Staying active during pregnancy is important for expecting moms. The various benefits of simple exercises during pregnancy include pain management, mood regulation, better sleep, and preventing excessive weight gain. In addition, a small new study showed that prenatal aerobic exercises could lead to healthier weight in babies. Of course, it goes without saying that doctors should be consulted before undertaking any workout routine to prevent untoward incidents.
Supportive spouses can also ease the burden of staying active during pregnancy by joining your pregnancy workouts. As part of sharing the journey of parenthood, couple exercises have been introduced by prenatal experts for couples to bond and ensure each other’s well-being, throughout the whole process.
Here are some simple exercises expecting parents can take up:
Stretching
Apart from attending prenatal classes and going to doctor’s appointments, your spouse can take a more active role in your health and wellness routine by helping you with your stretches. Prenatal stretching typically focuses on the pelvic muscles, including your hips and thighs. As your belly grows, you may experience pain in your lower back as well as tightness in your muscles. Your partner can help you condition targeted muscles and strengthen your body with the recommended stretching positions. This way, he not only aides you in preparing your body for delivery, he is also being educated on how he can assist your during the actual labour.
Pilates
Some fitness centres in Singapore already offer Pre-natal Pilates for couples. Pilates allows you to bond while your partner also get some much-needed physical conditioning. Workouts can be modified depending on how far along you are in the pregnancy. Pilates strengthens your core and pelvis muscles so that your body can provide adequate support to your growing baby. And as you strengthen and prepare your body for the delivery, your spouse can also improve his well-being to ensure that he is in tip-top shape to provide the support you need during the entire process.
Yoga
Yoga can ease lower back pains and strengthen abdominal muscles. It also improves balance and promotes better blood circulation. Yoga likewise provides breathing techniques you can use during labour. As such, your husband also learns about methods to help you be more comfortable during labour. It certainly adds to the support and motivation you need during childbirth.
Water exercises
Water exercises are great for pregnant women because buoyancy lessens the strain of exercises on the body even as the belly grows bigger. You and your spouse can go swimming. It relaxes the body and relieves swollen muscles. Another popular water exercise for pregnant women is aqua spinning. It involves stationary cycling conducted in water, making it a low impact workout compared to traditional spinning classes. The soothing properties of water are sure to mitigate stress and body pains when done with proper supervision.
Weight training
Pregnant women can benefit from weight training to condition muscles and mitigate strain. Depending on your level of fitness, weight training can be adjusted accordingly. Perhaps you spouse can help supervise your routine with the advice from your doctor and fitness instructor. This is especially recommended for women who have strength training experience even prior to getting pregnant. If you have zero experience in this type of training, perhaps a more low-impact workouts would be better suited for you.
Walking
A classic low-impact workout is walking. It doesn’t require a lot of fuss and you don’t pay a lot of money to do it. In fact, you and your husband can easily incorporate it into your daily routine. Perhaps when you have errands to run, you can take the time to get those muscles working while getting other tasks out of the way. As you stroll or do some brisk walking, you can connect with each other in the process by having meaningful conversations.
