20 Minute Pregnancy Workout For Second Trimester

Boost your strength, reduce pregnancy pains, and prepare for postpartum with this 2nd-trimester, 20-minute pregnancy workout! This prenatal workout uses TRX suspension straps to create a pregnancy-safe, low-impact workout you can do at home or outside.

While some pregnant women shy away from prenatal fitness, it does come with some great perks:

• Fitness is a great stress reliever
• Exercising correctly while pregnant can help reduce pregnancy-associated pain
• Staying active during pregnancy helps prepare your body for the workout that is labor
• Staying fit while pregnant allows your body to recover better post-baby.

As a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist,iIf you're still on the fence, check out the massive benefits of staying fit while pregnant.

Staying active is truly awesome for expecting moms.

However, one thing to note is that "fit" looks different for all pregnant women! There is no perfect kind of pregnancy workouts as each and every pregnancy is unique.

So place the focus on staying active with an exercise program and targeting the muscles directly responsible for reducing aches and pains while pregnant and in the early postpartum.

What To Focus On When Working Out While Pregnant

Staying strong while pregnant doesn't have to be intense or take a lot of time- exercise safely! Long gone are the days when you can hit the gym for ninety minutes. Instead, the focus should be on preparing the body for labor and recovery. Focus on:

• keep the glutes both strong and mobile (here are my favorite pregnancy hip exercises)
• work on strengthening the back of the body, specifically the upper back muscles to help counter postural changes
• strengthen the arms- you'll be doing a lot of carrying soon!
• engage the core muscles. Though they are stretching, they can still engage and doing so will help a lot postpartum

20 Minute Pregnancy Workout

Though this pregnancy workout is geared toward the second trimester, it works well as your pregnancy progresses as well.

It's circuit-based, meaning all the exercises are back to back, but you can move through them at your own pace.

The repetitions are not too high in volume that you'll be gasping but they will challenge your body.

Equipment You Need

This prenatal workout calls for TRX Suspension straps. These straps are easily one of my favorite pieces of home workout gear.

For expecting women especially they're ideal because they use your own bodyweight against you but you're in control.

They're also low-impact and based on your position, you can make the exercise easier or harder. Great to scale day by day!

Lastly, they're wonderful for beginners for these exact reasons also.

However, if you don't have TRX straps, a resistance band can be used in its place!

TRX Low Row	10
Y-Fly	10
Squat Step Outs	30 seconds
Chest Press	10
High Row	10
Hip Thrust	15
Rest as long as needed	2-3 sets

Perform all exercises in order for the prescribed number of repetitions. At the end of the last exercise, rest until fully recovered and repeat for a total of 2-3 sets.

Need more support? More visuals? Just MORE? Hit up the workout page and check out the follow-along pregnancy workouts!

Notes On The Workout

For the upper body exercises make sure to maintain good core engagement and an activated plank position throughout the motion.

Remember that the closer you are to the anchor point the harder the exercise.

Take the feet hip-width apart to give you a good base of support.

The video shows the squat step outs done with a mini loop, however, it's not needed! The step outs are equally hard without it.

Though the workout doesn't specifically use pelvic floor exercises, your pelvic floor can be worked into the workout by how you're connecting your breath. Not everyone needs to contract their pelvic floor though so check with a physio before adding endless kegals and contractions.

How To Modify The Prenatal Workout

This pregnancy workout is extremely basic- which means there are lots of ways to modify it! If you don't have TRX suspension straps, use resistance bands instead for the exercises. They're still low-impact but still provide external resistance.

A few things to remember as your pregnancy progresses:

• each day is different, adjust the prenatal workout based on how you feel that day
• drink lots of water during the workout and make sure you have something to eat beforehand
• take all the rest you need- this isn't a sprint
• focus on engaging the muscles and not just going through the motions, this makes all the difference

Don't Forget To Pin This Second Trimester Prenatal Workout

Frequently Asked Questions About Pregnancy Workouts

Working Out While Pregnant 

Pregnancy fitness is still very misunderstood and often overwhelming! If you need some guidance, below are a lot of resources I've put together over the past five years.

Keep in mind also that I share a lot of pregnancy-safe, full video, follow-along prenatal workouts on my YouTube channel.

These prenatal workouts are low impact, pelvic floor-supportive, require minimal equipment, and give expecting moms a great visual and the tips you need on how to perform the exercises correctly.

• Tips to consider when staying fit in the second trimester
• Tips for staying active in the third trimester
• Pregnancy-safe exercises
• Alleviating postpartum back pain
• Why you should see a pelvic floor physio
• Crucial postpartm exercises

Do you have a pregnancy-related question? Drop it below! We all need more SUPPORT when we're pregnant so I'm happy to help xx

Shelby aka Mama Bear