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"It's sad that people will say those things." Commando defends Michelle Bridges' pregnancy fitness.

Any day now, Steve ‘Commando’ Willis and Michelle Bridges will welcome their first child into the world.

Pregnancy should be a joyous time in any couple’s life, but ever since the two Biggest Loser trainers announced their exciting news in July they’ve received a lot of attention — and not all of it has been positive.

In particular, Bridges’ training routine has been subject to criticism and judgement.

Almost every time the 45-year-old has shared photos of herself being physically active — whether it be weight lifting or simply jumping into a pool — commenters have accused her of ‘endangering’ her unborn child and promoting an ‘irresponsible’ approach to exercise. Despite the fact fitness is her profession.

Even this holiday happy snap attracted critics. Sigh. (via Instagram)

 

As Willis sees it, this is just a sad example of people "projecting their own inadequacies" onto Bridges and himself.

"Michelle's pregnant, she's maintained a mind, body and spirit of health and fitness and [has been] putting out photos of training and being pregnant ... she feels, for herself, it helps with the pregnancy. Then others tear her down for that. That's on them. It's got nothing to do with us," the fitness coach says.

"I just feel sad and sorry for the people who feel there's a need to be like that. Why do people have to cut other people down and have nasty things to say? It's like, stand in front of a mirror — what's going on in your life that makes you feel you need to have a go at others?"

Watch: The 5 pregnancy symptoms nobody ever warns you about. (Post continues after video.)

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The judgment Bridges has fielded this year would be enough to make anyone delete Instagram and hide under a doona for three months. However, the duo are both determined to stick to their guns and not take the negative comments personally.

"We can allow it to affect us and alter the way in which we do things, or we can stay true to ourselves and just keep doing what we're doing. That's what I believe the majority of people out there want us to do is to lead from the front, not just through what we say but our actions," Willis says.

"We're not renegades or cowboys in the way we go and do things. We've been doing what we do for a very long time."

It also helps that the couple have a league of fans who'll happily jump into the comments section to defend them. Let's face it, you probably don't want to mess with anyone doing Willis' Get Commando Fit program or Bridges' 12 Week Body Transformation. Have you seen the kind of workouts they're required to do? (Post continues after gallery.)

Ultimately, Willis says, the criticism is most likely based in a misunderstanding of how pregnancy affects a woman's fitness routine.

Women's health experts agree that if a woman is fit going into pregnancy, there's no need to dramatically cut down on the amount of exercise she undertakes.

"Pregnancy should be celebrated. It definitely is going to slow you down - even watching Michelle, it slows you down. You're growing another human being, I think it's magnificent - I'm in awe that we're capable of doing that whilse still going about our daily routine," Willis adds.

The baby, due this month, will be Bridges' first child and Willis' fourth. We'll be keeping our eyes out for the announcement on Instagram.

Did you exercise during pregnancy?