27/28 Weeks - Third Trimester!

Ok, third trimester, bring it on! Back aches, sciatica, heartburn, kicks to the ribs, difficulty bending/twisting, difficulty breathing, hip pain, strained ligaments.... do your worst, because I now know that it will all end all too soon, and when it does I will have another little blessing to show for all my hard work and suffering :)

As my baby bump is getting bigger, I'm finding it's getting "in the way" of a lot of my exercises and stretches, so the majority of the modifications I've had to make to my program lately have been to accommodate my growing belly. Here are some of the exercises and stretches I've had to switch up:

Pigeon Pose --> just don't have the space anymore to fold over my front leg, so I stay sitting tall and have been instead working on bringing my foot parallel with my knee.

Squats, Deadlifts, and Leg Presses --> are all done in a wide stance now, or "plie" position.

Seated Twists --> I find it's easier to do my twists standing now, or with my knees below my hips.

Preacher Curl --> where I would usually do these facing straight forward and using a barbell, I've started turning my body to a 45 degree angle and working just one arm at a time with a dumbbell.  I'm actually really liking this tweak, as it allows me to hit a different angle of my bicep than I usually get with this exercise :) Just make sure your elbow is still in line with your shoulder to avoid injury ;)

Boom! Arm pump and baby bump.

The biggest modification I've had to make this week though was to cut down on the duration of my daily walks.  Last week I took a long 2 hour walk and ended up straining my round ligament (ligament that connects front part of womb to groin). Go figure - I can workout for 2 hours every day and feel completely fine, but I take a 2 hour walk and it totally destroys me! lol So I've been trying to follow the internet doctor's advice by resting it, gently stretching it, and not making any "rapid movements", you know, like chasing after my toddler who has taken off in a parking lot, or jumping up from my seat when said toddler is about to climb onto something dangerous..... *Sigh* I guess being a mom is not really conducive to "rest" :P

Has anyone else out there strained this ligament before? If so, what did you find helped speed up the recovery?

-Tess