Working Out at 4 Months Pregnant – Using Bands, Deficits, Kettlebells and More!

So, while this is a Pregnancy Post, it is also great for all of you looking to vary and diversify your workouts.

Remember, training protocol has to have some variables – no matter the areas you are focusing on:
weightloss, strength, endurance, over all general health, hypertrophy, a specific level of conditioning or even re-prehab. So these exercises are also great variations (or super-set partners) to your regular heavy deadlifts, KB swings, heavy hip thrusters, loaded lunges and split squats.

THE PREGNANCY BIT:
So, at 4.5 months pregnant I am finding that I cannot engage certain muscles the same way (specifically the core. Additionally there is the Relaxin hormone flowing through my body (more on that in a different post), the hormone adds tons of flexibility to joints and ligaments (and especially in the hip area), so lifting as heavy as I did in certain motions is not (doesn’t feel, as ‘safe’ or sold to me) – again everyone is different.
Additionally the belly, no matter how small it looks is starting to get a bit in the way.

*If you are pregnant reading this, below is only for people that have already been lifting, working out, and for pregnant women based on what your doctor allows you to do.

THE LIFTING/ Strength & Conditioning
I still need to challenge myself, and luckily the gym (any gym, from your living room to the weigh room at your Martial Arts Academy to the fancy place down the block has soon many fun tools to keep the muscle challenged and working/ improving)

In this video I used four basics

1. Short Bands: you can see me working the smaller glute muscles here with the abduction in both seth hip thruster and the squat.

2. Elevation: I used elevation, in the hip thruster and in my rear and crescent lunges to create a deficit and get myself into a deep range of motion further challenging the muscle.

3. Long bands: Again, great essential resistance, making your muscles fire and respond at the very top of the motion.
(An eccentric contraction is the motion of an active muscle while it is lengthening under load.)

4. Assistance: by using the TRX I am assisting myself to do the motions (like pistols) that are getting much more difficult to execute without help (I am adding some baby weight and not able to engage the core the same way due to the hormones in my body).
For those not pregnant this is great to work negatives and help you in and out of motions you may not be ready for without assistance.

5. Other Variables: While weight challenge the body and add to the level of difficultly- yielding a specific response of strength building/ power and or hypertrophy (depending on your protocol), weights are NOT the only thing that can help add to challenge the body – like placing a bench in front of your knees in the squat or doing a wall facing squat.