3 recently pregnant personal trainers on what they did — and did not — change about their workout routines in each trimester

• Exercising during pregnancy can reduce pain and the risk of gestational diabetes.
• Three personal trainers from New York City discuss how they changed their routines while pregnant.

Exercising is one of the most important things women can do throughout all three trimesters of their pregnancies. It can reduce back pain and decrease the risk of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. Before you continue training, make sure to check with your healthcare provider about what's safe for your pregnancy.

"I experienced far less severe symptoms, aches, and pains by working out regularly," Katia Pryce, the owner of DanceBody, a boutique fitness studio in New York City, said. "My baby also ended up in a great position because of my daily movement — the doctor confirmed."

Insider spoke with Pryce and two other NYC fitness-studio owners — Beth Nicely of The Limit and Sadie Kurzban of 305 Fitness — who were all recently pregnant at the same time. They shared what they changed, as well as what they didn't change, in their workout routines while pregnant.

Exercising during pregnancy is important, but listen to your body

All three women said exercising early in their pregnancies was rough because of fatigue and nausea but that it was important to keep moving.

"Exercising early on can increase your blood volume, which will then give you a feeling of more energy throughout your pregnancy," Kurzban said.

It was important for their health to continue a regimen of physical activity, but it was also their job to keep teaching classes and private sessions throughout their pregnancies.

"A good rule of thumb is whatever you were doing consistently 3 months before you got pregnant, should be fine to do during your pregnancy," Pryce shared in the caption of an Instagram post about working out during the first trimester of her pregnancy. The post went viral.

She said during the first three months, she worked out less than normal and did stretches and sculpting classes when she felt up to it.

"I had a consistent workout routine before becoming pregnant, and because I had a low-risk pregnancy — even though any pregnancy over 35 years old is considered 'high risk' — I felt confident keeping my DanceBody workouts consistent throughout the entire nine months," Pryce, 39, told Insider.

Kurzban taught four classes a week up until 38 weeks and continued taking classes until the day she gave birth. Nicely, also a personal trainer, as well as a certified pre- and postnatal instructor, taught six to nine private sessions daily on weekdays up until 37 weeks.

Kurzban and Nicely continued lifting weights of about 25 pounds throughout their pregnancies, and Nicely even ran a half-marathon at six months pregnant. Her doctor gave the OK, as long as she didn't get overheated. But not every pregnant person is adept at handling that same intensity.

Her obstetrician "basically told me that I was a good reminder that there are different baselines that people start at in pregnancy, and my baseline was just higher than a lot of other baselines," Nicely said, adding: "When you start at that baseline, my 60% is very different from other people's 60%. So a lot of what I did in my third trimester was my personal 60%."

Modify your ab exercises, and focus on obliques

As the belly expands in the second trimester, it's important to redirect ab exercises to the side of the body.

"One of the biggest changes is around your core," Kurzban said. "Your abdomen stretches a lot. There's now a lot more pressure in your abdomen with the baby, the placenta, and the uterus growing so much."

That's where targeting the obliques comes in. At 28 weeks, Nicely stopped doing core abdominal work.

"Once you start coning, which is basically the center of your stomach making a triangle a little bit, you really need to stop doing abdominal work or planks or anything that's going to add abdominal pressure," Nicely said.

"No more abs, planks, or push-ups on the ground at all," Pryce said.

She stopped doing these exercises a bit earlier, at 24 weeks.

"I was very cautious not to put too much pressure on my expanding abdominal wall," she added. "Instead, I did exercises standing up that still hit my obliques and arms."

Some exercises you can do instead are side planks, lateral pulls, and a lunge with a back row on the opposite side, Kurzban said. She added: "Think about crisscrossing the body."

Dial down the high-intensity cardio

In the third trimester, all three women dialed down the intensity of their cardio but kept their workouts similar to what they'd always done. Toward the end of Pryce's pregnancy, she still made movement a priority and continued to work out most days of the week but reduced the time and intensity, opting for low-impact cardio for short spurts. It still gave her a great endorphin rush and sweat. Modifications for jumping might include doing step-outs instead of jacks, or squats instead of jump squats.

"I actually started lifting heavier weights toward the end of the pregnancy because I couldn't jump and do my regular cardio," Nicely said. "I had to get my heart rate up. You kind of need that strength training for picking up that child, holding that child, squatting, bending down, picking up things."

The reason higher-impact activities become more challenging is that you've gained 25 to 30 pounds and it's harder on your joints, but your body is producing "relaxin, which is a hormone literally made to stretch your body," Kurzban said.

"A lot of women experience more looseness in the ankles, the feet, the lower body, and in the hips," she added. "So when I would take 305, a full-body dance-cardio class, I started to modify and do the lower-impact options in the class."

Exercise modifications to focus on during the 3rd trimester

Other exercises Kurzban focused on in the third trimester were bridges, a move where you lie on your back with your knees bent and then lift your hips off the ground and tighten your glutes. She also suggests trying a single-leg deadlift, where you stand on one leg, creating a kickstand with your other leg, then lean forward while holding a kettlebell (or free weight) close to the leg and lean forward to strengthen your hamstrings.

"There's another exercise called a 'poor man's leg curl' where you put one leg up on a bench and you're laying down, and you lift into a bridge," Kurzban said.

As Nicely approached the third trimester, she found it more and more uncomfortable to lie on her back for moves such as bridges, so she would modify the exercises by using a bench, stool, or chair to rest the top of her back on to give her some extra support.

Kurzban advises finding a specialized trainer or group-class expert who has been pregnant before and experienced how to switch up movements safe for the body.

"They're certainly key exercises and ways that you can benefit yourself throughout pregnancy that are even better than just adapting a traditional exercise routine," she said.