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Room to Room Fitness

Exercise Your Way
Around the House

By Charlene Torkelson, Fitness Expert

Moving to the living room, you can sit in your comfy chair for a few arm exercises. New babies require lots of lifting and holding, so it's a good idea to strengthen those arm muscles during your pregnancy. Begin with simple arm circles. Stretch your arms out to the side, palms flexed with fingers pointing upward. With straight arms, circle the hands and arms forward. Begin with 10 then move to 20 or 30 circles. Now circle the hands and arms backward. Again, begin with 10 then move to more circles. If you are not used to working your arms, they will begin to feel tired quickly. An easy way to do more circles is to distract yourself with a good TV show or a favorite piece of music. You'll forget all about your tired arms!

A great stretch for your arms and shoulders after doing circles is to bring your right arm across in front of your body (at shoulder height) and with the left hand press the right arm into the body. Grasp the right arm underneath in the upper arm area near the shoulder. This allows a more comfortable stretch. Now do the same for the left arm.

Want to see more?

• Get on the Ball: Bouncing into Prenatal Fitness
• Gentle Postpartum Fitness: You Can Start Right Away
• Off the Wall Fitness: Your Home Is All the Support You Need!
• Talk about it!

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