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Room to Room Fitness

Exercise Your Way Around the House

By Charlene Torkelson, Fitness Expert

Let's move to the kitchen for a hot cup of morning tea or an orange juice. While waiting for the water to boil, hold on to the counter with both hands. Just as in the bathroom, the counter height is perfect for support yet allows you to remain upright with your posture. Beginning with the right leg, lift the leg to the side 10 times. The key to leg lifts is to remain erect with your posture and only lift the leg as high as is comfortable without pushing or jerking. The lift should be slow and steady, up and down. Now do 10 lifts to the side with your left leg. This exercise is great for the upper leg and hip areas. Feel free to add more lifts.

One area that seems to lose attention during pregnancy is the upper body – the ars and chest area. Push-ups and pull-ups just don't make it on the list of great pregnancy exercises. One way to tone the upper body is to keep a set of small weights – 2 to 5 pounds each – near your laundry area. While you are waiting that extra few minutes for your load to wash or dry, a few repetitions with these small weights will work wonders for your arms and chest area.

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!