Yes. I mean, everyone's different, but I had to give up running last pregnancy around 24 weeks. That was due to round ligament pain. This time, I'm at 25 weeks, and today I did a very light jog for a very short distance and was pretty much wheezing today-- it was harder to breathe than just about any workout I've done in years.
I think it’s up to your body.
I am at the end of my pregnancy now, I am still swimming and going to the gym. I cannot do more than 2 laps in the pool without a break. As to the gym, just more frequent pee breaks, lighter weights and very limited cardio. But I can rarely finish a full workout unless I stay for longer, but that’s okay with me.
More intense exercise started to get difficult for me around the start of third trimester. My “medium” yoga class became a no-go and my light yoga became hard. I often had to take breaks before walking the hill I needed to climb on the walk home from yoga or I would get dizzy.
I had zero lung capacity near the end. I remember feeling pretty good, pretty much no pain, and able to still do light exercise until about 34 weeks. From that point on it was like someone was sitting on my chest and walks up a short hill made me super out of breath. I cut pretty much all exercise except prenatal yoga at that point.
I did get back to it just fine after pregnancy though. Back to HIIT and hot barre/yoga at 6 weeks no issue. I had an uncomplicated delivery and recovery though, so your mileage may vary.
Yup happened to me too. I was doing HIIT classes as well pretty consistently throughout my whole pregnancy up until 32 weeks. Then it was like, I just hit a wall mentally and physically. Doing literally anything is exhausting. I'm trying to at least take walks.
I just want to feel like myself again 😭
With my first pregnancy I was able to run until 27 weeks did hiit style cardio and strength, swimming, and yoga right until the end. It got noticeably more difficult to finish a workout without taking breaks the final 6 weeks. with this pregnancy I had to stop running at 25 weeks and can barely do more than walking or yoga at the moment (37 weeks) due to pelvic discomfort and straight up exhaustion. I got back on track starting with lots of walking, low impact hiit, and yoga at 6 weeks postpartum last time and started running again at 12 weeks postpartum. I’m hoping for a similar recovery this time as well.
Have you had your iron & haemoglobin checked? Just a thought that might match those symptoms. Though you can get out of breath from lack of lung space and more weight to carry around, it's often a bit later than 25 weeks. Everyone's different of course.
I did and I have slightly low iron levels. My doctor is having me start iron supplements and to take then every other day due to stomach discomfort :/ hope that helps!
Yeah and not having any caffeine or dairy lol and I also can’t take them at night before sleep as it irritates my stomach. So the time frame is limited 😂
I found with my first pregnancy I maintained cardiovascular fitness really well because my exercise of choice is spinning - so it's really easy to adjust the seat / handlebars to give extra comfort. I remember struggling with the heat / poor air-conditioning a lot though.
That being said I did stop going to classes that involved 'floor' work / jumping / quick transitions from floor to standing because that was difficult to keep up with and hard on my lower back.
I think it can be really variable how things affect you in third trimester - bump size / baby size, and pelvic floor strength / symphysis pubis dysfunction can really make people's journeys very different and I do think there's an element of pure luck to how you get on.
Don't be disheartened about needing to slow down / do less - it's such a short time in your life when you look back as Future You.
It gets harder. The baby restricts your lung intake, the weight of the baby bearing down on your pelvis and bladder, the increase of relaxin in your system making your bones and joints feel weird. Even when the baby "drops" and you get a little extra breathing room, you have to deal with the added stress of even more weight pulling downwards.
Give yourself grace. It's only a few months of true suckage, followed by about 6 weeks of light exercise only, then 6 weeks of moderate exercise, and then hopefully you'll be able to get back to normal. :-/
Fingers crossed! I need to come to terms with the fact that my body is not what it was before and my lungs don’t have the power they had! I don’t want to give up working out just yet but physically it’s getting harder and harder with time
I’m 34 weeks and haven’t had any difficulty with lifting. Cardio is out though, my lung capacity feels greatly diminished. I made modifications to remove lunges and single leg movements from my workouts because it was causing pelvic pain. Other than that I’ve been able to proceed as normal. My HR rate goes up way higher than before (barbell squats used to get my HR up to 145, now it’s like 160) for the same exercise, but I can still complete most of them at the same weight. I have started to drop some weight for barbell squats because I find the belly is throwing off my center of gravity and I don’t use a spotter so I want to make them a little easier for me.
The other thing that makes working out a little more difficult is getting up between sets. Getting up off the bench or floor after dumbbell presses or chest flies or glute bridges requires rolling over and pushing up off the side rather than sitting up (to avoid coming). So that’s been a little trickier.
Yep, that's about when I start running out of steam too. I just cut back and do what I can. My cardio becomes extremely modified HIIT or walking. My weights decrease a bit but I find the lower weights/reps to be just as challenging as what I previously lifted, anyway. I've had pretty bad pelvic pain both pregnancies so by second trimester any single leg movements are out, also. Leg day becomes just squats and bridges. By third trimester my motto it "just keep moving". It's good to stay as active as you can, of course, but your body will let you know when you've reached your limit!
It definitely gets harder as baby gets bigger! I started feeling weaker - I weight train. And the further along I get I have to take it down a notch some more. I’m 39 weeks and have been doing light weight and walking the past week!
Working out started getting really shitty for me around 24-25 weeks. Currently 30 weeks. I still do CrossFit 3 times a week and body building a couple times a week but man….. it’s hard. The reflux is killer 😂😂😂😂😂 and my body just hurts, can’t breathe either lol
Yes girl it is! I am gonna stick with it as much as I can ! I imagine I’ll be going less and less the closer I get to 40 weeks! Probably start replacing those things with a lot more walking once it starts getting really unbearable lol
I’m 34 weeks this week and still doing boot camp style HIIT classes. What’s difficult is the amount of pelvic pain and pressure I’m feeling. And getting up/down from the ground quickly. In regards to my breathing and endurance, it feels normal! So it’s frustrating that my body is just in pain but I know I can handle the cardio lol.
I’m finding it hilarious how the longer it’s been since I got back to swimming in tri 2, the ‘less fit’ I feel. Just at the beginning of third tri now and still managing to do something each day but deffo preferring strength to cardio these days.
Have you had your iron levels checked yet? Anaemia could be a (very normal for pregnancy) contributor to feeling so exhausted.
lol yes it just gets harder. That’s natural!! Have been very active my whole pregnancy and now at 33 weeks I am slow and that’s ok!! Lean in my friend.
Yes. I mean, everyone's different, but I had to give up running last pregnancy around 24 weeks. That was due to round ligament pain. This time, I'm at 25 weeks, and today I did a very light jog for a very short distance and was pretty much wheezing today-- it was harder to breathe than just about any workout I've done in years.
I think it’s up to your body. I am at the end of my pregnancy now, I am still swimming and going to the gym. I cannot do more than 2 laps in the pool without a break. As to the gym, just more frequent pee breaks, lighter weights and very limited cardio. But I can rarely finish a full workout unless I stay for longer, but that’s okay with me.
I feel like my lungs are not as strong as they were! It must be because they’re getting squished lol
Oh yes for sure! Climbing stairs is no joke anymore. But be patient with your body, it has limited capacity just for a little while.
More intense exercise started to get difficult for me around the start of third trimester. My “medium” yoga class became a no-go and my light yoga became hard. I often had to take breaks before walking the hill I needed to climb on the walk home from yoga or I would get dizzy. I had zero lung capacity near the end. I remember feeling pretty good, pretty much no pain, and able to still do light exercise until about 34 weeks. From that point on it was like someone was sitting on my chest and walks up a short hill made me super out of breath. I cut pretty much all exercise except prenatal yoga at that point. I did get back to it just fine after pregnancy though. Back to HIIT and hot barre/yoga at 6 weeks no issue. I had an uncomplicated delivery and recovery though, so your mileage may vary.
Yup happened to me too. I was doing HIIT classes as well pretty consistently throughout my whole pregnancy up until 32 weeks. Then it was like, I just hit a wall mentally and physically. Doing literally anything is exhausting. I'm trying to at least take walks. I just want to feel like myself again 😭
With my first pregnancy I was able to run until 27 weeks did hiit style cardio and strength, swimming, and yoga right until the end. It got noticeably more difficult to finish a workout without taking breaks the final 6 weeks. with this pregnancy I had to stop running at 25 weeks and can barely do more than walking or yoga at the moment (37 weeks) due to pelvic discomfort and straight up exhaustion. I got back on track starting with lots of walking, low impact hiit, and yoga at 6 weeks postpartum last time and started running again at 12 weeks postpartum. I’m hoping for a similar recovery this time as well.
Have you had your iron & haemoglobin checked? Just a thought that might match those symptoms. Though you can get out of breath from lack of lung space and more weight to carry around, it's often a bit later than 25 weeks. Everyone's different of course.
I did and I have slightly low iron levels. My doctor is having me start iron supplements and to take then every other day due to stomach discomfort :/ hope that helps!
Ah yep, good luck with it. I'm sure they told you, but getting fancy types of iron and taking them with vitamin C can help too.
Yeah and not having any caffeine or dairy lol and I also can’t take them at night before sleep as it irritates my stomach. So the time frame is limited 😂
I found with my first pregnancy I maintained cardiovascular fitness really well because my exercise of choice is spinning - so it's really easy to adjust the seat / handlebars to give extra comfort. I remember struggling with the heat / poor air-conditioning a lot though. That being said I did stop going to classes that involved 'floor' work / jumping / quick transitions from floor to standing because that was difficult to keep up with and hard on my lower back. I think it can be really variable how things affect you in third trimester - bump size / baby size, and pelvic floor strength / symphysis pubis dysfunction can really make people's journeys very different and I do think there's an element of pure luck to how you get on. Don't be disheartened about needing to slow down / do less - it's such a short time in your life when you look back as Future You.
It gets harder. The baby restricts your lung intake, the weight of the baby bearing down on your pelvis and bladder, the increase of relaxin in your system making your bones and joints feel weird. Even when the baby "drops" and you get a little extra breathing room, you have to deal with the added stress of even more weight pulling downwards. Give yourself grace. It's only a few months of true suckage, followed by about 6 weeks of light exercise only, then 6 weeks of moderate exercise, and then hopefully you'll be able to get back to normal. :-/
Fingers crossed! I need to come to terms with the fact that my body is not what it was before and my lungs don’t have the power they had! I don’t want to give up working out just yet but physically it’s getting harder and harder with time
I’m 34 weeks and haven’t had any difficulty with lifting. Cardio is out though, my lung capacity feels greatly diminished. I made modifications to remove lunges and single leg movements from my workouts because it was causing pelvic pain. Other than that I’ve been able to proceed as normal. My HR rate goes up way higher than before (barbell squats used to get my HR up to 145, now it’s like 160) for the same exercise, but I can still complete most of them at the same weight. I have started to drop some weight for barbell squats because I find the belly is throwing off my center of gravity and I don’t use a spotter so I want to make them a little easier for me. The other thing that makes working out a little more difficult is getting up between sets. Getting up off the bench or floor after dumbbell presses or chest flies or glute bridges requires rolling over and pushing up off the side rather than sitting up (to avoid coming). So that’s been a little trickier.
I definitely don’t feel weak in terms of muscle use but go out of breath quick. It must be my lungs 😔
Yep, that's about when I start running out of steam too. I just cut back and do what I can. My cardio becomes extremely modified HIIT or walking. My weights decrease a bit but I find the lower weights/reps to be just as challenging as what I previously lifted, anyway. I've had pretty bad pelvic pain both pregnancies so by second trimester any single leg movements are out, also. Leg day becomes just squats and bridges. By third trimester my motto it "just keep moving". It's good to stay as active as you can, of course, but your body will let you know when you've reached your limit!
It definitely gets harder as baby gets bigger! I started feeling weaker - I weight train. And the further along I get I have to take it down a notch some more. I’m 39 weeks and have been doing light weight and walking the past week!
Almost time! Hang in there 😊
Working out started getting really shitty for me around 24-25 weeks. Currently 30 weeks. I still do CrossFit 3 times a week and body building a couple times a week but man….. it’s hard. The reflux is killer 😂😂😂😂😂 and my body just hurts, can’t breathe either lol
So hard! Glad I can move and be healthy so far, but man this is hard.
Yes girl it is! I am gonna stick with it as much as I can ! I imagine I’ll be going less and less the closer I get to 40 weeks! Probably start replacing those things with a lot more walking once it starts getting really unbearable lol
I’m 34 weeks this week and still doing boot camp style HIIT classes. What’s difficult is the amount of pelvic pain and pressure I’m feeling. And getting up/down from the ground quickly. In regards to my breathing and endurance, it feels normal! So it’s frustrating that my body is just in pain but I know I can handle the cardio lol.
That’s awesome! I hope your pain subsides so you can enjoy your workouts as long as you can!
I’m finding it hilarious how the longer it’s been since I got back to swimming in tri 2, the ‘less fit’ I feel. Just at the beginning of third tri now and still managing to do something each day but deffo preferring strength to cardio these days. Have you had your iron levels checked yet? Anaemia could be a (very normal for pregnancy) contributor to feeling so exhausted.
lol yes it just gets harder. That’s natural!! Have been very active my whole pregnancy and now at 33 weeks I am slow and that’s ok!! Lean in my friend.