What Strength Training Tools Should have for Pregnancy?

Hello, there!  It’s me, Dr. Kelly, Double Board Certified Pelvic Physio, and owner of Pelvic Floored.  What strength training equipment (stuff, weights, bands, etc) should I buy in pregnancy is actually a SUPER common question that I get from nearly every pregnant client, so I thought a blog post was in the cards.  

First Off: What IS Strength Training Equipment? 

Strength training equipment can mean anything that you need to move your body during pregnancy.  The most common items that our professional staff recommends to clients are basic items that allow for safe maintenance (and building) of strength and movement control, with the hope that you’ll use them your whole life, not just during this pregnancy!  Imagine your children learning that moms having time to exercise and care for their bodies is normal and encouraged and fun to do!!!  

We here at Pelvic Floored don't want you to run off and spend millions of dollars on “stuff” if you don’t need to, there are a few things that will make your life during pregnancy (and the fourth trimester postpartum, and ever-after), more enjoyable...as well as a few “splurge” items that if your mother-in-law or rich Aunt really want to buy you something, that you should go for :)  

Bare Necessities 

(ie, things to register for that are actually going to help YOU, mama, more than a cute nursery rug or diaper bag…not that the diaper bag isn’t cute…but you deserve as much as baby at this shower ;) 

1. 36”, Full Circle Foam Roller.     This is a basic version from Amazon that I recommend.  And while the link should take you directly to the 3-foot long one, be sure to select the 3-foot long (36” long) one.  This foam roller is a key part in overall spinal health, and pelvic floor health, during your pregnancy and ever after.  As your amazing body grows a baby during these 40 weeks, your sweet muscles of your back and shoulder blades will have to work to keep your incredible body upright—and we don’t want them to have to work harder than they need to. What’s even cooler than moving smarter, not harder, though?  You can also use this foam roller to strengthen upon, in the postpartum (or anytime) phase.  All Pelvic Floored courses use this type of training, as the feedback it gives to your brain, to help control your deep core is invaluable to you in building a strong functional core.    Trust me, once you start strength training over a foam roller, you’ll never believe that you didn’t know foam rollers were about more than just flexibility and making you cry while rolling out IT Bands :) 
   
   
2. Pull Up Assist Bands
   If I just blew your mind teaching you that you can use foam rollers to “strengthen upon” and that they’re not just for stretching…I’m about to do it again with Pull Up Assist Bands.  Did you know, that despite their name, they are for OH SO MUCH MORE than “just” doing pull ups?  And while doing a pull up unassisted (or with a pull up assist band) is an AMAZING feeling, we can also use these gems for resisted lower body work (hello inner and outer thighs), as well as gluteal, hamstring and back strength as pregnancy progresses, and as we recover postpartum.  The beauty of these bands is that you can use less resistance when needed (hello early pregnancy and early postpartum, if we’re fatigued…) or more resistance when needed (hello, superhero 3rd trimester and later postpartum for return to run progressions.  I have this same set and am obsessed with them.  
   
   
3. Pelvic Floored Online Courses.  Oh you KNOW that I had to do this, right?  In my humble opinion (which, as one of a handful of Doctors of Physical Therapy in the world who are double board certified in Pelvic Health & Orthopedics, my humble opinion matters :)   In my humble opinion, having access to World Class Level Information and Exercise Progressions can change everything.  Pelvic Floored has a Pregnancy Bundle (3 amazing Pregnancy facing classes), Pregnancy AND Delivery Bundle (All pregnancy classes PLUS award winning Push Prep, the best delivery class for mom and birth partner, ever), as well as a Mind the Gap course for Diastasis Recti Recovery, a Postpartum Course in Beta Mode AND a monthly subscription to “Dr. Kelly’s Treasure Chest” where for one low monthly fee, you can access a world of exercise progressions.  All of Dr. Kelly’s 25+ years of experience, bundled into tangible online course, accessible from any device (phone, computer, tablet), worldwide?  These courses, are a MUST for every new mom…and everyone with a pelvis, in fact ;)  
   
   
4. Cooch Ball!  Yes, if you’ve been around here more than a minute, you know that Dr. Kelly loves Cooch Balls.  Dr. Kelly likes to say (& I like that I am suddenly referring to myself in the 3rd person, for some reason…oh well, we’ll go with it) that in the first 10 years of her career, she recommended self-internal muscle work, and pelvic wand work, almost exclusively, to pregnant women, and new moms, to prepare their pelvic floor for, and recover their pelvic floor from, delivery.  And while pelvic wands are great (coupon code kelly21 will get you $5 off ANYTHING at intimaterose.com), sometimes we just don’t have time or privacy to do the internal stuff.  Enter the Cooch Ball.  3-minutes a day to relax your pelvic floor?  Sign me up.  And while I’ll do longer blogs later, here’s a brief video in how to relax the pelvic floor with a Cooch Ball (or rolled towel) for women, and here’s one for men!

Where was I??  We’ve talked about rollers, bands, courses and balls.  Oh yes, it’s time to address “the weight question.”

The weight question…to dumbbell, or to kettlebell, or barbell??

Here’s where the recommendations get more “it depends”.  And the reason it gets “it depends”, is that I don’t know anything about you and your specific circumstances.  I don’t know how much room you have for a home gym, or if you’re going to a personal trainer or fitness club.  I don’t know what you like to do, or what your specific goals are.  

Since I don’t know that, my recommendation on dumbbells vs kettlebells vs barbells will be a general one.  I’ll go over pros and cons of each option, and give you the same links that I provide to my clients who ask me this question.  You then get to decide what’s best for you :) 

Dumbbells (DB)  

Pros: Handy because they come in lots of different weights and styles.  This type has a metal handle, this one is more “rubberized” on the outside.  

Cons: If not-adjustable, they take up a lot of space.  

Dr. Kelly’s Recommendation: If you want DB, get a set of 10# DB.  If you have never lifted before, maybe also consider a 3# or 5# set as well, as you’ll need those for shoulder and upper arm groups at the beginning.  But a set of 10# DB will give you a wide range of versatility for upper body, core and lower body training.

Kettlebells (KB)

Pros: They look super cool, and can be used for grip strength training, and more functional weight training when compared to DB because of their weight distribution.  Lifting a KB off the floor is arguably more similar than lifting your child off of the floor, when compared to a DB.  

Cons: Again, can get “space-consuming” if you need lots of sizes.  BUT, you typically only need one of each weight, not a “pair” like you do with DB, so that’s nice.  

Dr. Kelly’s Recommendations: Pick this standard metal one, or this colorful option.  I generally recommend, in addition to the single set of 10# DB, that clients get one, 25# KB to use for leg and core tasks.  

Barbells (BB)

A Barbell, as the name suggests, is a bar that has weights on either end of it, typically secured by a clamp, or a collar.  Depending on your level of weight lifting, you might wonder about tensile strength of your bar, or bushings vs needle bearings—-if you are wondering those things, you belong in a more advanced blog post :)  

Pros: They are super fun, and allow for a wide diversity of functional weight lifting tasks, including the “sexy” weight lifting options of Romanian Dead Lifts, Dead Lifts, and other Olympic Lifts.  

Cons: These guys suck the space out of a home gym faster than a toddler eating the inside of an Oreo Cookie.  To have a BB setup at home, you will require a safe space to hold the barbell, weights, and to lift.  

Dr. Kelly’s Recommendations:  Unless you are a seasoned weight lifter with a professional gym at home, use DB and KB at home, then go to the gym to work with BB with a trainer.  You not only get form cues, but you get a variety of programming input that you might otherwise forget to incorporate into your program.   Rogue Fitness is one of the companies with the highest quality barbell set-ups out there, but if you DO buy a set up, be sure the plates fit on your bar, please :)  And know how to lift safely.  

And of course, THE SPLURGE OPTIONS!!  

In case your rich Aunt Theresa REALLY wants to buy you something, here’s a few ideas that are “more splurgy” than the “bare minimum” recommendations above:

Adjustable Dumbbells!!  
Not only do they come in a box with the prettiest pecs I’ve ever seen See here. 

So for what it’s worth, the price of the dumbbells might just be worth the box!!

Pros: This solves ALL the problems of the “space-taking up” of other DB and KB.  This particular one goes from 2#-50# each, and takes up about the size of two shoe-boxes.  

Cons: PRICEY.  We’re talking general price of about US$300 PER DUMBBELL.  Which is a lot.  BUT…if rich Aunt Theresa REALLY wants to get you something…or your friends want to buy you something, but you have a 200 square foot NYC apartment, and can’t fit ANYTHING, then you should buy one of these (and the foam roller, pull up assist bands, courses and Cooch Ball).  

Dr. Kelly’s Recommendation: For those of you that can afford 1-2 of these, they REALLY are the cat’s meow.  They allow you to have a wide range of resistance that you can use for every body part, and as your kids grow up, and begin to lift weights with you (it’s the dream, when this happens), you can have one DB light for them, and one DB heavier, for you.  

Gift of Pelvic PT!!   Did you know that most Pelvic Physios offer in person AND online visits?  So if you have a group of folks, or one rich relative, that REALLY want to splurge on you, please ask them to consider donating to a Pelvic PT fund.  They can reach out to specific PTs, if you have one in mind (like me, or my staff), or just set money aside for you…but promise that you’ll use it on you and Pelvic PT, and not diapers.  

Pros: Connect to your body for your best pregnancy, delivery and ever-after.

Cons: No negatives.  Just $$ and time.  Online access reduces demand of all of this.  

Dr. Kelly’s Recommendations: Spend at least as much time preparing your body for delivery, as you spend preparing the nursery, love.  Preferably more.  See a Pelvic PT a BARE MINIMUM of once in your 2nd trimester, to get oriented “down there” and prepare the tissues for a visit in your 3rd trimester, where you’ll learn about perineal stretching and labor/delivery positions.  Then postpartum, see a Pelvic Physio at least once 4-6 weeks post delivery, and again 8-10 weeks, to ensure you have “a plan for you”.  So bare minimum 4 visits.  If the cost is prohibitive, SEND A KIND email to the Pelvic PT of your dreams, stating your case and situation, and ask if there’s anything they can offer in your price-range.  You might be surprised.  Some, like Pelvic Floored, have a scholarship fund in place for just such cases.  And you’ll never know if you don’t ask. 

K–that’s the skinny on "what strength training stuff do you need to buy in pregnancy!"  I sincerely hope this was helpful to you!  If it was, please consider passing this blog post on to a friend, or sharing it to your social media accounts.  And if we forgot something, let us know at [email protected]!!  We love learning new things, and are happy to highlight recommendations by our readers!!!

Remember that the vision of Pelvic Floored is to save the one pelvis at a time, starting with you, and our mission is to reduce geographic, psychosocial and financial barriers to Pelvic PT care.  If we help you, you can amplify that effect by letting others know about us!  Thanks so much!

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Dr. Kelly 

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