Fitness icon and Fit Body app creator Anna Victoria is pregnant with her second baby, and though this pregnancy is different from her first in a lot of ways, one thing is the same: she’s still working out. She’s been doing pregnancy workouts from the Grow + Glow program on her app, which is designed to be a pregnancy-safe, low-impact strength-training plan — and she’s shared a similar workout here so you can try it for yourself.
Victoria, a NASM-certified trainer, put together this total-body pregnancy workout exclusively for POPSUGAR. It builds strength all over so you can stay strong for the rest of your pregnancy and the new-parent journey to come.
“These moves are great for a full-body prenatal workout because they’re not only pregnancy safe, but they also focus on strengthening all of the main muscle groups, especially the posterior chain,” she tells POPSUGAR. The posterior chain is the group of muscles that run along the backside of your body, including your hamstrings, glutes, and back. “Strengthening your posterior chain is incredibly important when pregnant since you have a growing belly on the front side of your body, so you want a strong back side of your body to support that beautiful belly! Not to mention, you will need a strong posterior chain to support picking up and holding baby once they’re here.”
This pregnancy workout is safe for the first, second, and third trimesters, Victoria says, but if you’re expecting, it’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor about what’s safe for you personally in terms of prenatal workouts. Listen to your body closely, too. If you feel discomfort during any exercise, stop. Provided you chat with your doctor first, moderate-intensity exercise during pregnancy is safe and even recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
If you are ready to work out and want to build a strong body for your baby (and yourself!), go ahead and try this pregnancy workout from Victoria below.
Full-Body Pregnancy Workout From Anna Victoria
Equipment needed: A set of medium-weight dumbbells, between five to 12 pounds. (See our guide for more tips on how to choose the right weight.)
How it works: Make sure you do a dynamic warmup before the workout and a cooldown stretch afterward. This workout is made up of four supersets, which means you’ll alternate two exercises until you’re done with that section before moving on to the next superset. For example, in Superset 1, you’ll do a set of squat presses, then a round of squat pulses, and repeat these exercises three times total. Then you’ll move on to Superset 2. There’s no rest built into this workout, but feel free to rest as needed in between moves and supersets.
- Superset 1: Squat Press + Squat Pulse — Repeat 3x
- Superset 2: Romanian Deadlift and Shoulder Press + Knee Push-Up — Repeat 3x
- Superset 3: Bicep Curl Lunge + Modified Jumping Jack — Repeat 3x
- Superset 4: Squat and Bent-Over Row + Modified Burpee — Repeat 3x