How did you exercise when you were pregnant? It’s recommended that you keep as active and fit as possible throughout the entire nine months (although this is easier said than done when even walking down stairs makes you want a nap!) Here our pregnancy blogger tries out maternity yoga…along with a four-legged way to get fit:

I’m a little bit on the chubby side. Despite being a keen exerciser, I’ll always be the one with my head burrowed in the clothes rail, trying to hook the larger jeans off the back hanger. Yeah, it’s me that takes the last size 16. Sorry.

This doesn’t mean I’ve been delighted to slap on the elasticated-waisters and hop on the sofa, buried in crème eggs. I’ve been doing what I can to keep fit. Saving for the months of SMP means that the gym membership had to go, and I quickly discovered that continuing outdoor running wasn’t going to work for me either. So what else could I do?

The easy answer was literally staring me in the face – usually holding a tennis ball and wagging his tail. If you have a dog*, you’ll know you can take the dog to the park for a ‘you stand still, he runs around’ session, or you can actually WALK it. I’ve started doing at least one of the latter per day. The dog’s got the stamina of a kick-ass mountain lion now. I walk faster on the way home because I can’t wait for the sit down and the cuppa.

Most progressively, though, I’ve also crossed the line and taken up my first ‘specifically invented for pregnant women’ thing; maternity yoga. Read more

This week on TalkMum we’re focussing on exercise during. Our resident mum- blogger Catherine, tells us how she kept fit while she was pregnant and the benefits it can bring.

I love walking and fortunately it is a really good form of exercise. When you are pregnant and struggling to get through the day, exercise is probably the last thing on your mind. However, staying active and keeping fit is really important when you are pregnant. An easy way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine is to go for a walk at lunchtime. The fresh air can also help prevent the mid-afternoon slump that pregnant women can suffer from.

Other benefits of exercise are

• Exercise can help you sleep better
• Exercise can help you feel better about your growing body, as staying active can improve your chances of only gaining a healthy amount of weight whilst pregnant
• Exercise makes you fitter and will help your body cope with labour better
• If you join an aquanatal or  pregnancy yoga class, not only do you benefit from the exercise but the added bonus it is a great way to make new friends
• Exercise can help ease constipation
• Exercise can help you regain your pre pregnancy weight much quicker as you will already be in a routine of exercising

What types of exercise should I do when pregnant?

Whilst contact sports like hockey are not advisable there are still lots of different activities that you can take part in. Walking is excellent exercise and inexpensive and swimming is excellent as the water supports your weight. Many leisure centres and gyms run aquanatal classes for pregnant women which are usually run by physiotherapists or trained midwives.

If you already attend exercise classes you should always tell your instructor that you are pregnant. This is so that they can advise you if the exercises aren’t suitable for pregnant women and give you alternative exercises to try instead.

What were your favourite ways to exercise whilst pregnant?