Exercising throughout your pregnancy has benefits for both you and the baby.
It is fantastic to stay active right up to the end of your pregnancy. There are some important modifications you need to make to ensure healthy pregnancy workouts in the third trimester.
Some exercises will need to continuously adapt to accommodate your ever-expanding belly. But there are always great alternative exercises which can be done right up to your baby’s arrival.
You may need to reduce the intensity or duration of your workouts during the third trimester and may need more rest time. That’s totally normal – listen to your body
If you haven’t read the first post in this mini-series, I recommend you start there. It gives a lot fo general information about exercising during pregnancy. It also includes details about when you need to stop exercising.
General recommendations for third trimester activity
The most quoted research about working out during pregnancy comes from James F. Clapp III and Catherine Cram’s book “Exercising through your Pregnancy”. They found that many of the benefits were lost if a woman stopped exercising during the third trimester. So keep going, Mama!
In terms of general recommendation, there are not too many changes from the second trimester.
CARDIO
New for third trimester: You may find it harder to take deep breaths as your belly gets bigger and you may get out of breath sooner. Your heart rate is also at its highest during the third trimester (around 15 beats per minute higher than pre-pregnancy). Make sure you adapt the intensity of your exercise accordingly so that you do not become exhausted.
New for third trimester: Your centre of gravity will continually change as your belly grows. This makes balance much harder, so be careful and make the necessary adaptations
- At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week
- Any activity which increases your heart rate, gets you breathing heavily and sweating
- You should still be able to talk, but not sing
- If you were very active pre-pregnancy, you can work at a higher intensity, but don’t let yourself get exhausted
As in the previous trimesters, don’t bother with the heart rate monitor for gauging intensity during pregnancy. Use the talk test, or rate of perceived exertion (RPE) instead.
STRENGTH
New for third trimester: Your centre of gravity will continually change as your belly grows. This makes balance much harder, so be careful and make the necessary adaptations
- Strength training 2-3 times each week to stay strong and stable
- Reduce the weight you lift by about 25% compared to pre-pregnancy
- Start with bodyweight exercises if you didn’t do strength training pre-pregnancy
- Consider working with a personal trainer specialising in pre-natal exercise
FLEXIBILITY
- Stretch after every workout
- Aim to maintain flexibility, now is not the time to increase flexibility
- Do not over-stretch. Remember that hormone relaxin? It’s still there and makes you more injury-prone, so don’t push it on your stretches
- Pregnancy yoga is a good option as the moves will all be safe to perform during pregnancy
PELVIC FLOOR EXERCISES
- Continue with your pelvic floor exercises
- Remember to learn how to relax the pelvic floor muscles, as this is important for labour
REST & RECOVERY
New for third trimester: You may find that you tire more quickly during exercise. This is pretty normal due to the physiological changes going on. Listen to your body and reduce the intensity or duration as needed.
- Allow time to recover in between workouts
- Don’t let yourself become exhausted during your training sessions
Not yet in the third trimester? Check out the posts below for details on the earlier stages of pregnancy.
Activity level before pregnancy
How active you were before pregnancy plays a role in the intensity and type of activities you do throughout your pregnancy.
Active before pregnancy
As long as your pregnancy is complication free, you can continue with your pre-pregnancy routine. However, as your belly gets bigger there will be more and more modifications you will need to make.
You can continue running throughout the third trimester, as long as you feel good. If you feel the belly is becoming uncomfortably heavy, you could consider wearing a pregnancy support belt.
You should limit jumping intensity as you progress into the third trimester. It puts a lot of pressure on your pelvic floor, and balance will be harder as the belly expands.
If you are ever unsure, make sure to check in with your doctor.
Inactive before pregnancy
For those of you who were inactive pre-pregnancy, but have been gradually building up your activity throughout the first and second trimester you can continue with more of the same.
Aim to maintain the 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise each week (something where you can still talk, but can’t sing). And don’t forget your strength training.
Not sure where to start? Check out these options:
- Fitnow – app based workouts specifically for pregnancy (and post-natal) by my good friend and bootcamp partner Amparo.
- Mom In Balance – healthy outdoor group workouts specifically for pregnancy (and post-natal)
- Babyfit by Amy – free YouTube workouts for all trimesters of pregnancy
- Find a qualified pregnancy/prenatal personal trainer near you
Exercise changes for healthy pregnancy workouts in the third trimester
Modifications to common exercises
To ensure a healthy pregnancy workout in the third trimester, below is a list of modifications to some common exercises.
Further on there is a list of what to completely avoid during the third trimester.
If you are joining a group fitness class, ensure you tell the instructor you are pregnant before the class so that they can give you safe alternatives.
| Exercise | Modification during pregnancy |
| Burpees | Walking burpees: put your hands on the floor, step back to plank, walk your feet back in to a wide squat, and stand up |
| High knee run | High knee walk. To add more intensity put your arms above your head and pull them down each time your knee comes up |
| Star jumps and jumping jacks | Half stars or half jacks – no jump, alternate taking one foot out to the side. Arms stay the same |
| Push-ups | (Also see “Exercises to avoid during pregnancy” below) Do push-ups against a table, work surface or wall to reduce the downward pressure on the belly – or do an alternative exercise such as a chest press |
| Squat jumps | Reduce the intensity of the jump or change to a squat to calf raise or a basic squat |
Exercises to avoid during the third trimester
There are some exercises and sports that should be completely avoided during the third trimester. Below you will find the activity to avoid, the reason behind it and an alternative or modification.
| Activity to avoid | Reason | Alternative or modification |
| Contact sports | Risk that your belly could be hit or kicked | Choose a non-contact sport |
| Activities with a high risk of falling, such as gymnastics, horse riding, downhill skiing | Risk that the fall could injure you or the baby. Balance during pregnancy is harder due to physiological changes | Choose an activity which doesn’t require balance or a risk of falling |
| Activities involving pressure changes, such as scuba diving or mountain climbing | There is not much scientific research, but the theory is that scuba diving could lead to decompression sickness in the fetus (nitrogen bubbles). High altitudes lead to low oxygen levels – for both you and the baby | Snorkelling Hiking up to around 2,500m (8000 feet) above sea level (but make sure you acclimatise tp the high altitude if you are not used to it) |
| Anything where you get very very hot, such as hot yoga or exercising outside for long periods when it is extremely hot and humid | If your core temperature rises too much it could impact the fetus | Opt for a pregnancy yoga class. Exercise somewhere cool if possible. If it is hot, then reduce the intensity & duration of the exercise and drink plenty of water |
| Exercises laying on the belly | Your baby belly will be in the way! | Lower back: kneel with your butt on your heels. Lean forward with a straight back and take your arms straight up above your head and then pull your elbows down your back. Repeat for 3 sets of 10 reps |
| Exercises laying flat on the back | Can decrease the blood flow back to your heart | Prop yourself up on your elbows or on pillows Use a weight training bench set to an incline |
| Sit-ups and crunches | Can make abdominal muscle separation (diastasis recti) worse | Exercises for the deep abdominal muscles – pelvic tilts, supported V-sits, supported leg extensions |
| Anything where your torso twists, such as golf, tennis, Russian twists | Can make abdominal muscle separation (diastasis recti) worse | Side planks, side bends |
| Anything where your belly is facing the floor for long periods of time – planks, push-ups, anything in plank position such as mountain climbers, plank jacks etc | Can make abdominal muscle separation (diastasis recti) worse | Stop doing plank position exercises in the third trimester and choose an alternative exercises such as pelvic tilts, side planks, transverse abdominal engages, supported V-sits |
| Abductor and adductor machines | Too much pressure on the pelvic girdle, which is already under increasing pressure from your growing baby. Pelvic pain is a very common complaint during pregnancy, so avoid these machines to avoid exacerbating the problem | Squats and lunges will also work these muscles |
| Holding your breath whilst weight training (Valsalva manoeuvre) | It reduces the heart’s output, briefly reducing blood flow, so could temporarily stop the blood flow to the fetus, or you could faint. It also puts a lot of additional pressure on the pelvic floor | Reduce the weight you are lifting to a level that you do not need to hold your breath |
Injuries
The risk of injury continues to increase throughout the third trimester. You should ABSOLUTELY continue with exercise, it’s just important to take care and be very aware of your balance.
Balance
Balance becomes harder and harder as your centre of gravity continuously changes. Take care when doing anything that requires balance, and consider an alternative exercise if balance becomes too much of an issue.
For example:
- Squats instead of lunges
- Leg press machine instead of squats
- Upright bike instead of running
Relaxin
Your ligaments remain relaxed due to the hormone relaxin. This is helpful for childbirth, as it relaxes the ligaments of the pelvis and softens the cervix, but it also loosens your other ligaments.
There is not as much support for the joints and with an ever-increasing load on your joints (as you get heavier), the risk for injury increases further.
There are a few things you can continue to do to help stay injury free during your third trimester:
- Strength training: just reduce the weight you lift to around 75% of what you lifted pre-pregnancy
- Avoid over-stretching: stretch to a comfortable point and do not push yourself any further
- Don’t over-do it: give your body time to recover in between activities
When you shouldn’t exercise
There are some warning signs during exercise that you shouldn’t ignore. And there are some medical conditions which may warrant no exercise at all during pregnancy.
You can find all the details here:
Head over here for tips on exercising during pregnancy and some of the common complaints that pregnant women have:
Finally, if you are still earlier in your pregnancy and want more to know what healthy pregnancy workouts look like during the earlier trimesters, then check out these posts:
Conclusion
With a little luck you will be able to stay active right up to the end of your pregnancy.
It will help you to feel better, maintain a good level of fitness, have better strength and endurance for labour and help to maintain a healthy pregnancy weight gain.
By making some modifications, knowing which exercises to avoid and listening to your body, you can complete healthy pregnancy workouts throughout the third trimester until your little one arrives.
(and if you are as crazy as me, you might even go into labour at the gym haha).
How are your third trimester workouts going? Have you had to reduce the intensity at all? Do you still have space to breathe?!