The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (127 page)

BODY SCULPTING DURING PREGNANCY

Much research in this area has determined that remaining active during pregnancy offers several benefits to the mother and baby. The key to reaping such benefits is to adjust your exercise program in order to make it safe for you and your baby during this period. Keep in mind that the goal of
exercising during pregnancy is to maintain your present level of fitness, not to improve it
.

Some of the benefits that exercise offers to expecting mothers are:

• Speedier recovery after delivery.

• Increased sense of well-being and self esteem during and after pregnancy.

• Fewer leg cramps.

• Larger placenta, which in turn provides an increased nutrient base for the baby.

• Decreased risk of excessive weight gain caused by an increase of fat storage.

• Stronger lower back, which in turn reduces the risk of lower back pains.

• Boost in energy levels.

• Decreased likelihood of varicose veins.

• Reduced chances of having a Caesarean birth.

• Higher chances of achieving labor either a few days earlier or on time.

• Preparation for the stresses imposed by labor and delivery.

The amount of exercise that mothers-to-be will be able to tolerate during these nine months is directly related to how active they were before becoming pregnant. If a woman has never exercised before in her life, pregnancy is not the time to start a full-blown weight training and intense aerobics program. Starting a weight-training program is very traumatic on the body. A more sensible approach for someone who has never exercised before is to start a mild daily 20 to 30 minute aerobics program consisting of walking at a normal pace. Why walking? Because walking is one of the most natural and safest forms of exercise. During pregnancy, it is crucial to choose exercises that do not result in a loss of balance, since a fall could prove fatal for both the mother and the baby. Therefore, aerobic activities such as aerobic dance, bench step classes, kickboxing aerobics, and roller blading are all out of the question.

There are certain precautions you will need to incorporate in your walking program in order to make it safe. Remember that the goal during this period is to maintain, not to improve, so your workout intensity should be mild to moderate. In other words, you should walk at a normal pace and should not attempt to push yourself. Pushing yourself can create undue stress upon your body and will increase your chances of reaching two conditions that should be avoided at all times during pregnancy. They are:

Your heart rate should never exceed 140 beats per minute
. Be especially careful to monitor your heart rate during exercise. This can easily be done by counting the amount of times your heart beats in 10 seconds while you are performing the activity and then multiplying that number by 6. This will give you the amount of beats per minute. To avoid raising your heart rate too high, walk at a normal pace.

Your body temperature should never exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit (or 38 degrees Celsius)
. Walk at a normal pace and choose a time and place where it is neither hot nor humid. Walking either early in the morning
or in the late afternoon is best. Also, avoid wearing clothing that is too warm. If you’d rather walk indoors, do not use a motorized treadmill since it is easy to trip and fall while using this equipment. Instead, use the non-motorized models where you are the one that sets the pace. Other good forms of indoor exercises for expectant mothers are swimming and water walking.

What if you have been active prior to your pregnancy? Then you may continue your activities
as long as they are not activities that could result in a loss of balance and as long as you remember to lower your intensity levels to prevent an increased body temperature and heart rate
. Again, we cannot overemphasize that the goal during this period is maintenance and not improvement. Therefore, don’t push yourself.

Women who are involved in weight training should follow a program with the following modifications:

• Increase your rest periods in between sets to two minutes in order to maintain a normal body temperature and a low pulse (below 140 beats).

• Perform only 3 sets per exercise.

• In order to stay away from reaching muscular failure choose a weight that you can perform for 12-15 repetitions and perform 8-10 repetitions per set instead.

• Eliminate exercises where you have to lay down flat on your back (such as flat dumbbell bench press) since this position can decrease blood flow to the uterus and therefore to the baby.

• Eliminate exercises that may cause a loss of balance such as lunges and squats. Instead, substitute exercises like seated leg curls and leg extensions. If you have access to machines, this is the perfect time to use them.

Remember we previously said we recommend free weights since our body is designed to operate on a three-dimensional universe and machines lock us in a two dimensional one? During pregnancy, being locked in a two-dimensional universe is a good thing since it makes the exercises safer and eliminates the possibility of losing balance. Also, by using machines, secondary stabilizer muscles, such as abdominal and pelvic muscles, are not activated. This is good because we don’t want to create any undue stress in these areas during pregnancy. Machines also greatly decrease a chance of joint injuries.

During pregnancy, a loosening of the joints occurs—allowing ligaments and tendons to stretch in preparation for delivery. Because of this, there is a higher risk of incurring a soft tissue injury if free weights are used. If you choose to continue using free weights during this period, remember to pay close attention to your exercise form and to choose your exercises carefully.

• Eliminate the abdominal exercise portion of the 14-Day Body Sculpting Workout. You must avoid any exercise that may risk even mild abdominal trauma. In addition, avoid exercises where you have to lay down flat on your stomach. For instance, do standing or seated leg curls rather than lying leg curls.

• Don’t hold your breath while exercising; otherwise you can cut the oxygen supply to your baby.

Taking all of these points into consideration, we have created a new weight training program for use during pregnancy.

Special Instructions: Use modified compound supersets. Perform the first exercise, rest for the prescribed rest period, perform the second exercise, rest the prescribed rest period and then go back to the first exercise. Continue in this manner until you have performed all of the prescribed number of sets. Then continue with the next modified compound superset.

DAY 1

MODIFIED COMPOUND SUPERSET # 1

BACK
-Wide-Grip Pull-downs to Front

CHEST
-Seated Chest Press Machine

MODIFIED COMPOUND SUPERSET # 2

BACK
-Close-Grip (Palms facing you) Pull-downs

CHEST
-Pec Deck Machine

MODIFIED COMPOUND SUPERSET # 3

BICEPS
-Seated Dumbbell Curls

TRICEPS
-Triceps Pushdowns

MODIFIED COMPOUND SUPERSET # 4

BICEPS
-Seated Incline Curls

TRICEPS
-One-Arm Cable Extensions

MODIFIED COMPOUND SUPERSET # 1

THIGHS
-Leg Extensions

DAY 2

HAMSTRINGS
-Seated Leg Curls

MODIFIED COMPOUND SUPERSET # 2

HAMSTRINGS
-Standing Leg Curls

THIGHS
-One Legged Leg Extensions

MODIFIED COMPOUND SUPERSET # 3

CALVES
(LOWER/UPPER)-
Seated Press Machine

SHOULDERS-
Lateral Raises

MODIFIED COMPOUND SUPERSET # 4

SHOULDERS
-Overhead Shoulder Press Machine

CALVES
-Seated Calf Raise Machine

If you experience any type of abnormal conditions such as bleeding, sharp abdominal pain, loss of breath, exhaustion, or any other symptom that does not feel normal,

If for any reason your doctor recommends complete bed rest, continue your healthy eating and do not attempt to engage in any type of physical activity.

STOP EXERCISING AND CONTACT
YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!

For more information on training during pregnancy, contact the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) at (202) 484-3321.

NUTRITION DURING PREGNANCY

Nutrition becomes even more important than ever before during these nine months. Your health, and that of your baby, depends on it. Do you know that the following conditions are mostly caused by a lack of good nutrition during pregnancy?

• Anemia (which is caused by lack of protein and vitamins in the diet).

• Miscarriage.

• Babies born with brain damage, low intelligence, below average birth weight, and low immune systems.

• The afterbirth can break loose in the uterus before labor begins, a condition that causes internal bleeding in the mother and can cause the baby to die (50 percent of births in this manner result in death).

• Metabolic Toxemia (caused by lack of protein and vitamins) which can cause death to both the mother and the baby.

Therefore, continue to follow the nutrition guidelines from
Chapter 6
. In addition, keep the following points in mind:

•
It is more important than ever to remain hydrated throughout the day
. Drink plenty of water, especially before, during and after exercise. Remember that water not only helps flush bad toxins out of the body, but the body also uses it as a coolant to keep body temperature down.

• This is no time to be preoccupied with losing weight
. Attempting to go on a strict and restricted diet during this period will ensure that your baby does not get all of the necessary nutrients that he/she needs in order to be born strong and healthy. In order to avoid excessive weight gain and properly nourish your baby, take the amount of calories that you are currently taking in and add an additional 300 calories per day (remember to follow the ratios recommended in
Chapter 6
). If after two weeks you see that you are losing weight, add an additional 300 calories. Remember, don’t panic if you start gaining more weight than anticipated. This is a normal part of the pregnancy process. As long as you are eating good foods, there is nothing to worry about. Besides, by remaining active during this period, as soon as you have the baby, you will get back to normal very quickly.

• Absolutely no diet pills during this period, even if they claim to be “all natural.”
Most natural diet pills are made up of caffeine (in its standardized herbal form Guaranna) and ephedrine (in its standardized herbal form MaHuang). Both of these substances, which are far from being “natural”, not only suppress your appetite and give you an unnatural energy boost as they stimulate your nervous system, but they also increase your resting heart rate and body temperature—the two things that we are trying to avoid at all costs. In addition, let’s remember that whatever you ingest is ingested as well by the baby. It would be impossible to determine what kind of effects these substances would have in the development of your baby, especially in the first trimester when the heart, brain and nervous system are just beginning to develop. So please, no diet pills, even if they claim to be “all natural.” The risks are not worth it.