BY: ANGELA PETERS
Fitness
TRAINING
BABE
ON BOARD
GIVING BIRTH TO A NEW EMPHASIS ON FITNESS
Every mother remembers the moment she
learned she was pregnant and the emotions that surrounded
her. Excitement, worry, anticipation…and the overwhelming truth that everything she did from that day forward would
shape the precious life growing inside.
Pregnancy is an amazing example of how capable our bodies are, and how much
they can do each day with very little involvement on our part. The one thing you
can do to better support your body through this amazing process is daily movement.
It’s common for women to assume that pregnancy means becoming sedentary.
In the not-so-distant past, women were urged to cut down on or even avoid
exercise during pregnancy and could expect to be put on bed rest for much of
the third trimester. This poor advice didn’t serve us well - women today typically
gain too much weight during pregnancy, gestational diabetes is on the rise and
childhood obesity rates are climbing with a correlation stemming back to their
time in utero. We now know that we not only can exercise while pregnant, but
we should.
DON’T FORGET!
AIM FOR 30 MIN. OF EXERCISE
MOST DAYS OF THE WEEK
INCORPORATE CARDIOVASCULAR,
STRENGTH & FLEXIBILITY TRAINING
ALWAYS BE SURE TO WARM UP
AND COOL DOWN (5 MIN. EACH)
fall 2013 | wo magazine | 15