The Barbell Mamas Podcast | Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pelvic Health
The times are changing and moms have athletic goals, want to exercise at high-intensity or lift heavy weights, and want to be able to continue with their exercise routines during pregnancy, after baby and with healthcare providers that support them along the way.
In this podcast, we are going to bring you up-to-date health and fitness information about all topics in women's health with a special lens of exercise. With standalone episodes and special guests, we hope to help you feel prepared and supported in your motherhood or pelvic health journey.
The Barbell Mamas Podcast | Pregnancy, Postpartum, Pelvic Health
Navigating Exercise in Early Pregnancy
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That positive pregnancy test changes everything—suddenly you're questioning your exercise routine, wondering if you need to modify, and trying to navigate the world of first trimester symptoms while maintaining your identity as an active person. For athletic women, this period can be especially challenging as you balance your love for movement with new physical limitations.
The nausea, fatigue, and sometimes vomiting that often peak around six weeks can derail even the most dedicated fitness enthusiasts. But here's the mindset shift that changed everything for me: when you're operating at 40% of your normal capacity and give 40% effort in your workout, you're actually working at 100% of what your body has available that day. This auto-regulation approach—adjusting based on how you feel each day—allows you to honor both your pregnancy and your athletic identity.
Many women fear they'll need to abandon competitions or significantly scale back immediately upon becoming pregnant. However, research doesn't support this concern. In uncomplicated pregnancies, there's nothing about first trimester physiology that requires stepping away from races or meets. I personally PR'd at a weightlifting competition at 10 weeks pregnant! Similarly, the research is clear that exercise does not increase miscarriage risk—an important reassurance for those exercising after loss.
Most importantly, remember that your pregnancy journey is uniquely yours. Some days, moving your body might actually help alleviate symptoms (I've found aerobic exercise particularly helpful for my nausea), while other days might require complete rest. Morning workouts often work better as fatigue accumulates throughout the day, but never sacrifice sleep for exercise. Set low barriers to start—commit to just one kilometer or one set—and you'll often accomplish more than expected. Above all, choose movements that bring you joy during this time of tremendous change. Your body is doing incredible work growing a human, and every bit of movement counts!
Subscribe to the Barbell Mamas podcast for more conversations about navigating motherhood as an active woman, and share your own first trimester fitness experiences with our community.
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Hello everyone and welcome to the Barbell Mamas podcast.
Speaker 1:My name is Christina Previtt. I'm a pelvic floor physical therapist, researcher in exercise and pregnancy, and a mom of two who has competed in CrossFit, powerlifting or weightlifting, pregnant, postpartum or both. In this podcast, we want to talk about the realities of being a mom who loves to exercise, whether you're a recreational exerciser or an athlete. We want to talk about all of the things that we go through as females, going into this motherhood journey. We're going to talk about fertility, pregnancy and postpartum topics that are relevant to the active individual. While I am a pelvic floor physical therapist, I am not your pelvic floor physical therapist and know that this podcast does not substitute medical advice. All right, come along for this journey with us while we navigate motherhood together, and I can't wait to get started. Hello everybody and welcome to the Barbell Mamas podcast, christina Previtt. Here and today, we are going to be talking about exercise in the first trimester. I have been talking a lot about the fact that we want baby three, and last week I announced that I am, in fact, that we want baby three, and last week I announced that I am, in fact, pregnant with baby three. I am about eight and a half weeks pregnant, and so this is very, very relevant for me right now, and I thought this might be an episode that is helpful for you if you're thinking about getting pregnant again or you're currently in that first trimester.
Speaker 1:Currently in that first trimester, when we are thinking about that positive pregnancy test, it is wild how that test turns positive and you start questioning absolutely everything. Do I need to modify? What should I switch? What can I eat? What can I not eat? Am I going to be feeling symptoms? If I do, are they going to be super intense? Am I going to be able to function? Oh my gosh, I have that work trip. It is wild. My life was so crazy. I accepted a teaching position at my local university. I'm going to be teaching as an adjunct in September.
Speaker 1:That was in the two-week wait period that I did not know that I was pregnant. I didn't want to be not taking opportunities in case the pregnancy didn't happen for me, and so now I have a little bit of the false scaries thinking like, oh my gosh, my work life is so busy. I have two kids in school and now I am pregnant with baby three. But we're going to make it, we're going to do it, and so the symptoms that tend to peak right, oftentimes around six weeks, some people a little bit earlier, some people a little bit later is when you're going to start experiencing your first trimester symptoms.
Speaker 1:Obviously, there is a wide range. Some people feel a lot better than others, but the biggest barriers to physical activity is definitely the nausea and or vomiting and fatigue, and so the amount of those symptoms that you are going to feel is so, so, so, so, so individual, and the comparison game can be really hard, but I really am going to tempt you to not compare it's funny with this pregnancy and with my first two, I have been very lucky in that I have felt pretty good. Yeah, I'm a bit more tired. Yes, I definitely am randomly gagging throughout the day, but I am not a person who is actually vomiting, and I am also able to keep my energy okay once I kind of get over the caffeine withdrawal, because for me, if I am not pregnant, the limit for caffeine consumption does not exist. But I also recognize that that is not how everybody is, and so the first piece of advice that I am going to give you is that you do not want to compare with other people about what your symptoms are, what your symptoms aren't, because it can just make you go crazy. I am pregnant after a miscarriage, and so me feeling pretty good is also messing with my head, right when I'm like. Well, maybe I'm not sick enough, maybe baby isn't okay, and I've had to really like step back and reflect on the fact that that is not serving me and me staying relatively stress managed is the best thing that I could possibly do, and so the first piece of advice, when we're going to be talking about exercise and talking about the first trimester and pregnancy in general, really is that I don't. I want you to try not to do the comparison game, because you see all these things online about people who keep up being super active and some people who don't, and it is your pregnancy and it is your story, and I think that that can be the best piece of advice.
Speaker 1:Now, when it comes to the first trimester, yes, nausea and vomiting, fatigue and tiredness are going to be oftentimes the reason why individuals are changing their exercise routines. What we know in the first trimester thus far and this is something that I'm actively researching right now I actually have a manuscript in that is looking at first trimester behavior and what modifications, if any, are needed. What we see is that usually your exercise will drop down in intensity and or frequency, how many times you're exercising per week because of nausea or vomiting or fatigue. I'm kind of lumping these things together and I think that is a really important thing to know. Your body is very tired and so if you have, or you feel like you are at 40% of your normal capacity and you go in the gym and you give a 40% effort, you are working at 100% of the effort that you have that day. And that change in mindset was super helpful for me, where I'm going to auto-regulate based on how I'm feeling that day. And if I wasn't doing that and I thought I have to hit these numbers for sure, or I have to hit these paces, or if I'm not able to work out for 90 minutes, there's no point in me coming into the gym. That type of very fixed mindset made me not go into the gym at all. And so if you can kind of go into this mindset where you're going to auto-regulate based on what energy you have that day, knowing that it's going to fluctuate and it is going to change throughout your weeks of pregnancy and the first couple weeks are really tough. I think that is my first piece of advice.
Speaker 1:When we're thinking about looking at pregnancy and exercise in the first trimester, that's number one. Number two on the complete other side of that pendulum, so many people are signing up for races, have competitions planned, are in race prep or competition prep or meet prep and then they get pregnant right. And the question is can I compete Now? In uncomplicated pregnancies we can compete. If you want to do that marathon, you can do it. I did a weightlifting meet 10 weeks pregnant with my first. I PR'd my lift in that meet. You may take your intensity down and your expectations down, but there is nothing about pregnancy physiology in the first trimester outside of how you are feeling within your own body that tells you that you have to step back or that you cannot compete and actually trying to compete, even if it's not for a personal record or a best on a race, but still doing it.
Speaker 1:For people who are really active and I'm just kind of speaking anecdotally from clients of mine and myself sometimes it can make you feel like you aren't completely stepping away from your exercise. I know a lot of people who have said stuff to me like I don't really want to get pregnant because I'm so afraid that I'm going to have to change all the exercise that I really love to do, and that's not true, right? Pregnancy develops gradually. A lot of the modification and scaling that we're talking about is towards the end of pregnancy, as baby starts to get bigger and your body is showing a lot more changes from a muscle and bone perspective, and so early on, if you want to be competing, you can. Now it may be more taxing mentally on you, and if you want to decide to step back, that is absolutely okay too. But there is nothing around your pregnancy as long as there is no complications or other issues coming up that says that you have to step away, and so that is my advice number two If you have a meet planned, if you have a race planned, you do not have to step away, and so that is my advice number two If you have a meet planned, if you have a race planned, you do not have to step back or avoid doing that competition because you were in the first trimester, because you are pregnant, you absolutely can do it. Number three is that we have no data that supports.
Speaker 1:Exercise and miscarriage. I've talked about this a lot a lot exercise and miscarriage. I've talked about this a lot, a lot lot where we now have two systematic reviews, which are synthesis of research studies that have not shown an association or correlation between the exercise you choose to do in pregnancy and your rate of miscarriage. There is, if you are exercising. There can sometimes be this tendency to want to make a connection, but that has not shown in the research, and so if that is you and you're concerned about continuing to exercise because of risk of loss, I want you to know that there is nothing that you are going to do from an exercise perspective that is going to put your baby at risk. You are safe, and understanding that and knowing that I think is really important If a miscarriage does happen I have been there. It's really important too that I hope that you hear me that it was not your fault about the run that you did or the lift that you did that caused that loss, and I know it can be really, especially if you are a person who has experienced loss, who is pregnant after loss. I am in that space right now of somebody who is currently pregnant after experiencing a miscarriage. It is hard because you're kind of questioning everything, but please have that part at ease of mind where we do not have that association or that connection. If you do decide to bring your intensity back, that is also totally fine. So this is my piece of advice.
Speaker 1:Number four you do not have to prove anything around exercising during pregnancy. You are not less fit. You are not setting yourself up for failure or anything if you have to step back for days, weeks or the entire first trimester because you are feeling so crummy. When you are a person who loves exercise and has a big part of their identity that is tied to exercise, it can be really difficult to not go to the gym for a couple of weeks and that can be something that is really hard to manage. But just know your fitness will be there. You are not dooming yourself to deconditioning if you take a couple of weeks off because you really are feeling crappy in that first trimester and the only thing that you can do to get through your day is go to work, come home and sleep or try to exist while taking care of your other kiddos at home. And so just know that for most, by the time you're starting to get to the end of that first trimester you are going to start to feel better. You probably will want to engage in exercise a little bit more and then you can just kind of ease back into exercise again and that is going to be okay. So that is my next piece of advice of you do not have to make yourself feel guilty or anything like that if you are choosing not to exercise because you are super tired.
Speaker 1:That kind of goes into that comparison game too right, like you don't understand other people's behind the scenes. Like you may see them exercising but it's their first pregnancy and they're on the couch for 20 hours a day. Or they don't have three other kiddos at home and you're on the couch for 20 hours a day. Or they don't have three other kiddos at home and you're a stay-at-home parent and you have to take care of them the entire day. You know they have a ton of family around and you don't have that same social support. There's just so many other variables that come into play when it comes to how you can engage in exercise during pregnancy that the highlight reel doesn't show. I posted a reel just a couple days ago that was talking about what you see, and you see me lifting and running, but you also don't see that I exercise at home, and so I can try and retch or feel like I'm going to gag outside in my backyard, open up my door and if I have to throw up, then I have to throw up, and so you just don't see it, and so that is okay. Sometimes you have to kind of turn that filter on when you're looking at people online.
Speaker 1:My next piece of advice I think I'm at number five is that if exercise is something that is really important to you, sometimes doing it anyway can actually help, and so this is definitely not a tough love thing, but this is definitely something that I am experiencing, where sometimes I go into the gym and I'm feeling really effing tired or I feel like I'm going to throw up and I walk into the gym anyway, and the thing is, I acknowledge my privilege that I have a home gym and I have a safe place around my house to be able to run with my dogs my dog and sometimes doing it anyway can be helpful. The way that I mentally trick myself into going into the gym, especially those days that I don't want to do it is to tell myself I can, I'm only going to do one kilometer, or I'm going to promise myself I'm going to do one kilometer, or I'm going to promise myself I'm going to do one set. And so I make my barrier to exercise low and then, if I feel okay, then I can keep going. But truly, if I finish that kilometer and I feel like crud, I can turn around, and this is not just true in the first trimester, this is true all the way around. Like you can get that warm, like just do your warmup. If you get into the gym and if you truly feel super crappy, then you can turn around and leave. You did your 100% for that day and, acknowledging that most of the time you end up getting more done than you think I have no evidence to back this up. I'm going to acknowledge this.
Speaker 1:I have just seen this anecdotally and seen this in clinic and definitely experienced this myself. In particular, aerobic exercise has been super helpful for my nausea. I can come into a session and feel super gaggy and as soon as I start exercising, especially kind of in that low to moderate zone, I feel better. And it's not all the time, it's not perfect, but I do feel better and I also notice, like even in this third pregnancy, that the days I exercise my nausea and my fatigue are a little bit better, like, just like the feeling of having a weighted blanket on you, versus the days that I'm not active. And so for me that's a big motivator for me to get into the gym, even when I'm tired and feeling a bit off, because it does help. Now, sometimes, on the strength training part, if I'm feeling really gaggy and I'm bracing really hard, it can make me feel gaggy still, and so the intensity of my brace might go down a little bit if I'm feeling kind of rough and I've had other people tell me that too but try and see if exercise actually makes you feel a little bit better.
Speaker 1:Now, obviously there's going to be if you are actively vomiting, if you have hyperemesis gravidarum, like you got to do you, and so I'm not trying to play shame or make you feel bad if you are not going into the gym that is not my intention at all but trying to get out, even for a 10-minute walk outside and see how that makes you feel, I think that that can be helpful. And this kind of leads into my next kind of item is that most of the time, if your symptoms feel better, that's great, and also most of the time you don't think I really wish I didn't do that exercise or I really wish I didn't do that workout, and so I so trying to move your body as much as you can. Again, if you got 20%, if you're moving it at 20%, you are doing 100% and that's a great job can be super helpful. Now, if you are really trying to get your exercise in in the first trimester, if you can, I highly recommend trying to get exercise in earlier in the day. Again, totally a caveat that it depends on your personal circumstances and what that looks like for you. If you're on shift work or you're in a medical residency or whatever it may be, this may not be possible, but if you can, trying to get exercise in earlier rather than later is helpful, because the further you are in your day, the more likely that fatigue is accumulating on you. You probably had your little bit of coffee that you were allowed in the morning and so your energy is probably highest and you can be more successful or have less barriers to getting into the gym if you go earlier in the day. Again, I acknowledge my privilege that I have a very flexible schedule. I work a lot of hours but I can make those hours. Again, I acknowledge my privilege that I have a very flexible schedule. I work a lot of hours but I can make those hours and so I can get exercise in earlier in the day and that works for me and my family, and so it can be a piece of advice where, if you can get that exercise in earlier, that can be helpful.
Speaker 1:My next kind of piece of advice is that when you are thinking about exercise, what I don't want you to do is be sacrificing sleep in order to exercise all the time. If you have a night where you sleep like crap and you need that extra sleep, please don't feel guilty about taking it, because you need that sleep. So many of us need extra sleep. And so if you are thinking about, do I get up at five in the morning when I didn't get to bed till midnight because I was so tired, hitting that snooze alarm or getting that little bit of extra sleep can be super helpful. And then my last piece of advice is to do the exercise that feels the best for you.
Speaker 1:If you're in a hard training block and you're doing a bunch of exercises you hate and then you're also tired and feeling like you're going to throw up, all of that does not sound fun. So sometimes allowing the first trimester, especially when you're feeling crummy, to just do exercise that you really love If you hate RDLs or Bulgarians which I think everybody hates Bulgarian split squats and they're in your program right now and you're in your first trimester, I am giving you permission to get rid of the Bulgarians for now if it makes it feel a little bit better to get into the gym if you get to avoid it. So, especially when you're feeling really crummy, I always want that association between exercise and moving my body to be one that's really positive. And so do whatever exercise you feel comfortable with right, and that may be modifying or scaling, or that may be doing 12 weeks of yoga or Pilates or trying a certain type of Pilates. That's amazing. All of that is great. The more you move your body just in general, the better you're going to feel.
Speaker 1:And yeah, sometimes it's exercising the first trimester, especially for people who are, like, really athletic and have been on a really rigid training schedule. It can be kind of liberating, it can be kind of freeing where you kind of do what you want for a little that feels so good. And so right now I'm on a four to five day split where I am one week I'm trying to lift three days and run two, and then the next week I'm trying to run three days and lift two, and then if I miss one, I miss one, and I try and do a main lift and accessory lifts and I'm making sure that I'm doing a bunch of butt and core strengthening, especially early on, to make sure I have a bunch of reserve in the tank for later on in pregnancy, where my body is more stressed from a muscle and bones perspective. But it's really fun, like I am just enjoying exercise and if I don't, I pivot. I had a really tough snatch day yesterday and I cried in the gym Um, love that for me. Um, but I just moved on to squatting and it was just, it was what it was and yeah, it's just, it's just okay. And so doing exercise you feel comfortable with and doing exercise, that is super fun. Um, cherry pick your workouts, like that is okay in the first trimester because the whole point is that you are growing a tiny human, you are exhausted and tired, you are developing brains and nervous systems and limbs and appendages and a placenta. Your body's going to feel that fatigue and you can kind of adjust appropriately so that hopefully you're enjoying some movement when you get to it in the first trimester. So let me know if you're a first trimester mama with me. It is super exciting.
Speaker 1:I announced early it was as soon as I got past the day that I'd had my previous loss, which was seven plus three. I felt like I breathed a little bit easier. I am not out of the woods. Obviously we still have to do our ultrasound and all that little bit easier. I am not out of the woods. Obviously we still have to do our ultrasound and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:I meet with the midwife on the 10th of September, but I'm just trying to enjoy this pregnancy. It is almost 100% going to be my last and so I'm thankful for every day that I get to move my body and I reflect on that every time I exercise, because I do know that there are complications and issues that can come up that can make exercise less accessible and I, while feeling kind of crummy, I'm also trying to come into this pregnancy with a lot of appreciation of what my body can do and that reframing for me has been really powerful and just yeah, being thankful that I love running. I have not run in a previous pregnancy, so I don't know how long I'm going to be able to run for, and so every run is amazing. I just love that. I get to ditto with moving a barbell. I've always been able to lift, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be able to lift this entire time, and so every time I move a barbell, I'm thankful and hopefully I can keep it up, um, but if I can't, I pivot, and that is okay.
Speaker 1:So if you are listening to this and you're a first trimester mama, please reach out. I want to know all my babies that are coming in spring of 2026. If you have any questions, comments or things that you want us to consider, please let us know. Otherwise, have a really wonderful rest of your week, everyone, and we'll talk to you all soon.
