Pregnancy Workouts & Exercises

During pregnancy, exercise works wonders for both you and your baby. Here are the best and safest ways to break a sweat while you’re pregnant.
Low-impact aerobics and dance workout classes like Zumba are a great way to increase your heart rate and get the endorphins flowing if you’re a newbie exerciser.

This is a complete pregnancy workout plan that you can use throughout all three trimesters. Perfect for beginners!

A pregnancy-appropriate Pilates routine focuses mainly on strengthening your core and lengthening your muscles with low- to no-impact, which will help ease backaches and improve your posture as well as your flexibility (and that all comes in handy during labor).

Barre classes — a mix of Pilates, yoga and ballet-inspired moves — are excellent for expecting women because they involve strengthening your lower body and core without much jumping. They also involve balance exercises, which help keep you stable as your baby bump throws off your balance.

Pelvic floor exercises help to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor. These muscles come under great strain in pregnancy and childbirth. By performing pelvic floor exercises, you can strengthen the muscles. Pelvic floor muscle training will help the body cope with the growing weight of the baby. Healthy, fit muscles before the baby is born will mend more easily after the birth and helps to reduce or avoid stress incontinence after birth. All pregnant women should do pelvic floor exercises, even if you’re young and not suffering from stress incontinence now.

Prenatal yoga is another ideal workout for moms-to-be: It encourages relaxation, flexibility, focus and deep breathing — all great preparation for giving birth.

Stability ball exercises can help engage your core and improve hip stability. There are plenty of swiss ball exercises you can do at home with this simple and inexpensive piece of equipment.