Though sometimes it’s the last thing you feel like doing when you’re pregnant, being active during pregnancy benefits both you and your future baby, so we’ve rounded up several reader favorites — as well as Kat’s recs — for the best prenatal exercise programs.
What was your favorite type of exercise when you were pregnant? Do you have any prenatal (or postnatal) workouts to recommend? If you just did “my usual workout” — what’s your usual workout?
Note: Please talk to your doctor before trying any of these workouts! Here’s a handy link for pregnancy exercise guidelines from the American Pregnancy Association.
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FYI, these were some of Kat’s favorite prenatal exercise DVDs and books — they’re all still available! (There’s some overlap with the readers’ favorites we’re rounding up today.) In the past, we’ve also also talked about the best free YouTube workouts, as well as the best video game workouts for kids.
Kat’s favorite prenatal exercise DVDs & books: one / two / three / four
Reader Favorites: The Best Prenatal Exercise Programs
Body By Trimester
This program includes nine workouts, three on each of the three trimester DVDs. Each one offers two 30-minute interval training workouts, as well as a 15-minute express workout, all of which require dumbbells and a stability ball. They focus on the most important muscles during pregnancy and especially concentrate on on the pelvic floor and abs. Reviewers say that it’s challenging but offers modifications; the trainer, Joy Southworth, is very energetic; and it can help with back pain.
Each DVD has a separate section on abdominal toning as well as advice on how to check for diastasis recti, and the third DVD provides specific exercises for labor.
The set of three DVDs is $29.99 at Amazon. (Here’s a very short clip on YouTube.) A postnatal version is also available, with four workouts and a “Mommy and Me” segment; the DVD is $19.99 at Amazon.
Summer Sanders’ Prenatal Workout
This series is also broken into three parts — again, one for each trimester. Each is about an hour long. Reviewers say that the workouts are easily modified for any limitations and that the third-trimester video is appropriate even for very late pregnancy. Some noted that the workouts helped them limit their pregnancy weight gain to a healthy amount.
You can watch the workouts on Amazon Prime Video for $1.99 per workout or $5.97 for all three. The DVD is available at Amazon for $8.15, but grab it soon if you want it — there’s only one in stock. (Strangely, although the series is available in three parts on YouTube for $9.99, I got a “video unavailable” message when I tried to view one, but YMMV.)
The Perfect Pregnancy Workout Vol. 1: Sculpting
This popular prenatal workout is led by Karyne Steben, who was in Cirque du Soleil. That’s a bit intimidating — but fortunately, she won’t expect you to perform any circus acts.
The exercises are designed to develop strength and flexibility, and they provide both beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels — plus modifications for women with diastatis recti. (Still, it’s best to ask your doctor about this just in case.) There is 43-minute workout and 12-minute instructional section.
The DVD is available at Amazon for $9.99 (only four left!) and Walmart for $13.95 (only three left!). With Amazon Prime Video, the workout is $1.99 to rent (seven days to start, seven days to rent after starting) and $17.99 to buy. (Note that the Prime Video reviews are very helpful.)
Yoga with Adriene: Prenatal Yoga
In case you haven’t heard of it, the Yoga with Adriene channel on YouTube is hugely popular, with eight million subscribers. (My husband is one of her fans.) She created a six-part series called Prenatal Yoga, with one full yoga workout for each trimester and three “Labor Lady Talk” videos about labor and childbirth. The videos are all done with a guest — Hilah from Hilah Cooking, who was pregnant at the time.
The series is available for $29.99 at YogawithAdriene.com as a standalone purchase or as part of a Find What Feels Good membership, which gives you access to 700 videos and is $9.99/month or $99.99 for an annual membership. Both offer a free seven-day trial.
In addition, Adriene’s YouTube channel includes a free 34-minute video called “Yoga Poses for All Trimesters” (pictured above).
Shiva Rea Prenatal Yoga
These yoga sessions are taught by Shiva Rea, who is a well-known teacher of Vinyasa flow yoga and yoga trance dance who developed Prana Vinyasa yoga. The three segments — Prana, Standing Poses, and Floor Work — are 15–20 minutes each, and it’s recommended that you end with the included guided meditation.
You’ll need a blanket, strap, yoga block, and chair, and modifications are included for each trimester.
The three parts are available on Amazon Prime Video ($6.99) as well as Gaia.com. Gaia’s monthly plan is $11.99; the annual plan is $8.25/month at $99 total. You can also buy the DVD, and, er, VHS at Amazon. (Here’s a very short clip on YouTube.)
(We included Gaia in our smackdown of the various streaming workouts to do at home, over at Corporette!)
Which are your favorite pregnancy workouts? Tell us which ones you would and wouldn’t recommend! What was exercising like for you when you were pregnant?
Stock photo credit at top via Deposit Photos / milkos.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Anonymous says
Does anyone else who had hyperemesis resent talk of happy, healthy pregnancy things like prenatal exercise? For the entire nine months I was pregnant, whenever I wasn’t at work I was lying on the bathroom floor or in bed clutching an emesis basin. The most exercise I could ever manage was a walk, but only if it wasn’t too hot out. I still feel like I missed out on all the fun parts of being pregnant, like prenatal yoga and ice cream and decorating the nursery.
Anon says
i didn’t have hypermesis, but was basically vomiting/nauseous/huge for most of my pregnancy with twins. i was so excited about the idea of eating ice cream when pregnant, but couldn’t keep it down. exercise – ha. i had like one month where i didnt feel insanely nauseous and wasn’t huge yet.
Cate says
Gestational diabetes will throw a wrench in those plans too…
Anon says
Me too! Although I gained only 20 lbs as a result of the gd diet and I think it was a wake up call on my eating habits overall. I was forced to exercise too and wish I could have laid around eating carbs alas.
Anon says
Eh, I’d encourage you to let go of a little of this resentment if you can – I’m guessing you’re not terribly far removed from the experience? You don’t know what others are going through.
I know literally no one who has had a smooth road to parenting. Whether they had miscarriages before that perfect healthy pregnancy, birth complications, tricky gestational diabetes, etc. I get pregnant really easily, but I also had a stroke while pregnant. So even for my “easy” pregnancy, it was very stressful and I saw a lot of doctors. None but my closest friends would know that. I wish everyone happy pregnancies with yoga and ice cream for sure, and I hope no one goes through what I did. Pregnancy is dangerous and scary and you can feel really alone, no matter the circumstances, but it’s also a means to an end. The further down the parenting road I get the more the pregnancy was just a scary blip in the past.
Previous poster says
Also editing to add – I’m sorry if that’s not sympathetic -hyperemis is terrible and I’m sorry you went through that! Just wanted to add that I think it gets easier to let go of that resentment once you hear others stories more. If that makes sense? Please do feel free to vent to us though in this safe space.
Anon says
+1
I can only imagine how awful and all-consuming it is to have hyperemesis. I only had a little bit of first trimester nausea, and have had an uneventful pregnancy during which I’ve been able to stay very active. BUT – it took 2 years of IVF and $75,000 to get here, so there’s that (plus not getting to see any family, whom I’m very close with, while pregnant b/c they all live a flight away and COVID).
Anonymous says
Agreed that everyone has a different path and it’s not sunshine and roses for most people. I got pregnant easily and had a comfortable pregnancy and smooth delivery, but I developed a serious chronic health condition as a result of my pregnancy. Most women I know had (at least) one of infertility, loss, sickness or pain while pregnant, a scary delivery or a postpartum health problem.
Oh and I was also very excited for prenatal yoga but didn’t get to do it because all the classes in my city met on weekdays during work hours, and this was back when people still worked in offices do I couldn’t exactly pop in to yoga at 11 am on a Tuesday. So that was a letdown for me too.
Anon says
It’s not too late for postnatal yoga, ice cream and nursery decoration
Anon says
Wow that sounds absolutely terrible.
anon says
Hypermesis is terrible. My sister had it all three pregnancies and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I think it’s normal to grieve having a “normal” experience. That said, I agree with the above poster that many, many women have pregnancies that aren’t ice cream and yoga and happiness. If anything, blame society for setting up very unrealistic expectations around what pregnancy and birth are like. I, for one, never want to be pregnant again. I loved the anticipation of meeting my babies but the physical experience of pregnancy was as difficult as it was wonderous.
Anon says
Yes, as someone who puked every single day of my pregnancy up until the night I delivered. Makes my eye twitch and me feel a little ragey. It’s the same reaction I have to folks who describe colic as just a little crying that can be solved by eliminating dairy. I went from 9 months of daily puking to 6 months of 8+ hours a day of screaming. My child still doesn’t consistently sleep through the night at 3YO. So no, the blissful pregnancy and newborn experience my friends have had does cause resentment (even though I would never wish what I went through on my worst enemy).
Anon says
I’m peloton user and for those who don’t know there are some prenatal yogas now with Kristin, which I’ve liked. I hope they continue to expand their pre and post-natal offerings!
Anon says
I started “Move Your Bump.” It’s a monthly subscription and gives you a workout plan for each trimester. Workout classes change by trimester. I was doing Peloton strength workouts and yoga classes before this, and this is the most similar thing I could find to my old workouts.
Anon says
I have the Summer Sanders workout DVD and enjoy it! I bought it used online for a few dollars.
Spirograph says
I loved the Summer Sanders DVD. She was my hero in when I was a little swim team kid, and I was so happy that she seemed like a delightful friend and not an intimidating pro athlete in the videos.
I also liked my local prenatal (and modified regular) yoga classes, Shiva Rea’s prenatal yoga DVDs, and lap swimming. In my first pregnancy I did lightly modified regular workouts for several months, but I got lazier much quicker with the subsequent ones. “Just do something” was my mantra by the end, even if “something” was only a short walk or a directional float in the pool.
RDC says
I’m a huge fan of MommaStrong(dot)com for both prenatal and when not pregnant. I started at 18 months postpartum and the program helped with lingering issues from pregnancy and general aches and pains I thought were just part of life. Turns out, most are fixable! I’m now pregnant again and doing their prenatal program and it continues to help me. It’s $5/month and workouts are only 15 minutes a day. Love it.