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Best Cardio Exercises for Pregnancy

prenatal exercise

Best Cardio Exercises for Pregnancy

So what are the best cardio exercises for pregnancy? It's a question I often get asked by my pregnant clients and if you are choosing to do cardio workouts in your pregnancy other than walking or swimming, this is what you need to know:

Firstly, let's be honest, if you're pregnant you are already in a cardio state. Let me explain.

As you develop through your pregnancy, there is more fluid pumping around your body, you know, to make a baby and all!

So, your heart has to work harder to pump all of this extra fluid around your body.

Hormone Changes

With the change of hormones, the movement of your internal organs and the growth of your baby in your uterus, it's only fair enough that it becomes harder to breathe.

It's for this reason that you never want to push yourself in a workout where you can't talk while working out. If you start to become too breathless it's you are potentially limiting the amount of air you need to breathe in.

This is not what you want.

The other thing to note about cardio in pregnancy is that you don't want high impact moves in your workout.

Cardio Workout for Pregnancy

Low impact workouts are the way to go in pregnancy, for the health of your joints and your pelvic floor.

All of my PregActive Pregnancy Workouts are low impact for this reason, including my new Core and Cardio workouts.

Making sure you are well ventilated and hydrated is key with this style of workout. Have the fan on, light-loose clothing and your water bottle handy.

For this reason I've created a combination of Core and Cardio, because if you're fitting in a cardio workout and skipping over doing your core exercises, you are not doing yourself any favors.

Cardio Exercise for Pregnancy First Trimester

1. Walking

2. Prenatal yoga

3. Pregnancy Pilates

4. Swimming

5. Dancing

6. Stationary Cycling or Spinning.

Cardio Exercise for Pregnancy Second Trimester

1. Walking

2. Prenatal yoga

3. Pregnancy Pilates

4. Prenatal strength training circuit

5. Stationary bike

6. Prenatal PregActive group classes

Pregnancy Stretches Video

Cardio Exercise for Pregnancy Third Trimester

1. Walking. I highly recommend walking throughout each trimester for my PregActive mamas. Walking is an easy, quick cardio activity that won't stress your joints.

2. Swimming. For many years I taught an prenatal aqua class. The effect of water lifts the pressure off your body.

3. At-home pregnancy cardio workouts. My online workouts consist of squats, lunges, leg lifts, and arm lifts with or without light weights can tone your muscles while you’re pregnant.

Note: Avoid exercising on your back during this 3rd trimester.

Cardio Exercises for Pregnancy

The design of my new Core and Cardio sessions go like this:

1. 50 seconds of Low Impact Cardio - Exercise 1

2. 10 second rest

3. 50 seconds of Low Impact Cardio Exercise 2

4.10 second rest

5. 50 seconds of Slow Core Exercise 3

6. 30 second drink break

Then, we start again with a new set of exercises.

It's great fun, I've included a sample here for you to try for yourself.

And as always, remember to press pause whenever you need to.

If you have any degree of Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP) or Pubis Symphysis Dysfunction (PSD) then I do not recommend this workout for you.

Instead I recommend my specific Pelvic Girdle Pain routines that you will find in my guided week by week pregnancy workout routine.

Best Cardio Workouts During Pregnancy

With approval form your practitioner, you can consider the following cardiovascular exercises to increase blood circulation, muscle tone and endurance.