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.

Aerobic (Cardiovascular) Free Pregnancy Exercises

Frankly speaking, this is the type of free pregnancy exercises that is going to help you in many ways. Not only will it boost your blood circulation, but it’ll also build your overall stamina, which will be doubly useful considering that you’re carrying all that extra weight.

However, if you haven’t been too active previously, you may very well have to start right at the
bottom and build up your fitness. Even so, this alone is a good reason to get started sooner
rather than later!

Generally speaking, aerobic exercises, or cardiovascular exercises as they’re really called, help
get the heart beating faster. In most cases they’re used heavily by people who are trying to use
weight because these kinds of exercises are a great way to spend energy. Read More >>

Of course, you’re not so interested about losing weight, but strengthening your cardiovascular
and respiratory systems are definitely advantageous.

Brisk Walking

Generally speaking, brisk walking just means walking at a faster-than-normal pace.
Strolling in the park is nice, but it isn’t exactly very strenuous, unless you really aren’t fit
at all.

Honestly speaking, this is one of the best types of prenatal exercises, as it is low impact,
and isn’t going to cause any form of ‘bouncing’ motion (remember, you want to avoid
this at all costs).

Even within this exercise, you have numerous options. If you like, you could head over
to a gym and use a treadmill, or alternatively, you could even just walk outdoors. Read More >>

End of the day, the choice is yours, but remember to pick something that isn’t going to
turn into a chore.

Jogging and Running

Naturally, jogging and running share many similar traits to brisk walking, but they are a
slightly less than ideal form of free pregnancy exercises.

In contrast to walking, jogging and running can distinctly cause ‘bouncing’ motion,
especially if you push yourself too hard. Also, they’re far more strenuous, and can really
tire you out pretty fast, depending on your level of fitness.

If you have been running regularly, you could continue to do so during the first trimester
or so of your pregnancy. However as you progress through it, you’ll want to tone things
down, and maybe look to other options. Read More >>

Speaking of which – here’s a great one...

Cycling

Unlike running and jogging, cycling is definitely low-impact, and you’ll find that you can
push yourself harder on a bicycle, or stationary bicycle, than you could by jogging or
running, and still not end up having that undesirable ‘bouncing’ motion. Read More >>

Of course, as you near term, you’ll find that the seat itself could become very
uncomfortable, which is a downside.

Swimming

Nowadays, swimming is being hailed as the best, safest, and most ideal prenatal
exercise.

Why? Well, for one thing, swimming works a huge number of muscle groups at once,
which means that you’re going to be invariably getting a more complete free pregnancy exercises than most other options.

Furthermore, because of the buoyancy of the water, you’ll actually feel ‘weightless’
despite the extra weight that you’re carrying. Read More >>

All in all, as a cardiovascular exercises, swimming actually also doubles as a strength
building exercise too – to a degree. By crossing the barrier between the two in this
fashion, this is really something that you ought to consider.

Yoga, Tai Chi and Aerobics

Although there are vast differences between these three options, it serves to discuss
them in one because they’re all great forms of cardiovascular exercise that any pregnant
woman can easily carry out.

Also, for each of these there are several types of motions that you shouldn’t do, such as
anything that involves you lying on your back, or extending your legs above the level of
your waist.

In short – there are risks involved with taking any of these 3 options, so you should keep
that in mind and be sure not to try to do the wrong sort of motions. Read More >>

Many places nowadays have specialized prenatal aerobics and yoga classes, and you
may even be able to find a good tai chi class as well. Anyway, so long as you’re aware of
the riskiness of certain movements, you should be fine.

Dance

Don’t laugh! While some people may not think that dance is really a legitimate form of
exercise, it fills all the needs, and can give you a great free pregnancy exercises that is fun at the same
time.

Admittedly, you’re not going to be able to twist your body, or leap into the air – that
would be risky. But still, you can go for basic dance lessons, or just go dancing, and get a
nice and fun filled free pregnancy exercises.

In short, you could stay fit while having fun, meeting others, and just losing yourself in
the music. Read More >>

There are many other types of cardiovascular exercises, such as
rowing, that you could try. Honestly, to list every type of aerobic-based exercise out there
would take a long time.

Suffice to say, you should be able to easily find other options, but what we’ve given you are
some of the best prenatal aerobic exercises that you could ever find.

One other thing to consider, while we’re on the subject, is the question of sports. While
naturally, contact sports and anything high-impact are off the table, this still leaves a large
variety of sports that you can take part in.

Such things like tennis, table tennis, badminton, squash, and many others could be worth
looking into.

As long as it’s safe, you should be able to do it.

Anyway, seeing as we’ve sufficiently covered pretty much everything you need to know about
cardiovascular prenatal exercises, let’s move on to the other type of exercise that we’re interested in discussing...