Best Way to Do Exercise During the Second and Third Trimesters

Upper Body Stretches (for Strength and Flexibility)

•  While sitting cross-legged on the floor, raise your arms out to the sides to shoulder height and then straight overhead. With palms facing each other. Stretch upward while breathing out. Bring arms down and repeat 5 to 10 times.
•  While sitting cross-legged, raise your arms out to the sides to shoulder height. With palms facing forward, stretch your arms back as if trying to put the backs of your hands together behind your back. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
•  While sitting cross-legged, with arms and hands relaxed, lift your shoulders closer to your ears and gently let them down. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Pelvic Floor (Kegels) Exercises (Toning Muscles Used for Childbirth)

•  This exercise can be done in any position. The goal is to tighten your pelvic muscles for a few seconds and then release them. To understand what muscles you’re tightening, try stopping the flow of urine the next time you go to the bathroom: Those are pelvic muscles you’re using around your vaginal area but do not include your buttocks. Do three or four of these “pelvic floor” tighten­ing exercises several times a day.
•  Place your hands on your navel and hold. Gently tip your pelvis so the small of your back touches the floor. Hold for a few seconds and release. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Abdominal Exercises

•  Place your hands on your navel and hold. Raise your head and shoul­ders off the floor and exhale. Lower your shoulders and head back to the floor. Repeat 5 to 10 times.
•  Place your hands on your navel and hold. Raise one shoulder and your head as you reach forward with the arm on the same side as the lifted shoulder. (You’re reaching across your body to the opposite knee.) Repeat 5 to 10 times. Repeat this exercise with the opposite shoulder and hand.

Leg Stretches (Leg Cramp Prevention)

•  Gently tilt your pelvis so that the small of your back touches the floor. Lift and straighten one leg until it’s perpendicular to the floor. Gently point and flex the foot of the extended leg. Repeat 5 to 10 times. Repeat this exercise with the other leg.
•  Stand facing and holding onto a wall. Keeping your hips in line with your shoulders, slide one foot back out as far as possible without lifting the heel off the floor. You’ll need to bend the opposite knee and lean forward. Hold for a few seconds. Repeat’ with the other leg.

Lifting and Posture Exercises (for Posture and Movement Habits)

•  Always squat or kneel on one leg to retrieve an object near oil on the ground. Never lean over to pick something up. Bring the object close to you before standing. Use your leg muscles to rise.
•  Stand straight with shoulders relaxed and knees unlocked. It’s okay to tighten your abdominal muscles. Walk with your feet parallel to each other.

Back Exercises

•  For your lower back: Sit in a straight-backed chair. Slowly learn forward over your pregnant abdomen, letting your head drop and your arms hang down from your shoulders. Hold for a few breaths and then slowly rise, one vertebra at a time stacking on top of the previous one, until you’re upright again and your head is up looking forward. Repeat five times. Do not do this exercise if you feel any pressure or pain in your abdomen or back.

•  For your sides and upper back: Sit cross-legged with your right hand on your thigh above your left knee and your left hand on the floor. Gently pull on your thigh to twist around toward your left side and look behind you. You should feel a stretch on your side. Repeat five times and then do the same on the right with your left hand on your right thigh.
•  For the whole back and hips: Get on your hands and knees with your weight evenly distributed. With your back straight, gently rock your hips back toward your legs as if you were going to sit on them, hold for a few breaths, then rock forward again. When back in the starting position, curl your back upward like a cat as your head hangs down. Return to a flat back and rock back toward your feet again. Repeat these two movements five times.