The Best Abs Exercises for Pregnant Women

From http://www.sparkpeople.com, ab exercises for pregnant women with BabyFit pre- and post-natal fitness specialists.

These exercises will safely keep your abs and core strong during pregnancy and will repair your stomach after the baby arrives once you're cleared to exercise. You'll need an exercise ball to do these exercises.

Find more info about pregnancy and exercise at the 100% free site http://www.BabyFit.com. Catherine Cram, author of "Fit Pregnancy for Dummies" and one of BabyFit's Resident Maternal Fitness Experts, approved these videos and their content.

Category:

Sports

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• prenatal
• postnatal
• Sahrmann
• abs
• core
• baby
• fit
• rebuild
• restore
• diastasis
• recti
• obliques
• back
• rectus
• pregnant
• belly
• ball
• balance
• six
• pack
• definition
• flatten
• tone
• workout
• work
• out

[MultiKestral]

how should your back sit against the ball, are you aiming for neutral?

[sparkpeople]

@MultiKestral You could lean up against anything--it's just the upper body elevated so that you are not supine (lying on your back), which is contraindicated during pregnancy. The mid to lower spine remains neutral.

[SodaSprings]

When you progress to the more challenging exercises, do you still start with the easier ones and build on them? Or do you just skip to the latter ones when you start your exercise?

[sparkpeople]

@SodaSprings Either way would work, actually!

[marfash]

They keep saying to keep the belly in. I read that you should not do anything to strain your belly area. Hmmmmmm??????

[sparkpeople]

@marfash I would not say this is "straining" the belly to work the abs.

[hcmontessori]

Yay! THANK YOU! Pregnant people are just that -pregnant!- Not invalids!  ^_^ Its so crazy how some people will treat pregnancy as an illness. 90% of all pregnancies are medically healthy & normal & a lot of people don't know that the majority of pregnant women need to get that circulation going! The more blood-circulation we get from exercising, the better oxygenated our blood is, the easier, shorter (& less painful!) our labors will be. Great video.

[yourkickinthepants]

Thanks! I love all your videos.

[czechchick07]

This is brilliant. Thank you so much for showing these. The advice on doing abs exercises in pregnancy differs so much. Finally someone who is not afraid to show some proper exercises for pregnant women :)

[hcmontessori]

When pregnant, I took a Pilates class w/ an instructor who use to work as a nurse. Instead of actually having us exercise, she basically talked the whole time! But I was ACTUALLY interested in staying fit... I eventually quit 'cause I didn't feel it was right to be paying for... her talking. I ended up doing my own thing & being MUCH healthier for it. I realize that around 10% of preg. women have prob.s w/ pregnancy... but for the rest of us 90%, PLEASE give us something to stay fit!

[sparkpeople]

@gregordrakemadden Thanks! Yes, you will feel your quads (most likely the hip flexors at the very top of the thigh) working on that exercise b/c those muscles are working to move the leg while the abs work to stabilize the spine as the leg moves. Hope that helps.