Pregnancy Personal Trainer in London

The NHS says the more active and fit you are during pregnancy, the easier it will be to adapt to your changing shape and weight gain, and that it will help you cope with labour. It advises keeping up your normal activity or exercise, whether sport, running, yoga, dancing or walking to the shops, for as long as you feel comfortable, and says exercise is not dangerous for your baby.

Its rule of thumb is simple: you should be able to hold a conversation while you exercise. If you are too breathless to talk, the effort is too high. If you were not active before pregnancy, the NHS advises against suddenly taking up strenuous exercise, and says to tell any instructor that you are pregnant and how many weeks.

Is it safe to exercise while pregnant?

For most pregnancies, yes, and the NHS points to evidence that active women are less likely to have problems in later pregnancy and labour. The exceptions are decided by your midwife or doctor, not by a trainer. A trainer who works with pregnant clients asks about your pregnancy at the start, keeps each session short of exhaustion, and stops at once if you feel dizzy, faint, breathless in an unusual way, or unwell.

The NHS guidance does not change by trimester; the way a trainer applies it does. These are the practical adjustments, and each depends on how you feel and on what your maternity team advises.

First trimester exercise

Many people keep their usual training in the first weeks and adjust around tiredness and nausea. The NHS advice to keep up normal activity for as long as you feel comfortable applies from the start. A trainer shortens sessions on bad days, keeps the heavy work you already know rather than adding new heavy lifts, and builds in the warm-up, cool-down and water breaks the NHS recommends.

Exercise in the second trimester

The NHS advises against lying flat on your back for long periods after 16 weeks, because the weight of the bump presses on the main blood vessel returning blood to your heart and can make you feel faint. From here, flat bench work becomes incline work, floor exercises move to all fours or standing, and loads on lifts that strain the abdomen come down.

Exercise in the third trimester

Balance changes as the bump grows, and the NHS advises caution with anything carrying a risk of falling. In the gym that means supported variations, a steady surface, lighter loads and more rest. The NHS says you may need to slow down as pregnancy progresses; the aim now is to keep what you have, and walking every day still counts.

Lifting weights while pregnant is usually a continuation of what you already did, adjusted. Loads come down as the weeks pass, lifts that load the abdomen hard are swapped for supported versions, and nothing is taken to failure. Someone who has never lifted is better starting with lighter, supported strength work than a new heavy programme, in line with the NHS advice not to take up strenuous exercise suddenly.

Squats while pregnant

Squats usually stay in the programme, with the stance widened as the bump grows and the depth set by comfort. A box or bench behind you gives a target and a safety net. Goblet squats, with a dumbbell held at the chest, are easier to control than a barbell on the back later in pregnancy. Anything that causes pain, pressure low down or leaking is a reason to stop and ask your midwife.

Pregnancy strength training at the gym

A pregnancy strength session usually combines lower-body work such as squats and hip hinges, upper-body pulling such as rows, supported pressing, and the stomach-strengthening, pelvic tilt and pelvic floor exercises the NHS describes for pregnancy. The session ends before you are exhausted, which is the NHS's first exercise tip for pregnancy.

If you ran before, the NHS lists running among the activities to keep up for as long as you feel comfortable. The talk test still applies, and most runners slow down and shorten their runs as the weeks pass. If you did not run before pregnancy, it is the wrong time to start, because the NHS advises against suddenly taking up strenuous exercise. Brisk walking, which the NHS says can be enough at 30 minutes a day, is the better choice.

The NHS lists four things to avoid in pregnancy:

• lying flat on your back for long periods, particularly after 16 weeks
• contact sports where there is a risk of being hit, such as kickboxing, judo or squash
• scuba diving
• exercising at heights over 2,500 metres above sea level

It also advises caution with activities that carry a risk of falling, such as horse riding, downhill skiing, ice hockey, gymnastics and cycling, and avoiding strenuous exercise in hot weather.

A simple week might be two short strength sessions with a trainer or from a written plan, walking on most days, and the pelvic floor exercises the NHS recommends every day: 3 sets of 8 squeezes, which the NHS suggests fitting in at mealtimes. Each strength session opens with a warm-up and closes with a cool-down, and the plan is reviewed as the weeks pass rather than fixed at the start.

The benefits of exercise during pregnancy

The NHS says staying active helps you adapt to your changing shape and weight gain and cope with labour, and that the stomach-strengthening exercises it describes may ease the backache that often comes with a growing bump. Pelvic floor exercises help reduce or avoid leaking after pregnancy, and the NHS says all pregnant women should do them.

London Female Personal Trainer introduces you to an independent trainer at one of four UNTIL clubs: Canary Wharf, Soho, Marylebone or Liverpool Street. Give your stage in the enquiry form, and say if you would like to train with a woman; UNTIL Health Concierge takes it into account. Personal training for women explains how the coaching works, and postnatal personal training covers the return after the birth.