Moving our bodies helps prevent a lot of health problems, and regular exercise helps manage the symptoms of other things, including anxiety and depression. Itcan also improve your mood, give you more energy, and help you sleep better at night.
But what about exercising when you’re pregnant. In this post, we’ll explore the health benefits of exercise during pregnancy, what you need to watch out for, and discuss a few exercise ideas that are best for pregnant women.
Exercise and pregnancy: Is it safe?
First things first. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, so you might be wondering whether exercise is safe, period, or if there are specific things you need to avoid.
Here’s the bottom line: For most of us, getting our bodies moving during pregnancy is a really good thing. The reason we need to be careful is a couple-fold:
- Once your bump starts showing, certain positions, like lying on your back, can cut off
- Getting too hot can be a risk to your babe, so it’s important to cool it on things like hot yoga while you’re pregnant.
- For you, remember that your body is producing a hormone called relaxin that causes your ligaments to relax. It’s what ultimately helps your pelvis open during delivery — but it also can mess with your balance and alignment. You quite literally move a little differently thanks to the one-two punch of hormones and weight gain, which can put you at a higher risk for issues.
- Finally, remember: You’re growing a human. So you might find that you’re not as strong or have as much energy as you did pre-pregnancy. That’s totally normal!
While exploring the right pregnancy exercise plan for you, we recommend that you talk with your doctor or PT first, and you also might consider finding an exercise professional who specializes in working with perinatal women. Every pregnancy is a little different, so just because an Instagram influencer was doing regular workouts until the moment she popped that baby out doesn’t mean your pregnancy will be the same. It’s about what’s right for YOU, and unfortunately the age-old advice to “listen to your body” isn’t quite right, either.
If your doctor puts you on bed rest, go on bed rest. However, as long as your doctor clears you to exercise, most exercises you’re already doing are probably safe to continue doing while pregnant.
Exercise and pregnancy: the health benefits
For all who can manage it, we’re advocates of active upright labor, and childbirth is a physical feat. So one way to think about exercise during pregnancy is that you’re actually training for this event—not to mention the physicality of early motherhood. When it comes to exercise and pregnancy, there are many benefits. Here are just a few:
- Reduces back pain: When you exercise regularly, you help improve your posture, which helps reduce some of the back pain that comes with pregnancy weight gain and hormones.
- Eases constipation: Exercise reduces the amount of time it takes for food to pass through your large intestine, which limits the amount of water the stool absorbs along the way, making things a little easier to pass. The more you know!
- Allows for a quicker recovery postpartum: The more fit you get during pregnancy, the more fit you’ll be postpartum, and the quicker you’ll be up and about afterward.
- Boosts mood: Did you know that 10–50 percent of women experience depression during pregnancy? Depression can have many different symptoms, including irritability, restlessness, loss of interest in things that you usually love, fatigue, or trouble focusing. These things can make everyday tasks completely overwhelming. The good news? Moderate exercise alleviates a lot of these symptoms. Exercise calms down your sympathetic nervous system to decrease stress and can also just help you feel better.
Ways to stay physically active during pregnancy and what to watch for
If you’re looking for some safe ways to stay active during pregnancy, think about a mix of cardio and strength training.
Low-impact aerobic exercises will give you the best bang for your buck. Think things like swimming, brisk walking, or using a step or elliptical machine. These exercises have a low injury risk, so most mamas can continue them throughout their entire pregnancy. The later in your pregnancy you are, you might want to moderate exercises that require too much sudden movement or require a lot of balance. Remember that running is actually a high-impact activity, so even if you’re a lifelong jogger, you’ll want to make sure your runs are properly supported.
You might have heard that you need to make sure your heart rate doesn’t exceed 140 beats per minute when exercising during pregnancy. A more practical guideline is actually the talk test: Can you carry on a conversation while doing that exercise? If you can’t, pull it back a bit.
We also recommend strength training because hormones and your growing bump leave you susceptible to a lot of muscle weakness.
Whether you’re not typically an active person and are looking to start making changes for you and your baby’s health or you’re looking for workout routines made specifically for pregnant moms, we recommend checking out:
- The team over at Expecting and Empowered. Their workouts were created by two moms themselves, are easy to find and download, and require little to no equipment.
- Momma Strong, which was created by a physical trainer who has been focusing on pre- and postnatal moms for the past nine years. She has a program for moms-to-be, brand-new moms, and busy moms who are looking for a good workout routine. These programs come with live Q&As and support on their message boards, so you can make sure you’re doing things right and avoiding any unnecessary injuries in the process.
And if you’re not into the idea of going to the gym, there are a variety of ways to get moving without a gym pass or workout equipment. Walking your dogs, deep cleaning your house, or turning on a really fun playlist and dancing until you’ve worked up a sweat are all great ways to get some exercise. The important thing is to get moving.
Disclaimer: The information herein is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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