Ashley Verma, founder of London’s Barre studio DEFINE and Pippa Middleton’s trainer during pregnancy, exclusively chatted with Us Weekly and walked Us through Middleton’s vigorous pregnancy workout. Watch the latest episode of Moms Like Us with hosts Christina Garibaldi and Stroller in the City’s Brianne Manz to see how it’s done!

While Verma told Us that every expecting mom needs to find out what works for them, for Middleton, the focus during pregnancy was on cycling, walking and barre.

“I think for anyone that is expecting, they need to find a workout that really speaks to them and get into it and stay committed to it. Because in the long run, you’re only going to feel better after your delivery,” Verma told Us. “You’re not working out during your pregnancy to lose weight, you’re not doing it to stay in a certain size jean. You are training for childbirth.”

While pregnant women tend to shy away from weights, Verma said to do the opposite: “Your weights are super important throughout your entire pregnancy. Pippa was never afraid of weights. We were never afraid of hand weights.”

The trainer explained: “I think it’s very important that you are lifting — so five-pound weights, eight-pound weights, 10-pound weights — doing a lot of reps, but they also are low impact. So you’re not going to feel as though your heart sprung up into your throat and you can’t talk.”

Her first rule of thumb when it comes to working out while pregnant is to make sure you are able to “talk back.” 

She said: “If you can talk, you’re in a good zone.”

For more with Verma and to see how to do Middleton’s pregnancy workout, watch the exclusive video above. Catch Moms Like Us every Thursday on Us Weekly’s YouTube channel at 3 p.m. ET.

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Mandie DeCamp