Prenatal Workouts to Get You Rolling

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Prenatal Workouts to Get You Rolling: Exercising with a stability ball helps to strengthen your core while alleviating pressure from your back and legs, no matter how big your belly has become.; Follow these David Kirsch–designed moves, illustrated on the first three slides, to target your core during pregnancy. Tackle other trouble zones, like the arms, thighs, and butt, with prenatal moves from Exercise Balls for Dummies, shown on slides 4 and 5.

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Mini Crunches: Classic tummy-tighteners, crunches (best for the first trimester) are comfier when you're cushioned by the ball.; 1 Sit down on the ball. "Walk" forward and lean back slowly until the small of the lower back is positioned firmly against the ball.

2 Keeping the knees bent and feet flat on the floor, do small, focused crunches. Start with a set of 5 reps and gradually build to 15.

Form & Function
Be sure to keep your eyes cast upward, relax your neck, and exhale as you lift. As pregnancy progresses past the first trimester, crunches of any kind—even the "mini" version proposed here—won't be viable. (And not just because they'll be uncomfortable—the weight of the baby can place extra stress on the interior vena cava, a main heart vein.)

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