My Second Trimester Workout Routine

Happy Friday! With Hurricane Florence on track to cause a lot of rain and flooding in our area over the next few days, this has been a busy week as I prepared and then had to rearrange some projects and appointments I had planned so my posting has been a little sporadic this week. This post was originally scheduled for Wednesday but I have been running around like a mad woman this week. Corey made it home early from his travels this week, which instantly relaxed me, knowing I won’t be home along if we do have bad weather or lose power. Now, we just relax and use the excuse of days of rain to finish some tasks at home.

I’ve shared before that a big personal goal for me for this pregnancy was staying active and continuing to exercise appropriately throughout. I shared my first trimester workout routine here. The end of my first trimester coincided with the end of Madeline’s preschool year, which caused me to switch up my workout routine just a bit since the gym I use for cardio equipment does not provide childcare.

Fortunately, my barre studio does provide childcare, which is so nice because Madeline is able to play with the other kids while I get a good workout in. They limit the kids’ room to five children so I know she is in great hands and getting lots of attention while we are there.

I am currently taking three classes a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and once over the weekend depending on our schedule. Barre is a great form of exercise while pregnant because it is low-impact but very targeted to building strong, lean muscles. Both Madeline and I enjoy getting out of the house for these classes and I am enjoying a low-impact workout. I’m just starting to have to modify floor exercises where I have to be on my back by placing a riser beneath me. 

I am still also using my Beachbody on Demand membership to workout an additional 2-3 times a week. My current favorites are 21 Day Fix Pilates with modifications for the Superman series, lower fix, barre legs, 21 Day Fix Extreme Dirty 30, PiYo, and Country Heat. I feel like I look ridiculous doing Country Heat at this point of pregnancy but it is good, low impact cardio. In the coming months I will start adding in the prenatal workouts, too. 

I’m also trying to get in one long walk a week with Riley and Madeline or as a family over the weekend. The weather here has been unbearably hot so the majority of my workouts are inside for the time being. This has caused a little bit of a struggle with getting in the cardio that I feel like I need. Before my accident last year I did lots of cardio that required jumping and higher impact and I really felt like I was getting an awesome workout in a short time. However, the higher impact is not recommended after a concussion (even though I guess football players do get right back to it??) and I definitely am not feeling much like jumping at this point in pregnancy either! So all that to say that I’ve had to get really creative with cardio this trimester and am really excited to be able to pop into the gym for some treadmill time again now that school is back for Madeline. 

So far I am staying active and am really happy with the few modifications I need currently but I can tell that things are about to get real as far as necessary modifications go. A typical week looks like this right now:

Monday: Beachbody on Demand full body workout or lower body workout 

Tuesday: barre class at The Bar Method 

Wednesday: Beachbody on Demand Pilates or PiYo workout 

Thursday: barre

Friday: Beachbody on Demand cardio workout or a walk 

Saturday: family walk or rest day 

Sunday: barre 

In my first pregnancy I was exercising two or three times a week max at this point and that went down to just walking in my third trimester as I suffered from lots of hip pain and swelling. I’ll continue listening to my body and if I need to scale back at some point I absolutely will but I’m also excited to see the difference regular exercise has on the rest of my pregnancy, my delivery, and postpartum recovery. So far I feel much healthier and have more energy than I did last time so it is a win so far! 

I shared this before but I really can’t say enough great things about Beachbody on Demand for giving me the resources I need to stay active while pregnant and to be able to exercise with a toddler in tow. My favorite coach is fellow blogger and mom-boss Lynn who you can reach here if you have any questions or want to know more about the programs available.