Can you weight lift during pregnancy

These raise your risk of injury to connective tissue in the pelvic area. Watch the weights. Be extremely careful with free weights to prevent them from hitting your abdomen. Or use resistance bands instead, which offer different amounts of resistance and varied ways to do your weight training with no risk to your belly. Don't lift while flat on your back.

After the first trimester, lying on your back can put pressure on a major vein called the vena cava, diminishing blood flow to your brain and uterus. An easy modification is to tilt the bench to an incline.

Listen to your body. The most important rule is to pay attention to what's going on physically. Pregnancy isn't the time to push yourself to your limits. Read more about exercise during pregnancy. Sources BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world.

Tracey Mallett, CPT. Featured video. Weight lifting during pregnancy. Is it true that pregnant women shouldn't carry heavy objects? Is it safe to do sit-ups while you're pregnant? Exactly how much weight you should be lifting is obviously very subjective and dependent on how advanced you already are.

You should try to work all of your muscles. The most useful areas to strengthen are your hamstrings, quadriceps, gluteal muscles, upper back, and your deep abdominal muscles. Most gyms are also likely to have an area for people to use free weights. Such weights should be approached with caution. While they are a good alternative to using a machine and provide you with the same benefits, there is the risk of them making contact with your stomach if you are not confident using them.

A resistance band may be a far safer option than using free weights, and offers a lot of variety in terms of how many exercises you can do. Exercising some muscles may feel more uncomfortable than others. Two main symptoms of the first trimester, as you may already be acutely aware of, are nausea and vomiting. At week 9, the foetus is still not big enough to cause you many problems when you lie flat on your back. As you enter the second trimester, however, the weight of the baby can put pressure on a major nerve, reducing the blood flow to your brain.

This can make you very dizzy. Most machines that require you to lie flat on a bench should allow you to adjust it so that it has an incline. Making these adjustments early on mean you will get used to using the machine in this way as early as possible.

Give your body enough time to rest — While getting regular exercise is a good thing, you want to give your muscles time to rest and repair. If you want to keep up your weight training, then three sessions a week with a 48 hour rest in between should be enough. Lastly, while we encourage almost any type of physical exercise in pregnancy, as always, it is vital to check that what you are doing is not harmful to you or your baby. You may also want to reduce or avoid any exercises that involve lifting weights above your head during this trimester.

Are you an aspiring personal trainer? Our SIS Certificate IV in Fitness will equip you with the skills to help clients across all ages and fitness levels, including pregnant women. Just modify and moderate your workout routines to keep your baby and yourself safe while exercising. For more tips on keeping fit while expecting, check out these pregnancy exercises for active mums.

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