27 Jul Pregnancy and exercise

What about exercise while pregnant?

Recent scientific studies have shown that exercise during pregnancy is good for both the mother and child, encouraging a more active and healthier gestation process, helping to control the increase in pregnancy weight gain, as well as making the mother feel better throughout her pregnancy.

Training for pregnant women is not only is ACCEPTABLE, but it is RECOMMENDED. It is for this reason, on this post today that we are going to summarise the most important points about exercise and pregnancy to help all these women who are going to be mothers to be more active, more healthy, and enjoy their pregnancy more and fully.

Firstly:

1. We have to understand that pregnancy IS NOT AN ILLNESS ( in the past, pregnant women were treated as if they had an illness and for that reason  70% of expectant women are sedentary and the reality of pregnancy is waiting for the mother to give birth).
2. There are lots of pregnancy types, some are very easy and without any complications and others have various complications therefore it is very important that IN ORDER TO EXERCISE DURING PREGNANCY the expectant mother goes to a qualified doctor to get permission to do exercise.

Benefits of pregnancy and exercise

Staying active during pregnancy reduces the risk of suffering certain disease both for the expectant mother and child. For example:

1.  It encourages posture control, helping reduce back pain, constipation…improving the quality of sleep, therefore, improving the quality of rest.
2. It helps control weight gain during pregnancy (avoiding extra weight gain or obesity) and the loss of weight after pregnancy as well as easier and quick post-birth recuperation.
3. It reduces the possibility of suffering from diabetes and controls hypertension.
4. It helps improve the bouts of depression (you feel happier)
5. It strengthens your cardiovascular system (preventing varicose veins and blood clots.

Important to notice

In healthy pregnancy (no risk), the woman can continue doing exercise as regularly as before, but:

1. It is necessary to get permission from a qualified doctor (confirmation that it is a non-risk pregnancy) to continue training. If you have not been active previously (I mean if you didn’t train before being pregnant, it’s ADVISABLE  not to start training during your pregnancy, try to stay active without putting yourself at risk.
2. If you are doing physical exercise and you feel dizzy or nauseous, or any pain or discomfort, STOP EXERCISING.

So, can I do exercise while pregnant?

Yes, there are clear it has been evidenced scientifically that it is RECOMMENDED to exercise ( if it is a healthy pregnancy) but HOW DO WE TRAIN?

The key when it comes to training during pregnancy is the INTENSITY of the training. For example:

• If swimming, don’t do lengthy freediving
• If weight training, don’t lift heavyweights
• If running, maintain a heart rate no higher than 70% of your maximum.

Also, it is important to know WHAT exercises to do and what progression to follow (depending on which the week you are ). For example:

• Do low impact exercises (especially towards the end of your pregnancy)
• Adapt and progress exercise for your core
• Avoid unsuitable postures (lying down facing down, legs raised facing upwards, etc)

Sport and exercise such as walking, hill walking, running, fitness (weight training), cycling (indoor-outdoor), swimming, Pilates and Yoga (adapted for pregnancy), etc are RECOMMENDED.

The most important during this stage in a woman’s life (by which I mean pregnancy) is that she is happy, healthy and can stay as active as possible, using her intuition and level of comfort to guide her.

 I wish you a happy and active pregnancy. 🙂