Exercise During Pregnancy in Singapore: Three Women, Three Third Trimesters

One of the things I love most about coaching prenatal clients in Singapore is also the thing that makes it impossible to have a single “pregnancy exercise program.” No two third trimesters look the same — and this past month gave me a perfect snapshot of that. Three clients, all approaching the end of pregnancy at the same time, all needing something completely different from me.

Client 1 — A Straightforward Pregnancy, Training to 39 Weeks

This was a normal, uncomplicated pregnancy. She felt good, energy stayed steady, and with her gynaecologist’s clearance, she trained right through to 39 weeks. We kept her sessions largely as they were — sensible modifications as her body changed, but no major pullback. Not every pregnancy needs to be treated as fragile. When the body is coping well and the doctor has cleared it, “keep going” is often the right call, not the exception.

Prenatal Exercise with Gestational Diabetes and Fatigue

This pregnancy asked for something completely different. As a second-time mom managing gestational diabetes, fatigue hit her hard, and she needed her exercise to work with her body, not push against it. Her main movement became a walk after lunch — simple, manageable, and genuinely useful for blood sugar management. When we trained together, we cut sessions down to 40 minutes and shifted almost everything to seated exercises, because standing work was leaving her dizzy. This is a good example of why “exercise during pregnancy” can’t be reduced to one prescription. Her body was telling us clearly what it could handle that week, and our job was to listen and adjust, not to hit a target we’d set weeks earlier.

Training Through Early Dilation at 37 Weeks

This one still makes me smile. She showed up to a session at 37 weeks and, before we’d even started, told me she’d just found out she was already a centimeter or two dilated. Understandably, that news changes how a session should go — so before doing anything, we checked in with her gynaecologist, who gave the OK to continue training. From there, we adjusted: lighter loads across the board, and we deliberately backed off squatting in particular. There were no contractions, nothing suggesting labour was imminent — but at that stage, neither of us wanted to risk doing anything that might nudge things along, so we shifted the focus to more upper body and seated work instead. That was simply the choice that felt right for both of us in the moment. She ended up training right through to 38 weeks.

The Common Thread: Adjusting Prenatal Training to the Individual

None of these three women had the same third trimester, and none of them had the same training plan. One kept training almost unchanged. One needed her whole session rebuilt around fatigue and dizziness. One needed a same-day adjustment based on news she walked in with. What stayed constant across all three was the process: check with the gynaecologist when something changes, listen to what the body is actually telling us that day, and adjust the plan rather than force the woman into it.

This is the heart of what real-life strength training during pregnancy looks like in Singapore — or anywhere. It’s rarely about following a fixed program from week 1 to week 40. It’s about staying responsive — to fatigue, to medical guidance, to whatever that particular week brings — while still helping a woman feel strong and capable right up until she meets her baby.

Prenatal Exercise Coaching in Singapore

If you’re pregnant in Singapore and wondering what training could look like for you, this is exactly the kind of individualized approach we build together at ActiveWomen — whether that’s at Core Collective (Dempsey, i12 Katong, Tanjong Pagar), at home, or online.