Introduction
Many women stop their sports activities shortly after they become aware of the pregnancy for fear of harming the child. However, exactly this attitude is counterproductive. Studies have found that pregnant women who continue to exercise have less physical discomfort and a higher chance of a complication-free birth.
When should I start with back training?
Women who need to exercise regularly when they are pregnant do not need to take a break, but can continue their training normally. Among other things, this includes back training. Those who did not do any sports before pregnancy can start at any time.
The motto here is: the earlier, the better. Sports beginners should start with a measured amount of exercise and gradually increase in intensity step by step. When doing the back training unit, women should always listen to their body and only do the exercises and intensities they feel comfortable with.
Back training can therefore be started at any time, whether you are at the very beginning of your pregnancy or have been doing it for a while. The training should feel good and high pulse rates should be avoided at all costs. Our new article could also be interesting for you: Sports during pregnancy
The best exercises
From the 16th week onwards, you should avoid exercises that take place backwards or on the stomach.
- An exercise that is also known from “normal” back training is the shoulder-foot-bridge. Head, shoulder girdle, arms and feet rest on the floor.
The pelvis is now lifted upwards so that the body has no contact with the ground from the shoulders to the feet and forms a bridge. It is important to keep the tension and not to sag down with the hips.
- Further exercises begin in the quadruped position, with the lower legs and hands resting on the floor. The back is in a horizontal position and the head in extension of the spine.
Now one begins to bend the back to a cat-hump with the head between the upper arms. The movement is carried out slowly and up to an end point, where it is held briefly and then slowly and in a controlled manner ends again in the starting position. The counter movement, in which one leads the navel from the quadruped stand as far as possible towards the ground and puts the head somewhat into the neck, can also be carried out and thus go into a slight hollow back.
However, you should be careful with this exercise in the advanced month of pregnancy in order not to get into a hollow back too often and too strongly.
- The four-point support is another exercise that is very similar to the quadruped position. The hands should be positioned directly under the shoulders, and the knees under the hips. The balls of the feet are in place and the shoulders should not be pulled up towards the ears.
From this starting position, the knees are now raised a few millimeters, the abdomen tensed and the position held for twenty to thirty seconds.
- The turtle or diagonal stretch is an exercise where you also start in the quadruped position. Now the right arm and left leg are stretched out simultaneously, so that only the left arm and right leg balance the body. The abdominal muscles should be tensed and each side is held for at least thirty seconds before changing.
- The tight rowing can be done with small dumbbells or even with water bottles and is therefore also ideal for home use.
In the starting position, the feet are positioned hip-wide, the upper body is slightly tilted forward with a straight back and the weights are in the hands. Now the arms are stretched diagonally forward and down and close to the body back again. When leading backwards, the shoulder blades are pulled together and the chest is opened.
- An exercise that can only be performed with the help of a gym ball strengthens the lower back extensors and thus prevents back pain.
The starting position is standing with the back against a wall. The gymnastic ball is now clamped between the wall and the coccyx and the ball starts to roll up and down. The upper body remains straight and is kept under tension. The legs change between a stretched and a squatted position. The degree of squatting is determined individually by the user.