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A warm up is an essential part of exercise whenever and whatever you do ....you can't just expect your body to respond instantly when you start exercising. A good warm up will gradually increase your heart rate, increase circulation to your muscles, ligaments and tendons, raise your temperature and reduce the risk of injury. It will also help prepare you mentally and get you in the right zone for exercise. It's even more important for exercise during pregnancy when a sudden burst of activity might wake up your baby too! But you don't have to be spend hours warming up - just a few moves to get you started, stretch your muscles and get you prepared. Fitness expert Lucie Brand has prepared these pregnancy exercises and says 'use these moves to cool down too - making sure you bring down your heart and breathing rates gradually.' Lucie's Top tip for exercise in pregnancy: Don't overstretch as relaxin makes your joints more prone to injury. Ankle Rotations: Stand on one leg (hold onto something if you feel a little unstable); raise your other foot off the floor and rotate the ankle, pointing and flexing your foot. Swop legs. Knee Extensions: Stay on one leg. Raise your knee higher, flexing your knee backwards and forwards. Hip and body rotations: With feet hip distance apart and hands on your hips rotate first in one direction and then the other. Put your hands on your temples and rotate your torso from side to side. Get that bump swinging mammas (but gently of course!) Warm up your arms: with your arms wide and straight flex your wrists up and down before circling your arms forwards and backwards. Cross your arms in and out in front of your body. Raise your arms and push your hands up towards the ceiling (or sky if you're exercising outdoors!). Flex and straighten your arms. Give your shoulders and good shrug, raising and dropping them to loosen your back, neck and shoulders. Then roll your shoulders backwards and forwards. Reach arms across, up and down. With one hand on your hip, reach one arm up and bend over to one side - or reach up to the ceiling (or sky!) with one hand, bending over with the other arm sliding down your thigh. Make sure you do this on both sides! Get stepping! Step to the side and back adding a knee lift or curl with the opposite leg. Get marching. A classic aerobic warm up! March on the spot, lifting your knees and swinging your arms. Make it more vigorous with a wide march stepping forwards and back, taking your feet apart and then back together. Lunge to the side: lunge to each side alternatively, turning your body slightly. As you lunge push your opposite arm across your body. Half jacks. Full jumping jacks are not a good idea when you're pregnant but a half jack with your arms coming in and out as you step each leg out in turn is a great warm up exercise. Heel digs. Tap your heels forward alternately. As you dig, bend the other knee and swing your arms forwards. Toe taps. Tap your toes behind you, bending the other knee and curling your arms forwards. Feeling warm and ready to go? Hit the gym, go for a run or a bike ride and enjoy your active pregnancy! Alexandra McCabe is a founder of FittaMamma, the healthy pregnancy experts. FittaMamma is a free resource to help women enjoy an active pregnancy with workout videos, recipes and prenatal yoga tips. Here you can find easy to use guides for exercise during first trimester which will help for increasing pregnancy fitness and manage weight gain
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