Early Pregnancy Exercise Safety

I have just started to train a new pregnant woman at the gym- she thinks she is 7-8 weeks pregnant. I noticed during the assessment she was getting breathless quick and kept referring to how deconditioned she is. I told her the facts on what is happening to her body while exercising during this early stage of pregnancy.

Things that are happening in your pregnant body
1. Your blood volume is increasing up to 40% more
2. Your blood vessel may not have dilated enough yet to catch up with the elevated volume so spikes in heart rate with little effort occur. Your blood vessels are dilating to accommodate volume. This depends on what week you are in.
3. More blood to your periphery

The difference in your early pregnant body during exercise
1. Breathlessness
2. Dizziness
3. Sweating

It is critical in your first trimester to work in your age appropriate heart rate zone. The neural tube is developing and an elevated core body temperature may hinder proper development. Due to your blood volume changes listed above an your bodies accommodations, elevated core body temperature is easily achieved.

TARGET HEART RATE ZONES (taken from par med x for pregnancy)
The heart rate zones shown below are appropriate for most pregnant women. Work during the lower end of the HR range at the start of a new exercise program and in late pregnancy.

Age Range Heart Rate
< 20 140-155 bpm

20-29 135-150 bpm

30-39 130-145 bpm

Holiday Pregnancy Workout

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. So what is it like to be pregnant through the holidays? You are missing out on unpasteurized cheeses, wine and need more sleep than others. On a positive note you are not hungover, most likely have gone to bed on time. Your only enemy could be too much chocolate. If you are enjoying holiday chocolate please limit your portions to avoid excess sugar and caffeine. Opt for dark organic chocolate, not the cheap candy coated kind.

Although during pregnancy you may not be a bundle of energy, you may be feeling slightly more motivated than others around you. Keep it up, lead by example. Do short exercise routines 10 minutes is all you need to boost your energy, keep your blood flowing and make you and your baby more healthy. Try this great little pregnancy exercise routine, for healthy pregnant women in any trimester.

PREGNANCY EXERCISE ROUTINE

Bi lateral Back Extension- 5x

Squats- 5x

Side Lying leg raises- 10x

Kneeling Push ups-5x

Wall Slides- 10x

Enjoy this little routine and keep up the good work.

Abdominal Exercises For Pregnancy- What to Do and What Not to Do

This weekend I got a great question from a colleagues client. She is 6 months pregnant and wanted some abdominal exercises because her SEPARATION was bugging her. As pregnancy progresses rectus diastase is inevitable but there are ways to prevent early separation and have relative comfort. Managing this is the key.

What Not To Do

1. No Lumbar Flexion Exercises- that's right crunches, mini crunches when pregnant are not good and can contribute to further abdominal separation. Lumbar flexion is obsolete anyways, the main function of abdominal muscles are to prevent rotation of the lumbar spine, not to flex the lumbar spine. Forward flexion should be initiated from the hips, like a waiters bow.

2. Reduce oblique exercises, as when they flex with a separation your muscle will pull towards the insertion or side of your torso, further widening your rectus diastase.

What To Do

1. Plank and plank variations for lumbar stabilization, not flexion.

2. Side Planks for stabilization of the small muscles in your lumbar spine called multifidi- do in reps not for a steady amount of time

3. Bilateral Back Extension - to use your abdominals as anti rotators, what they are meant to do.

All of these exercises are featured in the Baby Bump Pregnancy Fitness Program.

Have a great day and enjoy your pregnancy,

Jacqueline
www.babybumpfitness.com

Best Pregnancy Exercise

The bilateral back extension exercise is one of the BEST Busy Mom exercises for pregnancy and a new mom. Yes it's origin is rehabilitative in nature, but why is it so important for you. From a 4 point kneel you are cued to lift up one of your back legs straight out by contracting your glut muscle- you are not to let your pelvis drop or shift during this leg lift and your abdominals need to be tight for your pelvis to be held steady. This is step one and testing if you are able to hold your 3 point stance working on your pillar and anti-rotation muscles in your core to hold your pelvis steady. Next (or is you are advance you can lift arm and glut simultaneously) lift your opposite arm straight out in front of you, trying to get your arm in line with your ear, but again not letting your pelvis drop or rotate. You are now in a 2 point stance. This is beneficial because your anti-rotator muscles are firing (increasing lumbar stability), your glut medius of the pillar leg is working, your glut max muscle of the suspended leg is firing, your shoulder stability muscles are firing of your support arm and your core and back muscles are firing of the extended arm. This is a lot of bang for your buck- highly efficient exercise, perfect for busy moms. Many athletes use this 1-2 x per week in their dynamic warmup program so everything is firing for performance. For a new mom and for a a pregnancy exercise this should be part of your regular routine as you are overcoming changes in your body. During pregnancy your hips are widening making your glut medius less effective, you lumbar spine is mobilizing in the joints due to relaxin and your belly is expanding putting your pelvis into anterior tilt. The pregnancy waddle or gait associated with late pregnancy is inevitable. Performing the bilateral back extension will help prevent discomfort from joint instability and pregnancy posture. You can learn how to manage your new changing body by firing your muscles to help prevent loss of balance and aid in recovery.

During Pregnancy Fitness Routine the Key Reasons For performing the Bilateral Back Extension are;

1. Manage lumbar instability that can lead to discomfort

2. Fire your abdominals at their new changing lengths for aid in daily activities and recovery after baby is born

3. Shoulder stability

For a NEW MOM regaining lumbar stability is mandatory. You are now carrying around a baby, your body is constantly changing shape and you are under physical stress from sleep deprivation and delivery recovery. The main goals of performing the bilateral back extension for a new mom is to

1. Retrain deep abdominal muscle firing and anti rotational muscles ( the true function of the abdominals)

2. Strengthening your glut muscles for pelvic stability to avoid lifting with your back instead of legs

3. Stabilizing the shoulders by horizontal pressing and vertical lifting

Like mentioned earlier once you go through your pregnancy fitness and recovery new mom fitness this exercise is a great warm up for any routine. It is commonly performed incorrectly as people allow there belly to sag, pelvis to rotate and lift their back leg with their back not by firing their glut. Be aware of these when you perform this exercise.

Preventing Swine Flu

7 Simple Techniques to Minimize Your

Swine Flu Risk


It is that time of the year when the weather changes in most parts of the world and the common cold starts rearing its ugly head. Flu season also begins. This season is causing more anxiety amongst the general population because of the H1N1 swine flu.

There is almost a panic because the experts feel that this flu virus is more severe than the others.



Let me give you some statistics.

• Seasonal flu annually sickens 5-20% of the population.
• More than 200,000 people are hospitalized with flu complications
• About 36,000 people die from influenza related complications each year in the United States alone.
• 75 million work days are lost each year
• 1765 deaths are due to influenza annually

Now I didn’t give these statistics to scare you or alarm you. I provided these to show you that these statistics are from what we know as general flu, which means that the swine flu is not necessarily more harmful.

This means all flu may be potentially harmful and life threatening. That is why you need to take the proper steps to avoid all types of flu this season and not just worry about the swine flu.

The National Institute for Health and Center for Disease Control also states that 62 million cases of the common cold are reported each year.

So what are we to do?



We have all heard of the common tips that we should be doing and these are pretty powerful.

1. Consistently wash your hands
2. Avoid contacting your face with your hands unless you have recently washed them of germs.
3. If you are in contact with public areas where germs tend to thrive make sure you wash your hands afterwards and avoid touching your face prior to washing your hands.


Did you know that your nutritional habits play an important role in combating the common cold and flu?

More and more research is showing that Vitamin D can play an important role in fighting off the flu.

The problem with this is we have become so scared of the sun and skin cancer that we tend to cover our bodies in sunscreen, which limits the amount of Vitamin D we can absorb from the sun.

The result is we are actually starting to see a deficiency in Vitamin D, which the experts thought would never happen.



Which type of Vitamin D should I take?


You can take a good multi-vitamin that has Vitamin D in it, but many multivitamins contain Vitamin D2 instead of D3. Both are usable forms of Vitamin D, but D3 converts 500% faster and binds with protein more effectively than D2.

The other solution is to spend 10-15 minutes a day in the sun without sunscreen on. This is more difficult in climates where the wind is blowing and the temperature is 20 degrees during the winter months. That is why a good multi-vitamin that contains Vitamin D3 is a good alternative.

Many experts believe this is why flu is worst in the fall and winter because most people spend their time indoors because of the nasty weather.

Here are 7 simple inexpensive ways to dramatically boost your immune system and reduce the risk of the cold or flu this year.

1. Vitamin D through sun exposure or a good multi-vitamin that contains Vitamin D3
2. Avoid sugar and processed foods
3. Exercise
4. Daily Omega 3 fats from krill oil to boost your immune system
5. Get enough rest. Some believe getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night dramatically increases you chances of contracting the flu
6. Wash your hands thoroughly throughout the day
7. Consume anti-oxidants to help fight off free radicals that can weaken your immune system

If you're looking for the way to stay healthy this year then that means following all 7 seven steps above.

Can you think of any reason not to take care of your health this year?

Now there is no one miracle solution and relying on the swine flu vaccination which for many won't be available until sometime in December is not the safest route to go. Combining as many solutions as possible is going to give you the best defense against colds and flu this season.

We have put together a package for you that is called our Total Wellness package. The name says it all. It provides total wellness. After researching the cold and flu remedies we realized that it makes a very good cold/flu defense system by helping to boost your immune system.


Don't risk your health on poor nutrition.



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Avoid Pregnancy Related Muscles Cramps

Muscle cramps are a nagging part of pregnancy. A few way to avoid muscle cramps are;

1. Preform a proper warm up and cool down during your exercise routine. Your cool down should be extended and gradually bring your heart rate back to resting before perform static stretching. This will keep blood from pooling in your extremities and contributing to muscle cramps. You blood vessels are relaxed due to hormonal changes and pumping blood from extremities is more of a chore, allowing pooling- this is another reason why a cool down is important.

2. Foam Rolling- perform foam rolling as a form of self myofacial release to keep blood flowing around your muscles and help relax the unavoidable tightness is certain muscles caused by pregnancy posture. You can get a copy of the foam rolling routine as a free bonus product in the Baby Bump Pregnancy Fitness System.

3. Stretch- static stretch your calves, hamstrings, low back (in length not rotation), chest muscles, gluteals and hip flexors.

4. Diet and hydration- each your potassium, calcium and magnesium to avoid muscle cramps. Drink plenty of water. Potassium rich foods are potatoes and bananas.

Following these 4 steps can help you get a better night sleep and avoid pregnancy muscles cramps.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline

Avoid Pregnancy Related Muscle Cramps

Muscle cramps are a nagging part of pregnancy. A few way to avoid muscle cramps are;

1. Preform a proper warm up and cool down during your exercise routine. Your cool down should be extended and gradually bring your heart rate back to resting before perform static stretching. This will keep blood from pooling in your extremities and contributing to muscle cramps. You blood vessels are relaxed due to hormonal changes and pumping blood from extremities is more of a chore, allowing pooling- this is another reason why a cool down is important.

2. Foam Rolling- perform foam rolling as a form of self myofacial release to keep blood flowing around your muscles and help relax the unavoidable tightness is certain muscles caused by pregnancy posture. You can get a copy of the foam rolling routine as a free bonus product in the Baby Bump Pregnancy Fitness System.
3. Stretch- static stretch your calves, hamstrings, low back (in length not rotation), chest muscles, gluteals and hip flexors.

4. Diet and hydration- each your potassium, calcium and magnesium to avoid muscle cramps. Drink plenty of water. Potassium rich foods are potatoes and bananas.

Following these 4 steps can help you get a better night sleep and avoid pregnancy muscles cramps.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline