Important to train for the biggest workout of your life

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I have a wonderful story to share with you.

I have a friend who recently gave birth to her second child - a beautiful baby girl. Yes, I know, babies are born every day, but it was the experience she had delivering her baby and how this was associated to exercising during her pregnancy.

You see, during her first pregnancy, she was already overweight. Her doctor didn't want her to gain more than five additional pounds as she had enough fat stores to grow a healthy baby. Instead, she developed pre-eclampsia (pregnancy-induced hypertension) and edema (increased fluid retention causing swelling) and was considered a high-risk pregnancy.

She delivered her baby premature at just more than five pounds.

Her second pregnancy was different.

This is where I stepped in.

We met once a week to train and I gave her additional programs to do on her own a minimum of one more day per week. What a difference!

Again, she was still overweight but she brought regular, consistent low-impact cardiovascular and weight training into her weekly routine and she reaped the benefits.

As a result, she gained no additional weight during this pregnancy and carried her baby full term to the tune of seven pounds, nine ounces. Yay!

She makes me laugh too.

She said, "Now I know what it's like to be present during the delivery. Not to say it was easy by any means, but I was so out of it the first time, it was nice to actually have the strength to push the baby out."

You see, that's what a lot of pregnant women don't realize.

When you're exercising during pregnancy, you are training for the biggest workout of your life. Now what do I know - my two girls were delivered by C-section. I did know, however, that the better shape I was going in, the much faster my recovery rate would be, and it was.

All I'm saying is that my girlfriend had first-hand experiences from both ends of the spectrum. She went from not moving ... to moving and is sure happy she did. You can do it too.

 

Samantha Montpetit-Huynh is a mother of two living in the Beach. She is a certified personal trainer, a pre- and post-natal fitness specialist and a RAB core specialist. She offers personal training in-home for pregnant women and new mothers, teaches prenatal and mom and baby fitness classes and gives workshops on the subject. You can reach her at redefineyou@rogers.com or at 647-897-5220. Her column will be running the first Friday of the month at insidetoronto.com