How to Tone Your Legs & Buttocks During Pregnancy

Series Summary

Pregnancy can be one of the most magical times in a woman's life. However, it can also be one of the most taxing. A pregnant woman experiences backaches, leg cramps and general physical discomfort throughout the stages of carrying a child to term. There are several things to consider when pregnant, like proper diet, safe exercise, financial planning and maintaining the health of the unborn baby. In this free video series on exercise, a professional fitness trainer demonstrates several pregnancy-related exercises. Practice safe exercises during pregnancy by continuing a regular routine or starting a new workout program gradually. Learn to exercise while breast-feeding without affecting the milk production, and get back in shape after having a baby with light cardio, proper diet and mild resistance training. Tone the body during and after pregnancy for a healthier life.

Video Transcript

"Now that you're pregnant, we want to keep that lower body nice and strong, and get ready for delivery. I'm Carol Ann with Studio Group X, and I'm going to show you some exercises that you can do to strengthen your legs and buttocks. First thing you want to do is you want to make sure you've been released by your doctor in order to exercise. All right, so first of all, we're going to start with some standing squats. So your feet are hip-width apart. And you want to squat back and really stick that rear end back, and come up and squeeze those glutes. Keep your abdominals in. Squat back and up and squeeze. So it's nice and smooth. You want to make sure that your knees don't go past your toes. And you can do about 20 reps for your squats. Another exercise that you can do, you can use the ball. And you can do some squats on the ball, as well. And this will help kind of support your back, and this will feel really nice. So you're going to walk down and place your feet in front of you, about hip-width apart. And just squat down and push up. Down and up. Again, you can do about 20 reps of these squats. Next, to really strengthen those legs and create some nice, long, lean muscles, you're going to do some side lying leg lifts. So your hips are stacked, posture nice and tall. You can even put some pillows underneath you. And you're just going to lift your leg up and down. So that will help strengthen your legs, as well. And then the fourth exercise you can do to strengthen those glutes, come to a tabletop position. Your hands are underneath your shoulders. Pull those abdominal muscles in. Extend your leg back behind you, and lift up and lower down. You want to make sure that you're keeping your head, neck, and spine in alignment, and focusing right on that gluteul area. Again, you can do about 20 reps on each side. So those are four quick exercises that you can do while you're pregnant to strengthen your legs and your glutes. I'm Carol Ann with Studio Group X, and good luck on your journey."