Prenatal Water Workouts

If you are searching for a safe, low-impact exercise program you can follow all nine months, you might try heading to your local swimming pool. Swimming, water jogging, and aqua aerobics are some of the best exercises to perform while pregnant, and many gyms and pools now offer a variety of classes such as basic aerobics, water boxing, and aqua step.

Exercising in water is ideal for pregnant women because the water's buoyancy requires you to support only 50 percent of your body weight, it reduces the risk of stress-related injuries, and the compression of the water is soothing on joints and muscles that are stressed by the added bulk of your pregnancy. The water's temperature also keeps you from overheating during your workout.

You don't need to be able to swim to participate in water workouts - many moves are performed in waist or chest-high water, and you don't even need to join a special organized class; simply swimming laps, or walking, jogging, or running in water will strengthen your core trunk muscles, legs and hips, and increase your cardio-respiratory fitness. While water workouts don't require any special equipment, there are flippers, foam tubes, webbed gloves, and water weights available that can enhance the moves.

Water workouts generally fall into two categories: aqua aerobics and aqua exercise. Aqua aerobics has most of the fat-burning and endurance-building qualities of land-based aerobics, without the high-impact pounding that can be dangerous while pregnant. Aqua exercise focuses on improving muscle tone, strength and mobility. Water naturally lends itself to strength training, as it provides resistance in all directions, as opposed to land exercises which can be limited by gravity. If you aren't sure which type of class is right for you, ask your gym or community pool if you can watch a class first.

For a great 30-minute workout, alternate aerobic activity with strengthening moves. Warm up for five minutes or so by swimming a few laps or walking back and forth across the pool. Then alternate high-intensity walking or jogging with low-intensity recovery periods. The length of each interval will depend on your fitness level - start with 15 seconds and see how you feel. Repeat this high-low interval for 3 minutes, then perform one of the following strengthening moves. Follow this with another aerobic set and then another strengthening move, continuing this way for 30 minutes. Cool down for five minutes by swimming some laps or walking around the pool, and be sure to do some gentle stretching.

Strengthening Moves

• Stand in the shallow end of the pool facing the stairs. Step up onto the lowest step, and then back down. Repeat 10 times, slowly, leading with your right leg; then 10 times leading with your left leg. Turn sideways so the steps are on your right and step up, leading with your right leg, 10 times. Turn so the steps are on your left and repeat with your left leg. Finally, turn so the steps are behind you and step up backwards 10 times, leading with the right leg and 10 times leading with your left leg. Hold on to the bar or side of the pool for balance if necessary, but don't pull yourself up with your arms.
• Hold a kick board in front of you with both hands so it's up on one end and immersed halfway in the water. Walk from one side of the pool to the other while pushing the kickboard in front of you and concentrate on keeping the board straight. Turn around and walk back to the starting position, zig-zagging the board in front of you.
• Stand with your back to the side of the pool, holding onto the rim with your elbows. Keeping your knees straight, slowly bring both legs up to a 90-degree angle in front of you and hold it for ten seconds while exhaling slowly. Then bend at the knee to bring your legs down, and repeat as many times as your fitness level allows. Be careful to keep your back straight throughout this exercise.

Be sure to drink plenty of water while you are exercising in the water, even though you may not feel like you are sweating, and never jump or dive into the pool. If you are in an outside pool, be sure to apply plenty of sunscreen and avoid the hottest times of the day (between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.).

As with all forms of exercise during pregnancy, be sure to check with your doctor before you start, and remember to take it easy. Don't expect to keep your pre-pregnancy pace, and stop immediately if you experience fatigue or dizziness, headache or cramping. Call your doctor if you notice any vaginal bleeding, contractions, unusual absence of fetal movements (although your baby is naturally quieter when you are most active), blurred vision, or difficulty walking.