Important Role of Free Pregnancy Exercises

This article is a series of free pregnancy exercises.
Naturally, exercising keeps you fit. That much is something that you’re probably intimately aware of, but you should understand that 'being fit' has a great importance to your pregnancy. When you commit to a free pregnancy exercises program, your main concern isn’t going to be to stay trim, or tone up muscles, or even increase your stamina. Of course, these will all be benefits that you obtain anyway – but they aren’t the focus that you’re aiming for. Read More >>

Instead, what you should be most concerned with are those related to your pregnancy itself! In this, free pregnancy exercises really come to the fore because, if carried out properly, they can really increase your level of comfort during your pregnancy, and may even ease your experience during delivery.

Even after pregnancy, the benefits of exercising continue to manifest themselves, most notably by reducing your risk of undergoing postpartum depression.
Anyway, to give you a good idea of why you should definitely be starting to think about a free pregnancy exercises program, here are some of the important benefits that you can expect to obtain if you do:

1. Greater flexibility and better blood circulation that will increase your comfort during pregnancy and ensure that you don’t suffer from too many muscle aches.
2. Less water retention, stress, weight gains and tension will further reduce discomfort that many pregnant women face.
3. All stretch marks and varicose veins will appear minimally.
4. The risk of abdominal separation, where the abdominal muscles ‘part’ from each other due to the increase in the size of the belly, will be far less.
5. Calcium absorption will occur at an improved rate, helping ensure that both you and your child are getting the necessary quantities that are needed.
6. Stamina, fitness, and overall strength and muscle control will be very much enhanced. See how important free pregnancy exercises are? Simply by spending a little time on a regular routine, you could end up finding that a lot of the common problems many women face during pregnancy are alleviated.

Overall, this will ease your way through your pregnancy, and help you to face it without suffering much at all! And bear in mind, what we’ve discussed are, for the most part, just the physical advantages of free pregnancy exercises programs.
By exercising regularly, you’re going to be also promoting a feeling of well being, boosting your confidence, and helping yourself build a more positive self image. Let’s face it, we all need this, especially during pregnancy when its so easy to become depressed at the changes that our bodies are going through.

Complete Preparation for Free Pregnancy Exercises

This article is a series of free pregnancy exercises. Okay so before we begin this, let’s establish one thing: You’re pregnant yes, but that doesn’t
mean you’re fragile. At the same time though, it does mean that your body is undergoing a lot
of changes, and you are carrying another life within you – so you can’t exactly be reckless about
what you do either! Read More >>

That’s the key to prenatal exercise preparation really: Knowing what you can and can’t do.
Within this section, you’re going to find out about what preparatory steps, and safety
measures, you should be undertaking so that your exercise doesn’t end up being more of a
bane than a benefit.

By knowing this, you can then exercise comfortably, knowing that you’ve covered all the bases,
and that you should have few problems, if any!

Checklist Before You Begin Exercising
Although you might be all revved up and ready to get started immediately, before you even
think about beginning to exercise, or really, plan a free pregnancy exercises program, you need to ensure that you’re completely safe.

While we’ll, of course, be covering some of the safety precautions that you can take to
minimize your risk of anything untoward happening, the first thing that you should do is ensure
that you’re not in the way of the more ‘general’ risks.

Bearing this in mind, you should definitely go over the following checklist to see if you fit into
any of these categories:

1. Do you have diabetes of any kind?

2. Any high blood pressure problems at all?

3. Ever had any preexisting heart conditions?

4. Are you at risk of respiratory conditions?

5. Do you have a medical history of premature labor?

6. Have you experienced any physical condition that has prevented you from exercising in
the past?

Needless to say, most of the questions on this checklist are pretty straightforward, so you
should have no trouble answering them based on prior medical check ups.
If your answer to all of these questions was a firm ‘no’, then congratulations, you have little or
nothing to worry about, and you should be able to just follow this guide with no issues
whatsoever.

However, if your answer to any of the questions in the checklist was ‘yes’, or if you were unsure
of the answer, then it is strongly advised that you consult a doctor before you start to plan your
free pregnancy exercises program.

No, that doesn’t mean to say that you should stop reading now though.
Over the course of this guide, you’ll find that you’re able to perform most of the recommended
exercises, unless you have a specific inhibition that prevents you from doing so. Still, it wouldn’t
hurt if, after you know the type of prenatal exercises that you can carry out, if you get a
professional medical opinion.

Better safe than sorry, right? And end of the day, you want to ensure that you’re not exposing
yourself to any unnecessary risk!

Safety Precautions for Prenatal Exercise

This article is a series of free pregnancy exercises. Remember the golden rule that we’re going to be applying in this case: Know what you can and
can’t do.

Really, this is the key to safe and beneficial exercise during a pregnancy, and as you’re about to see, a lot of the safety precautions that you can take revolve around knowing your limits and not going too far. Read More >>

As you would expect, these limits can vary drastically from person to person, depending on how
fit they were previously, and how much exercise they’re used to, as well as other factors.
Seeing as there’s no formula to follow, the truth of the matter is that no one can gauge your
limits better than you yourself can, and so you need to learn to do so. Partly, what we’re about
to discuss will help you do just that!

1. Do not overwork your body Number one on our list of precautions is really a simple and straightforward one. While at normal times, overworking your body is bad, during a pregnancy, it is even worse as there are so many changes within your body that need the extra energy.
Primarily, pay attention to your breathing. As you start to feel short of breath, it means that you’re pushing your body a little too much. During regular times, this can be done, but during a pregnancy, the minute you start to feel short of breath, you should scale back on whatever exercise you’re doing. Of course, there are other signs that you’re overworking your body, including dizziness, nausea, fatigue, lightheadedness, and a ‘chill’ feeling. If you experience any of those,
stop exercising, and take a break. Should you continue to feel such symptoms, you might need to even seek medical advice.

2. Avoid rigorous bouncing Any sort of exercise that involves a rigorous bouncing motion is definitely off the table during a pregnancy. Remember that when you’re bouncing, your baby is going to be bouncing too, and that movement is something that you don’t want to put him or her
through!

3. Avoid exercises that can cause abdominal trauma While some abdominal strengthening exercises are fine, anything that has the potential to cause trauma to your abdomen is definitely not. Steer clear of things that could potentially injure this delicate part of your body.

4. Maintain a correct and proper posture Posture is something that is extremely important during prenatal exercises, and you should always ensure that your pelvis is tilted and your back, straight. In line with this, you should also avoid exercises that can cause you to arch your back,
because coupled with the additional weight that you’re carrying in your belly, this could
end up causing injuries. Similarly, exercises that bring your feet to a level that is about your hips can be just as detrimental.

5. Start slowly No matter what level of exercise you may be used to, your pregnancy has caused your
circumstances to change, and you need to be willing to take that into account and gradually figure out just how far you can push yourself. Start slowly, no matter how much you’re used to strenuous exercise, and work your way back up!

6. Keep cool and hydrated One thing that is very important is that you constantly ensure that you don’t become overheated or dehydrated. Either of these can be detrimental to your unborn child, so
you should take pains to ensure that it isn’t a risk. Avoid exercising in hot or humid weather, and be sure to drink lots of water at all times. Also, wear light and breathable clothing that doesn’t cling to your body and cause you to build up more heat than you should.

7. Avoid exercises performed on your back Generally speaking, you should avoid all of these exercises after the first trimester, but avoiding them altogether is fine too. If you do exercise on your back, you’re opening yourself up to the risk of compressing an artery due to the additional weight of your baby, and this could end up restricting some vital blood flow.

8. Wear good shoes Now you might not think this is important, but believe us – it is. Good pairs of exercise shoes can help provide more than just comfort, and can absorb impact, provide traction,
and much needed support. All of these things are going to be helpful to ensure that your movements aren’t jarring to your child.

Based on these safety precautions, you should now have a very good idea of what you should
be looking out for, and avoiding.

As you can well imagine, any activity that has the potential to cause injury, such as contact
sports, or things like rollerblading where you might fall, are definitely also on the ‘avoid’ list
that you’ve come up with.

Equally on that list are activities at high altitudes, where the air is thinner and you’ll find that you’ll be constantly short of breath.

Likewise, diving, and other related activities that could cause additional pressure on your body,
are also out of the question.

Basically, if you think each exercise that you’re considering doing through, you should be able
to now determine whether or not it is okay for you to carry it out. If in doubt, you could always
consult your own medical expert.

Getting Started with Free Pregnancy Exercises

Starting to exercise is something that can actually be pretty difficult for those who aren’t used
to it. Assuming you’ve been exercising regularly, you may find that a lot of what follows to be
things that you already know – but it’s worth going through this just in case there’s something
you missed.

Because of your current condition, it is all the more important that you have the foundations
right.

Already, you know what you should avoid, and so that should give you a fairly good grounding to start off on. However, it isn’t nearly good enough if you want to have effective, beneficial, and risk - free pregnancy exercises routine. Read More >>

Some good rules to start off any prenatal exercise are as follow:

1. Be sure to wear loose fitting and light clothes that don’t restrict you or cause your body
to overheat.

2. Allow up to 2 hours after a meal before you start any free pregnancy exercises

3. Warm up.

Yes, most of these rules are fairly self explanatory, but it is the third one that we’re most
interested in: The warm up.

Without a doubt, warming up is an important and highly necessary part of any exercise routine,
and if you’re going to be carrying out prenatal exercise, you really must ensure that your body
is ready for it!

Types of Free Pregnancy Exercises

Normal free pregnancy exercises come in so many different shapes and sizes, so to speak anyway.

While you may have already gathered that, due to the limitations and long list of things that
you should avoid, there are severely less options that you’ll face – there are still quite a number
that you can choose from.

Although the limitations rule out things like, well, rugby and other contact sports, as well as
diving, rollerblading, and anything that could result in injury, this still leaves ample other
choices from which you can pick what you prefer. Read More >>

Roughly speaking though, if you like, you could divide the types of free pregnancy exercises into two main categories:

1. Aerobic (Cardiovascular) free pregnancy exercises, and
2. Strength Building free pregnancy exercises

Right here and now, we’re going to be looking at both of these options individually, and letting
you know what exactly you should be thinking about.

Remember, there are two main criteria for selecting the ideal exercise, and they are:

1. Choose something that you think that you’ll enjoy
2. Choose something that you think you’re capable of carrying out

Put it this way, there’s no point in trying to run if your fitness is shot and you can barely run for
a minute before you end up gasping for breath. Likewise, there’s little to gain from walking on a
treadmill if you find it so incredibly boring that you end up finding excuses to dodge having to
work out.

End of the day, by choosing something that you like, and something that you’re capable of
doing, you’ll be able to find the ideal prenatal free pregnancy exercises plan!

Aerobic (Cardiovascular)free pregnancy exercises
Strength Building free pregnancy exercises

Warming Up 101

Essentially, the purpose of a warm up is simple: It limbers up your body, gets your blood
flowing, and by doing so ensures that your body is well prepared for whatever exercise you’re
planning to undertake.

Jumping straight in without making sure that your body is ready is a recipe for disaster.

If your muscles are tight and tense, you could end up injuring them, and if your blood isn’t
flowing well, then you could easily push yourself too far, too fast, and cause other
complications.

In essence – you don’t want any of this to happen.

So the solution is simple: Warm up well!

Bearing this in mind, let’s walk you through some of the basics of a good warm up, so that
you’re fully able to carry it out yourself, and thus getting you one step closer to having a great
free pregnancy exercises. Read More >>

Keep in mind that your warm up is, really, part of your free pregnancy exercises itself, and it should be carried
out right at the start of every exercise program!

About 5 to 10 minutes of warming up is ideal. During that time, the bulk of it should be spent
on stretching your various muscle groups. Naturally, the inclination may be to focus on the big
muscle groups, and the ones that your free pregnancy exercises is going to use most – but really, you should try
to encompass as many muscles as possible.

One way to go about stretching effectively is to start at the top and work your way down.

What this means is that you should start with your neck muscles, then go on to your shoulders,
upper arms, chest, lower arms, torso, back, and waist. Various stretches could help you to
stretch each of these muscles, so you should have no problem finding one that works for each,
or multiple muscles at once.

After that, head further down to your groin, hamstring, upper legs, and calves as well as ankles.

As you can see, that’s quite a lot of stretching, but each stretch that you perform is going to
increase the benefits that you obtain. In short – you’re going to be all the better for it in the
long run.

When you are actually stretching, a common mistake that many people make is to stretch until
they feel a slight pain. Frankly, this ‘no pain, no gain’ logic is faulty, and you should never push
yourself far enough that it actually hurts you.

Instead, gauge your limit, and be sure to stretch – but not overstretch. Overstretching to the
point where it is painful can actually cause muscle tears, which are the last things that you want
during a pregnancy!

Also, when you’re stretching you should be doing so in slow and measured motions. Don’t
‘bounce’ or ‘jerk’ your motion – that would defeat the whole point.

For ideas of the exact stretches that you should be using, just refer to the many online and
offline resources on the topic.

Some people tend to include a quick, slow paced cardiovascular exercise in their warm up
stage, just to get the blood flowing. This isn’t entirely necessary, but it isn’t harmful either, and
could help bridge the gap between your warm up stage and your free pregnancy exercises proper.

End of the day, it is largely a question of preference.