposing elbows and knees towards each other and stretch the other leg without putting it down.
Prefer:
In this exercise you lie on your back with your legs slightly bent. Then the arms are extended in a straight position towards the left or right heel while the abdominal muscles are tensed. The head and upper body should be raised a few centimeters from the floor.
Side support:
The starting position is either the left or right lateral position. Then you should push yourself up from the floor. Only the feet and the outstretched arm remain in contact with the surface. Your legs, torso, and torso should form a straight line in the air. Now the pelvis can slowly be lowered a few centimeters and then returned to the maximum support position. The forearm side support is a variant for the beginning. The sequence of movements is exactly the same, except that you are supported on the forearm.
Exercising the abdominal muscles is not always possible during pregnancy. It is generally recommended to only train the abdominal muscles up to the 20th week. Women who have already done a lot of abdominal muscle training before pregnancy can continue training symptom-free up to the seventh month.
From the 20th week, the straight abdominal muscles begin to stretch to the left and right as the uterus grows and to gape a little - this process is called diastasis recti. In order not to intensify this process, one should refrain from training the straight abdominal muscles from the twentieth week. Failure to observe this can lead to the formation of gaps in the abdominal muscles, which can only be compensated for by intensified postnatal gymnastics. Therefore, you should put your hand on your stomach and only do the exercises that do not work your straight abdominal muscles. The oblique abdominal muscles can still be trained.
At the end of the pregnancy you should also avoid doing exercises in the supine position, as the strain on the internal organs and the spine can then become too great and uncomfortable pressure can arise.
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If you experience pain, bleeding, dizziness and malaise during training during pregnancy, you must stop training immediately and consult a doctor!
After giving birth, many mothers ask when they can start exercising again. Most of them want to get their original figure back as quickly as possible and to reduce any weight gain during pregnancy.
In general, mothers should first recover from the strenuous labor and give the body time to regenerate. This means that you should avoid any sport for the first 6 weeks. After the 6 weeks, however, you can usually resume sporting activities without hesitation. It is best to ask your doctor when you should start exercising again after giving birth and to what extent.
Read more on the subject at: Jogging after giving birth
The primary goal of pregnancy regression is not weight loss, but rather training the abdominal muscles and especially the pelvic floor muscles.
The training of the pelvic floor muscles after the birth is essential for the subsequent maintenance of continence. For a suitable exercise of the pelvic floor muscles, position yourself cross-legged and tense the pelvic floor muscles from the inside out at regular intervals.
Read more on the subject at: Pelvic floor training.
Exercises for the abdominal muscles largely correspond to those that have already been described above. An important note applies to mothers who have developed diastasis recti during or after pregnancy, i.e. the straight abdominal muscles diverging: in this case, a wait-and-see assessment must be made to determine whether the diastasis recti has already regressed after 6 weeks. If so, the oblique muscles should be trained first and the long abdominal muscles later. In other cases, you should wait with the muscle building training until the attending doctor gives the OK and the abdominal muscles that have deviated from one another have sufficiently regenerated.
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