Exercise & Pregnancy: Is it Safe?
Exercising during pregnancy can be a confusing topic, and one that leads to MANY questions. Many women feel concerned about exercising during pregnancy due to the risk of injury, not just of themselves, but of their baby as well! This can be a legit fear for some soon to be mama’s, but I’m here to help reduce the confusion and give you some research-based information to help point you in the right direction for exercising while pregnant! In this blog post, I am going to cover what the typical recommendation is, what the benefits to exercise is during pregnancy, what type of exercise you should be doing, things to look out for with modifying or stopping certain exercises while pregnant, and specific instances where you should NOT be exercising or ensure you have the permission from your physician first.
What is the recommendation for exercising while pregnant?
For those of you who just want some raw numbers, the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) recommends 150 minutes of aerobic activity weekly - this could be broken down into 30 minute sessions 5 times per week. In a healthy, normal-weight pregnant woman, the optimal exercise session is 30-45 minutes at 50%-75% max VO2 (which essentially means 1/2 to 3/4 of your absolute maximal effort your body can do), followed by at least a 15 minute recovery period. This recovery period could be something like gentle walking, light stretching or cycling.
What are the benefits of exercising while pregnant?
Let’s go straight for the numbers again - the risk for gestational diabetes is 31% reduced if you exercise during your pregnancy. (**) This number jumps up to 36% risk reduction if the exercise program is conducted throughout the entirety of your pregnancy! (*)
Another interesting statistic about a potential benefit associated with exercising during pregnancy is the increased fetoplacental growth rate. What does this mean?? Essentially, if you moderately exercise (50%-75% of max VO2), the placenta, even as early as 20 weeks into your pregnancy, can have significantly more volume, along with birthing a larger newborn presenting with less body fat…aka a very healthy baby! (***)
So, exercise is good, but what KIND of exercise is best?
Okay, so we get the fact that exercise during pregnancy has many benefits along with just being good for us in general, but what type of exercise might be best?? Should you be focusing on different types of cardio, or maybe a strength training approach is better? Well, if you’re trying to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes, the research shows that a COMBINED approach is best. This could be due to the fact that resistance training contributes to blood glucose uptake without altering the muscle capacity to respond to insulin and aerobic exercises (cardio) enhances its uptake via a greater insulin action. (*) With that being said, there may be a few factors to consider in deciding how to exercise while pregnant.
What if I just want to continue doing what I was doing before?
YES! Do that! If you were exercising prior to becoming pregnant and would like to continue doing that, please do. Another thing to consider is the activity level you were exercising at before - were you exercising at a very HIGH intensity level? If so, that’s still okay, as long as you are really monitoring your body’s response to that level of intensity. And just remember, now is NOT the time to be pushing yourself to the extreme. As the saying goes, too much of anything can be a bad thing.
The most important thing with any exercise is to really listen to your body and watch for signs of compensation. And what signs of compensation should you be watching out for exactly?? Take a look below…
Significant coning or doming down the abdomen
Heaviness felt in the pelvic floor with pressure management and loading
Having to hold your breath through exercises in order to brace - we should ALWAYS be breathing through the exercise!
Lower belly pushing/bearing down through the pelvic floor
Feeling of your abs pulling apart, but not necessarily doming/coning
Any or all of these would be a sign that your body is having to compensate to perform the exercise/activity and that it’s time to modify!
What if I wasn’t exercising before becoming pregnant?
If you have never exercised or just weren’t doing it prior to becoming pregnant, it is still safe to exercise during your pregnancy. Now, with that being said, DO NOT go from 0 to 100! For example, if you weren’t running prior to your pregnancy, I would NOT advise you to go out and run a 5K on your first attempt at running while pregnant. You want to take it one small step at a time! Slowly increase the time and intensity of your activities and as always — LISTEN to your body.
What sorts of things would keep me from being able to exercise while pregnant?
In the therapy world, we refer to this list as our contraindications. These are some things that you would ABSOLUTELY need your physician’s approval first in order to exercise while pregnant.
Incompetent cervix
Placental abruption
Preterm labor
Persistent bleeding
Failure to thrive
If you’ve been told you have or may have any of these terms, you should 100% seek out advice about exercising while pregnant with your physician.
Exercise and Pregnancy: Top Takeaways
Exercise is GOOD during pregnancy! Research has shown time and time again that it is beneficial to both mom AND baby.
If you have never exercised before, it is safe to do activity during pregnancy and slowly increase time/intensity is recommended.
If you exercised before pregnancy and want to continue, just make sure you are listening to your body and being aware of some compensations that would need modifications!
If you were intensely exercising prior to pregnancy, again, listen to your body and just remember - there’s no need to push it to the extremes during this time.
Movement During Pregnancy Doesn’t Have to Be Confusing
And as always, if you are finding yourself struggling with navigating strengthening during your pregnancy, Mind Body Core has got you! My Prenatal Program uses evidence based techniques, where you will know EXACTLY how to connect your core and pelvic floor, how to modify to fit your situation, learn proper pelvic floor relaxation, continue to built STRENGTH during pregnancy, and feel EDUCATED and EMPOWERED with knowledge of labor and birth leading into your own experience.