When we think Prenatal Fitness, we typically think of the physical aspect of the workout: the squats, the running, the heart pumping activities. And those are all incredibly important aspects of fitness, especially for pregnancy. We want to enhance the physiological adaptations of pregnancy to improve birth outcomes, such as increasing blood volume an additional 10-15% (45% in sedentary pregnant women but 55-60% increase in athletes)!
But one aspect that can be emphasized on more heavily is the mindset aspect as a prenatal athlete. We can use how we approach fitness during our pregnancies to enhance our mindset during labor: with connecting with our body and true acceptance to surrender to this experience.
During pregnancy, we will find that each day is different. One day, we feel amazing and can complete our entire workout no issues and may even increase our weights. But then the next, we feel sluggish and fatigued, requiring more rest between sets and may not even have the energy to finish the workout. We can use this to prepare for labor.
Connecting with our Body
We can use this unpredictable nature of how we may feel during pregnancy to our advantage! Everyday that we approach our workout, we need to acknowledge how our body actually feels each day and during our workouts. If our body is saying, “I feel great, let’s do more,” let’s honor that! Let’s increase the weights and sweat a little more. But, if our body is saying, “I need rest,” or “I am in pain,” we also need to honor that. And it may be so hard to honor this side of it, especially if we are athletes who are used to pushing through fatigue and pain to finish workouts and hit PRs.
When we approach out workouts truly acknowledging how our bodies feel each day, we become more connected to ourselves and to our babies. This will be helpful during labor, because we will be able to feel when sensations change; when pressure moves; when we feel our babies rotate! When we are more connected with our bodies, we can more willing provide what our bodies need: some days it is more activity, and some days it is more rest.
Acceptance to Surrender
The next aspect is acceptance. We need to be able to surrender to our experience during labor, and allow labor to happen the way it needs to happen. But we cannot surrender, if we do not accept it. We can begin to practice this mindset of acceptance with how we approach our workouts during pregnancy.
Each workout, we need to have acceptance with how our body is feeling and honoring that with a workout that meets our body’s needs. We may not finish entire workouts every single session; we may need to reduce the number of rounds, lower the weight, or completely modify a movement. And that is okay!! Having this mindset to truly accept whatever our body is communicating each day is so powerful, and will resonate during birth.
Approach every single workout with an open heart and mind, and be flexible! Some, or even most, days you will finish workouts and move through them feeling amazing! Some days, you may need more rest or even cut workouts short to honor what your body is needing. Just know that using our workouts as an opportunity to practice connecting with our body and surrendering to the experience is preparing us for birth in an unexpected way!
Check out our prenatal fitness programming options! We offer both in-person and online fitness programming that is synced to your week of pregnancy, so you can start anytime and still reap the benefits of exercise during pregnancy.
Our programming is offered as both a one-time purchase (and keep lifetime access to use during future pregnancies) or as a month-to-month subscription (cancel anytime).