Tips for modification and scaling of workouts
General tips to amp up / scale back intensity:
- For cardiovascular / aerobic exercise: My favorite cardio exercises while pregnant are: biking, swimming, rowing, elliptical, walking, and strength circuits (Yes! This can be cardio!)
- Increase (or decrease) resistance, incline, weight (carry something in hands, wear backpack / diaper bag, your pregnant belly, etc), add / remove rest time
- Do intervals - increase speed for 30 seconds, slow speed for 30 seconds. I find that this passes the time quickly and allows for recovery - which is super important when pregnant!
More specific modification ideas:
- Play with your time domains - you can always modify any workout to a time / structure that fits your needs / time constraints for the day
- There are a variety of ways to structure workouts:
- AMRAP (as many rounds / reps as possible) for a set amount of time
- EMOM (every minute, on the minute) for a set number of minutes
- For time - complete designated number of reps / sets no matter how short / long it takes
- Tabata (:20 sec of work, 10 seconds of rest - for a set number of rounds - typically 8 rounds or 4 minutes)
- Example: only have 15 minutes while your toddler is napping or in between work calls? Change a “for time” workout to an AMRAP or EMOM for your desired # of minutes
- Make it fun!
- Set your skills to music
- Ex: squatting for length of a song (“Bring Sally Up” is a very popular Crossfit warm-up: every time the words “bring Sally down” are sung, you squat down, then when “bring Sally up” follows, you stand back up).
- Use what you have on hand
- Deck of cards?
- Assign a movement to each suite and complete number of reps on cards
- Ex: 7 of hearts = 7 push-ups
- Face cards can be higher numbers, or special exercises
- Ex: every King is a walk around the block
- Quarter?
- Heads is one movement, tails another
- Work up to / down from a set number of reps
- Dice?
- Perform 6 rolls of the dice - complete number of repetitions of exercise per each roll
- Change exercises after 6 rolls
- Walk the block / do a set of stairs / etc in between rolls or changes of exercise
- Change the number of repetitions
- You can amp up or scale down the number of repetitions for ANY workout, or any portion of the workout.
- Low back starting to fatigue with overhead movements? Do 5 instead of 10
- Not feeling any sort of muscle burn with 10 squats? Try 15-20
- Add weight
- Grab some dumbbells, kettlebells, water bottle, soup cans, backpack, diaper bag, your kid :) and add weight to any movement to increase the difficulty.
- Increase (or decrease) the lever arm - a fancy way of saying, the further away the weight is from your body, the harder the movement will feel.
- Ex: Leg straight while performing leg lifts, versus knee bent while performing same motion.
- Play with the amount of rest time
- Feeling fatigued or short of breath? Build in more rest time (:30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes) between exercises / rounds / etc.
- Need more of a challenge? Remove that rest time and keep moving continuously
- Change up your ROM (range of motion)
- Decrease the depth of your squats, lunges, etc to avoid heaviness at pelvic floor
- Change your base of support
- Widen your foot positioning during squats to accommodate growing belly
- Play with the width of your feet during modified planks / push-ups to box, etc. Typically, the wider your feet, the more stable / easier the exercise will feel
- Sit to stabilize pelvis during overhead motions
- Switch up grip / positioning during barbell work - or switch to dumbbells
- Sumo-style deadlift instead of traditional deadlift
- Start from the “hang” position (above your knees), instead of at the floor
- Do kettlebell swings to chest height instead of all the way overhead
- Switch any asymmetrical movements to symmetrical movements
- Single limb activities can always become double limb activities
- Switch to “strict” movements at lighter weight (perfect for at-home exercise!) rather than relying on momentum
- Strict shoulder press versus push-press
For more in-depth information, check out my specific movement guide, with explicit scaling options available for common exercises. Videos (hopefully) coming soon!