Being active during your pregnancy is SO important! There are so many health benefits for you and your baby! When I was pregnant with my first, I did zero exercise. That was stupid. But with my second, I made it a priority to be more active. So I turned to Beachbody on Demand. They have a pretty good maternity program!
What I like about Beachbody is this: There are 4 trainers that offer programs. So you get a variety of different workouts. Each trainer has a workout for the 1st trimester, 2nd trimester, and 3rd trimester as well as postnatal (I haven't done those, so I don't really know how good they are. I'm sure they're great!)
Here are the workouts you get from the different trainers:
First, you get Active Maternity with Autumn Calabrese. For those workouts you do need weights (I recommend these ones). Autumn creates the workouts based on which trimester you are in. So all of the moves are designed to benefit you in whatever trimester you are currently in. I basically just love all of Autumn's workouts, including these ones!
Next is Total Body Pregnancy with Idalis Velazquez. Equipment needed for hers are weights (once again, I like these ones), resistance loops (I like the ones that Beachbody offers, but these ones work too), a yoga mat (this one is my absolute favorite!), and a chair. I really felt like I got a great workout with Idalis! My heart rate got up and I felt good afterwards. She did move from one exercise to the next pretty fast, so it was a little hard to keep up with transitioning (especially when you are the size of a beached whale like I was).
The third one is Yoga with Desi Bartlett. You do need a yoga mat (and again, this one is my FAVORITE!) and maybe some yoga blocks (I personally haven't ever used yoga blocks, but these ones have great reviews on Amazon). The yoga is great if your back is hurting and you need a really good stretch! I will admit that the third trimester one wasn't my favorite, but I'm sure it was great for a lot of other people!
Now, the last program was added not too long ago:
This program by Elise Joan hadn't come out yet when I was pregnant with my first two, but I wish it had been! With my third pregnancy, this was hands down my favorite program! She makes you feel so empowered!
You need some equipment for this program. You need resistance loops (again, these ones are fantastic!), a yoga mat (you know I love this one), and 1-5 lb weights. I mostly just used 2 lb weights (these ones work perfectly). You will also need a sturdy chair for support.
The thing that I love about this program is that she has multiple workouts for each trimester. They are specifically tailored to match where you are in your pregnancy. Each workout also has one of her I AM meditations to go with it. There are also 10-minute enhancements that you can do if you feel like you have a little more to give after the actual 30 minute workout. Another bonus is that she has a few of the regular Barre Blend workouts that are modified and safe for pregnancy. So you can mix it up a little bit too!
One last thing I really love is that she talks about Activities of Daily Life (ADLs). These are moves that you do (or will do) daily. Moves such as picking up your baby, carrying things in one hand, etc. She implements these specific moves into the workouts so doing the moves correctly becomes natural.
Before I started doing the Barre Blend workouts, I was getting pretty bad sciatica. Once I started doing them, by some miracle the pain got better and eventually went away as I kept going with the workouts. It is amazing how moving your body correctly in these workouts can eliminate pains associated with pregnancy!
Well, there you have it! There is only 1 thing that I wish the first three programs had: MORE WORKOUTS! Doing the same workouts can get boring!
So. Do I recommend doing Beachbody's prenatal fitness programs? YES. I feel like my pregnancy, my recovery, basically everything was better because I chose to take care of myself physically.
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