Fit Pregnancy: The 5 Major Benefits of Exercise during Pregnancy 

It seems like as soon as we see that little positive sign on a pregnancy test, we begin to worry about what pregnancy will do to our bodies. While it's true that pregnancy brings the body through a magnificent journey of growth and preparation for this new baby, that doesn't mean the process has to be scary. 

Exercise during pregnancy provides multiple benefits to the body and your growing baby. Today we'll cover the top 5 reasons you should seek out a prenatal fitness specialist  to begin reaping the benefits as soon as your first trimester. 

Benefit #1 : Increased Blood Flow 

You may not know this, especially if you're a first time mom, but your blood volume will triple throughout the duration of your pregnancy.  This life liquid we call our blood is carrying precious nutrients to your baby supporting their growth and development. 

Exercise during pregnancy increases blood circulation which, in turn, increases the body's efficiency at carrying nutrients to your body as well as your baby's. 

As a result, you and your baby have a higher potential of receiving higher amounts of those precious nutrients to support the growth and change in both of your bodies. 

Benefit #2- Pelvic Stability 

Another phenomenon that occurs during pregnancy is the body's ability to adapt and change in order to bring your precious little one into the world. 

During pregnancy, a hormone is released by the expectant mother's body known as “Relaxin” which causes the pelvis to spread and open for baby's safe passage from womb to room! 

While this aptly named hormone is extremely helpful during the birthing process, it can cause discomfort and pain within the pelvis. Exercise during pregnancy, especially strength-based exercise, can reinforce the pelvis by strengthening the surrounding muscles. This will reduce pain for all of you expectant mothers while the pelvis changes preparing for the big day. 

Benefit #3 Pelvic Floor Support

If we can piggyback on benefit number 2 for a moment here, exercise can also strengthen your pelvic floor. 

The pelvic floor is responsible assisting you in those times when you gotta go (which feels like every 5 minutes during pregnancy) and you need to wait! As baby grows and moves down into the pelvis, a lot of pressure is placed on those pelvic floor muscles which can weaken them over time. 

Exercise during pregnancy is a sure fire way to reinforce the pelvic floor strength or weakness. Working with your trainer for appropriate core exercises (which includes your pelvic floor) will help you from with your pressure management and breath awareness, so you'll less likely will face "an oops" in between bathroom trips and likely to decrease recovery time! 

Benefit #4 : Decreased Pain

As you can imagine, carrying a growing baby is hard work! In 9 months, your little one grows at a rapid rate and as a result, their weight increases. This is a great thing in regards to having a healthy baby, but not so much when it comes to the discomfort of carrying the added weight of your growing baby. 

As baby grows, the gravitational pull downward places a lot of pressure on the lumbar spine in particular. 

By working with your trainer you can increase the strength of your glutes, quads and hamstrings which support the back. As a result, your back pain will decrease and your stamina will increase! 

Benefit #5: Increased Energy and Improved Mood

During pregnancy, your body becomes a cocktail of hormones to support the growth and development of your sweet baby. Sometimes these excess hormones, especially estrogen, can leave you feeling moody and sluggish.  

Taking a few fitness classes a week during pregnancy will help those hormones to move around and circulate through that blood flow increase we talked about earlier. During exercise, the body also produces endorphins which help improve your energy and give you a happier and more sunny outlook in general. 

And we can all benefit from that!

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Be well.