If I’m honest, with my first pregnancy I didn’t give much thought to my fitness. I did a tiny bit of swimming but that was all; I worked full time and I drove everywhere so I did very little exercise. This time round I was determined to be fitter and healthier! I had such a long labour with Lucas and I’m sure had I been more active it would have made a difference.
When What To Expect UK offered to send me their pregnancy fitness DVD. ‘The Workout’ I thought it might give me the push to do some more exercise during this pregnancy Even having said all that when I first put the DVD on I just sat down on the sofa, brew in hand, to watch. However, having looked through a few of the workouts I felt like it was something I could do and even wanted to do so the next day I did just that and gave it a try. I tried out ‘Barefoot & Pregnant’ in the Cardio workouts which I liked but couldn’t always keep up with the instructors! It’s easy to take it slow when you want to though and it did boost my circulation. My favourite it definitely the Stretch and Relax workout and I want to try and keep this up. My aches and pains have been much worse this time round; I get awful sciatica at night but I find when I do some light exercise it is better. This ‘Mind, Body and Baby’ workout helps to relax and stretch out the muscles; I do it when Lucas has just gone to bed and I can find 10 minutes peace to wind down. It doesn’t leave me with any extra aches and I have been able to get more comfortable at night since I’ve tried it. I found the DVD easy to follow and I like the bonus feature about safe exercise in pregnancy seen as I am most definitely a beginner. I think there is something for everyone in there, a bit of dance, some stamina based routines, workouts for staying toned and yoga and pilates based exercises to finish off. It is American but don’t let that put you off; the pregnant Mamas really do look amazing and are much more inspiring than intimidating!
Obviously the lovely people at What To Expect thought I deserved a reward for my exercise attempts so they also sent a DVD of the film, What To Expect When You Are Expecting. l was excited to have a good reason to have a girly film on in the house! Still I decided to watch it with my friends rather than with my other half; we all had a good chuckle at it but being the only one with children I really found it funny! My friends were very amused when my pregnancy hormones got the better of me and I sobbed at the adoption story. I will watch it again; although it touches on some sad issues it is heart-warming and amusing and I love the ‘Dudes Club,’ I’m sure some Dads could relate to that fear of having your first child. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at pregnant with twins Sklyer (Brooklyn Decker) wearing a bikini at her baby shower but I love that it is shown in contrast to Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) having a complete meltdown about how awful pregnancy is. Even if it is Hollywood’s version of pregnancy there is something in there that every parent-to-be could relate to and I even think I might be able to convince my husband to give it a watch.
You can buy both the DVDs through Amazon. If you have any questions about fitness during pregnancy (or anything else) the What To Expect UK team are very helpful so feel free to say hello to them on Twitter or Facebook.