First Trimester Fitness: How to Safely Crush Your Pregnancy Workout

First Trimester Pregnancy Workout Example Included

Photo by Dane Wetton on Unsplash

You know how beneficial it is to workout when you’re not pregnant. Now, during pregnancy, you can gain even more benefits. It limits back pain, reduces pre-eclampsia risk, prevents peeing your pants, & preps you to do the heavy lifting as a parent.

Hi! I’m Ally. I’m a Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in functional fitness for women throughout every stage of life, including pregnancy & motherhood.

Before we go over the guidelines, I want to give you encouragement to just do what you can in the first trimester. Personally, I was super out of breath (due to increases in progesterone) & very nauseous (due to growing a dang baby?). Even as someone who loves exercise & knows the benefits, I was not able to fully hit these guidelines for several weeks. Get into it when you can.

First Trimester Exercise Guidelines

Frequency:

3-6 days per week for a total of 150 minutes.

Source: Sports Performance Tracking

Intensity:

Aim for 3-4 on an RPE scale as you’re able. While exercising, you should be able to carry on a conversation, but not be able to sing a song.

Type:

Since there are so many options, it’s easier to say what NOT to do.

Absolute no-go’s include: waterskiing, hot yoga, scuba diving, & use of saunas.

Questionable types include: contact sports & those that challenge your balance. You want to be careful with anything that increases the risk of falling or getting hit in the stomach. However, in the first trimester the baby is generally protected deep in your bony pelvis. While contact sports are more reasonable in the first trimester than later on, they still pose some risk.

Workout Example

Here is a workout option from my First Trimester Prenatal Program. You can click here for a 7-day free trial.

Beginners: 1 round through circuit

Intermediate: 2 rounds through circuit

Advanced: 3 rounds through circuit

Activation:

• Pelvic tilts 10 sec hold x 5

• Kegels 10 sec hold x 5

Circuit: 8 min AMRAP

(set timer for 8 minutes & complete as many cycles through circuit as possible before the timer goes off)

1. Squats x 8

2. Chest press x 8

3. Lateral lunge x 8

4. Row with kegel x 8

5. Dead bug x 8 each

6. Standing kickbacks x 12 each

7. Crab toe touches x 8 each

Mobility:

• 90/90 x 15 each way

• Pec stretch 30 sec hold x 2 each

• Cat / cow x 15 each way

Do you like this workout? Would you prefer I bring a program here to Substack for paid subscribers rather than on the other app?

xoxo - happy exercising!