Active April Week 3: The Top 4 Questions About Working Out
Hey mamas, how are you finding week 3 of Active April? On Monday, we shared 2 yoga flows - one for pregnancy and one for postpartum - so we can all focus on fitness together. Check those out here, along with all of our other Active April content.
As always, we asked our community for their burning fitness questions this week, and today we’re answering them all… If you don’t see the answer you need here, leave a question in the comments or follow along on Instagram and look out for our Wednesday question box.
1. How can I keep working out when I’m exhausted?
Whether you have a baby keeping you up at night or pregnancy insomnia, it can definitely be tough to find the motivation to exercise when you feel tired. Remember these tips:
Know when skip a workout: we know exercise is important but if you’re exhausted you increase the risk of injuring yourself, which will impact your fitness goals in the long run. Asking too much from your body without giving back to it can lead you to start associating exercise with bad feelings, which won't support exercise motivation.
Don’t put pressure on yourself: If you are feeling too tired to take on an intense workout, then that’s ok! If you feel up to it, try going for a walk, some light stretching, or a relaxing yoga routine. These movements will still get your body moving - and getting some exercise in is a win in itself! Plus, moving your body may help you sleep better when you are able to get some rest.
Remember the benefits of exercise: If you are sleep-deprived and truly exhausted, stick to the two tips above and don’t overexert yourself. If you are feeling more lethargic or sleepy when you’re waking up, then try reminding yourself that exercise releases endorphins and can actually give you more energy to get through the day.
2. Will practicing prenatal yoga help me have an easier delivery?
There are no guarantees to how your labor will go, but you can practice certain techniques to help you feel more emotionally and physically prepared. Prenatal yoga can help build the strength, flexibility, and endurance needed for childbirth, and can also reduce stress levels and anxiety associated with pregnancy.
3. I’m experiencing knee pain, what workouts can I do?
Our founder and CEO Melinda Nicci answers this in our So Glad You Asked series, but here’s a breakdown of her advice…
It’s important to understand that the reason you may be experiencing knee pain during pregnancy is because of the extra weight you are carrying. Alongside this, your posture is completely out of kilter, because your bump is pulling you forward. To help counteract the pain, you need to warm up for an extra 3 to 5 minutes during pregnancy. This is so that the synovial fluid really gets moving - think of this as a natural cushion that surrounds your joints. You can also try exercises to strengthen the muscles around your knee and hips to give yourself more support. Try lunges, forward back lunges side or slow and steady squats. Remember, if you do feel any sharp pain in your knees while you're exercising stop immediately.
4. Should I exercise during my postpartum recovery?
Sleeping baby? Scroll to read the video transcript!
Video transcript:
Hi, I'm so glad you asked, but before we get into the answers that are gonna give you everything you need to know about pregnancy conception, and postpartum, be sure to hit that notification button, give us a thumbs up, and subscribe. So you don't miss an episode.
Exercise is a really important part of your recovery post-birth and there's a lot of reasons for this, but the most important reason is that your body needs movement. You need to move, you need to keep everything going, you need to increase those happy hormones that you get when you exercise your cardiovascular system as well, needs to be moving so that you can push Oxygen around your body.
And of course, after exercise, you sleep much better. So the little sleep that you will get will be a little bit better, maybe deeper and a better quality exercise definitely increases those happy hormones in our body. It will help you to regulate those hormones as well and if you might suffering from the baby blues, then exercise will help make you feel a little bit happier, calmer and give you a better outlook on life in general. Just remember to hydrate, remember to take it easy, listen to your body, don't do anything that is too jarring. If you feel any pain, stop immediately and build up really slowly.
We've got some great programs on the app that will actually help you in each week and give you something to look forward to, and also new and cool programs to do every single week so that you can build up that strength.
Not seeing an answer you need? Leave us a question in the comments and we’ll get back to you!