A fitness influencer who continued to work out during pregnancy has revealed that she now does workouts with her baby.
Sofia Pires gave birth to her daughter Evie Nasca-Pires, whom she shares with fiancé Alessandro Nasca, just six months ago, and has been enjoying new mum life.
Throughout even her later stages of pregnancy, she continued to keep up an intense fitness regime, impressing her 13,000 Instagram followers.
Now, the 28-year-old has started incorporating her baby into her workouts.
“Before starting a family, I was at my peak fitness level,” Sofia, from Portugal, told What’s The Jam.
“Which was exactly where I wanted to be just before falling pregnant.
“I didn’t know how pregnancy was going to go for me as it is something we can’t plan for but I was determined to do everything to continue an active and healthy lifestyle through out my whole pregnancy.
“I was quite sick the first three months so I settled for daily walks and a healthy diet until I felt better.
“But once morning sickness had passed I was ready to get back into the gym and I trained five days a week until my due date.”
However, this also came with a mix of reactions from both friends and her fans online.
Sofia said: “It was either very positive or very negative.
“There isn’t a lot of information out there about training during pregnancy but I had great support by my midwife who was also a friend I had known for years and she was very aware of my training and limitations.
“In all honesty, the negativity didn’t affect me at all.
“I was very confident with my knowledge in training and my body awareness.
“On the positive side, I had an amazing support group and friends that enjoyed training with me.”
After giving birth, she found a way to tweak her regime to include her baby in the workouts.
After giving birth to Evie on 7 March, she started training again one week postpartum.
Sofia said: “I absolutely had to modify my training.
“I had to slow the intensity and drop the weight to my warm up weight pre-pregnancy.
“I also prioritised mobility as I knew it would help me with a smooth and natural birth.
“I started with very light stretches and core breathing exercises.
“Recovery was very important to me and as a very active person I wanted to make sure I did it right.
“And I took the right amount of time before starting my usual training and rested as long as I needed.”
Sofia now visits the gym with Evie, and even carries her while lifting weights.
She said: “I train hard and keep fit for my daughter, I want her to grow up with seeing how disciplined and passionate her parents are.
“Being a parent shouldn’t mean giving up on the person you were before or the things you loved and enjoyed doing.
“In fact, practicing whatever it is you liked doing before, teaches children about hard work, goals and ambitions.
“You know what they say, ‘monkey see, monkey do.”
And her biggest advice to anyone wanting to stay fit in their pregnancy and postpartum is to “listen to your body.”
She added: “Anyone can tell you what they think is right but only you know yourself and your limitations.
“Also staying active and healthy can be as little as going for a walk and eating a nutritious diet.
“I know pregnancy is unpredictable and tremendously hard sometimes but we can try making it more enjoyable by staying fit.”
“Having strong muscles can prevent back pain and aches, and mobility work helps reducing stiffness and discomfort during labour!”
SOFIA’S WORKOUT BEFORE PREGNANCY
HIIT class four times a week.
Weight training six times a week.
20 thousand steps daily.
Running three times a week.
TRAINING DURING PREGNANCY
HIIT training two times a week with a lot less intensity.
Weight training five times a week.
10 thousand steps per week.
No more running.
TRAINING NOW
Postpartum training: Week 1 – light stretches, as a breastfeeding mum she wanted to make sure her neck, back and chest were relaxed and loose.
She then focused on mobility and core recovery for the first six weeks and slowly introduced weight training.
Since, she has been working up in weights and taking Evie to the gym.
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