First Trimester Workouts – What I Did

Each trimester has different challenges (exhaustion and nausea in the first, growing belly in the second, and giant belly and exhaustion in the third) so I wanted to share what I’m doing in each trimester starting with my first trimester workouts!

I love health and fitness so much so that my college degree is in health and I’ve spent numerous years in the health and fitness field! And that doesn’t change when I’m pregnant! However, getting workouts in while your pregnant, though, is not always the easiest. Between exhaustion, nausea and a growing belly, some days all you can manage is waddling to the bathroom!

Moving your body and being as fit as you can by the end of your pregnancy is so helpful with both delivery and recovery so hopefully this fit pregnancy series helps you out!

My Workout Schedule – Pre Pregnancy

Prior to getting pregnant I was working out at least 4 days a week. I typically did cardio (either running or biking) or cardio + strength training on Monday and Thursday, just strength training on Tuesday and Friday and took Wednesday off. Weekends were hit or miss. I never planned on workouts on Saturday or Sunday but if I got them in, great!

My Workout Schedule – Pregnancy

Now that I’m pregnant, however, that’s changed. I’ve been super nauseas as well as exhausted for most of the first trimester (which you can read about in my first trimester recap) so I’ve prioritized sleep over working out.

One thing I can’t stress enough is do what your body needs! I always feel better when I get workouts in when I’m not pregnant but when I tried to push through a couple times I felt way worse than I did before the workout. Both times I had to go back to bed until the kids woke up and even then I still felt terrible. If you’re body is telling you to sleep, sleep.

I worked out only once or twice a week for most of my first trimester. Around week 10, the nausea got better so I added one more back in so I was doing 2-3 workouts a week. And even so, I was doing them at about half the effort I was doing prior to getting pregnant.

If this sounds like you, don’t worry about it! I’m such an active person that it’s hard for me to take some downtime. It’s just as good for my mental health as it is my physical! I’ve learned from the past that listening to your body and taking a break is so necessary. I had to go in for an emergency ultrasound with Penelope after I pushed through a spin class one morning. It caused intense pressure and contractions that wouldn’t stop!

And trust me. You’ll get back at it! Your goal for your pregnancy needs to be to deliver a healthy baby. There’s no award for how fit you are when you deliver! Do what both you and your baby need for this time!

First Trimester Workouts

Ok, now on to what I’m doing!

Running

I’ve been a runner for years and years and years and have been loving the Peloton tread workouts. I typically do 20 minute runs during the week when I have less time and 30 minute runs on the weekend.

When I was pregnant with Roy, I stopped running at 20 weeks. I loved it but it caused a ton of contractions and pressure. When I’m pregnant especially, I do my very best to listen to my body and do what’s best for the baby even when it’s hard! I was so sad to stop running that I cried for an hour after my doctor told me to stop.

I’m hopeful I’ll be able to run longer with this pregnancy, but I’ll just keep at it until I can’t anymore.

Strength Training

Another perk of being able to stream workouts with our Peloton bike subscription is their strength training workouts! (This isn’t sponsored by Peloton ha!). I do a lot of their bootcamp workouts (half running and half weight training) or I’ll do a 20-30 minute strength workout.

I sometimes needs to substitute an exercise or two since some core workouts aren’t recommended for pregnancy, but it’s just as easy to do an arm or leg workout during that time.

Biking

I’ve been doing spin classes on the Peloton since Roy was born. I’m not a huge fan of biking (I’m also terrible at it!) but it’s a great workout! And to be honest, sometimes the thought of sitting while working out is easier to wrap my head around the running! 🙂

Other Workouts You Can Do

My doctor always told me, you can safely do what you were doing before you got pregnant. Meaning, since I ran before I got pregnant, I can continue that (until it doesn’t feel good anymore).

If you didn’t do much before you got pregnant, don’t worry! There are tons of workouts you can still do! Here are a few good options:

• Walking – on a treadmill if the weather is bad, in a mall or outside! And the bigger your belly gets, the more of a workout it is!
• Swimming – this is the BEST when you’re pregnant and gets better the bigger you get! I did a ton of swimming when I was pregnant with Roy and feeling weightless in the pool was a great feeling.
• Yoga – I’ve always wanted to be a yogi but for now it’s just not for me. However, there are lots of places that do prenatal yoga! This is ideal so they can guide you through a workout that’s safe for you!

Pants + Top via Fabletics

There’s also tons of pregnancy workout videos on YouTube that you can do! I did a lot of Body Fit by Amy classes (like the one below) when I was pregnant with Roy. There are a lot of classes that are ideal for beginners out there. If you’re not a beginner, Amy’s classes are challenging enough for someone who’s fit with modifications for beginners.

I hope this helped give you some ideas on what to do for first trimester workouts! Now that I’ve entered the second trimester and I feel like my energy is coming back, I’ll likely add in some additional workouts. Be sure to to keep an eye out for my second trimester fit pregnancy workout recap in the months to come!

In the meantime, check out my second trimester style tips from my very first pregnancy!

Thanks for reading and sharing!

Jen