Hilary Swank isn’t letting pregnancy keep her out of the gym.
The 48-year-old actress. who is currently carrying twins, recently shared a video from a gym workout. In the clip, the mom-to-be is wearing black leggings and a gray long-sleeve t-shirt with her hair pulled back in a messy bun.
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She’s doing a set of transverse presses, a move that targets her shoulders and chest, according to certified personal trainer Brooke Cates, founder and CEO of The Bloom Method (a pre and postnatal fitness method), who saw the Instagram post.
In the clip, Swank uses her right arm to push the multigrip barbell attached to a squat rack across her body to the left. She begins with a slight bend in both knees, and as she moves her upper body her feet pivot to the left. She straightens her right leg, coming up on her right toes, while her left leg remains bent and left heel stays on the ground in a lunge position. Then she returns to starting position, facing the equipment straight on.
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“Me and Da Babes workin’ out 🤍🤍,” writes Swank in the caption of her post that has more than 100,000 likes.
While everyone’s experience with pregnancy and fitness is unique, if it’s safe for you to work out while expecting, there are plenty of benefits to getting your sweat on well into your third trimester.
“When you stress yourself consistently, you become better able to tolerate greater amounts of stress,” certified strength and conditioning specialist Carolyn Appel, C.S.C.S., director of education for PROnatal Fitness, a fitness company aimed at preparing pregnant people for childbirth and parenthood, previously told Shape. “Therefore, continuing to put the work in when the going gets tougher in the third trimester will actually create a more resilient body that will be better able to handle everyday activities.”
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Plus, keeping up with a prenatal fitness routine can ease general pregnancy woes. “Think of the things that seem daunting about pregnancy: the aching back, swelling, and interrupted sleep,” Emily Skye, a personal trainer and the creator of the Emily Skye FIT Pregnancy program, previously told Shape. “Consistent exercise can help reduce back pain by maintaining muscle strength and reduce swelling by keeping your circulation running smoothly. A workout will help you get better-quality sleep too.”
If you’re pregnant and unsure how to incorporate exercise into your routine, Cates has some advice. “Honor your body through all its changes while using this opportunity to learn how to better recruit the deep core and pelvic floor both isolated and in larger movement-based exercises,” she says.
Additionally, it’s important to scale back as needed. “Always [gauge] whether it’s ‘safe’ to continue an exercise or not primarily based on the ability to regulate the increased pressure in the abdomen (IAP),” says Cates. “This will help to prevent common pregnancy-related injuries, such as injury-based diastasis [recti] and pelvic floor dysfunctions, [such as] prolapse and incontinence. [It] makes for a more comfortable pregnancy and easier recovery postpartum.”
If you needed some inspiration to hit the gym, whether you’re pregnant or not, Swank’s latest Instagram post is sure to deliver a boost of motivation.
