Physical activity during pregnancy can help you maintain — or even slightly improve — your preconception fitness level. Regular prenatal exercise improves circulation, keeps weight gain in check, elevates mood, boosts energy levels, strengthens you for childbirth and can alleviate a number of common pregnancy symptoms, including lower back pain and constipation. Understanding general prenatal exercise limits and contraindications can help you safely stay fit during your pregnancy.
Physician Approval
Consult your health-care provider before you begin a prenatal exercise program, regardless of whether you’re fit or already physically active. If you have a certain health condition, including a history of preterm labor, heart disease, lung disease, severe anemia, an incompetent cervix, chronic hypertension or pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, your obstetrician or midwife may instruct you to avoid or limit exercise. Carrying multiple babies is another condition that may make exercise unsafe for you, especially if you’re a preterm labor risk. Even if you’ve been cleared for exercise, your doctor may tell you to stop if you experience strong Braxton Hicks contractions or persistent bleeding in the last two trimesters.
Level of Exertion
For years, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or ACOG, recommended that all pregnant exercisers keep their heart rate at or below 140 beats per minute while working out. Current guidelines take individual fitness levels into account by suggesting that as long as you can talk comfortably, your level of exertion is appropriate. You can also use rate of perceived exertion, or RPE, to measure your intensity. RPE is a scale ranging from 6, or “no exertion,” to 20, or “maximal exertion.” Depending on your condition, you should be able to exercise between 12 and 15 on the scale, or “somewhat hard” to “hard” — stopping short of reaching “very hard.”
Unsafe Activities
Avoid exercises or activities that are jarring, bouncy, require sudden directional changes or put you at risk for abdominal trauma. Sports and activities that pose a risk of falling are included in this category, as are contact sports. Avoid horseback riding, downhill skiing, water skiing, rock climbing, scuba diving, soccer, basketball, ice skating and hockey, gymnastics and racquet sports, such as tennis or racquetball. While running may be considered bouncy, if you ran regularly before becoming pregnant, you may be able to continue running with your health care provider’s consent and modifications that accommodate your pregnancy’s progression.
Considerations
It’s generally recommended that you avoid exercises that require you to lie on your back after the first trimester, because it can restrict uterine blood flow. However, you can use your discomfort as a barometer — many women are comfortable in a supine position for a few minutes. Due to increased blood volume, avoid standing in the same position, as you might while strength training, by shifting your weight from side to side or walking around. Hydrate before, during and after your workouts -- dehydration is a lead factor in preterm labor. You can also prevent dehydration due to overheating by not exercising in hot, humid weather or if you have a fever.
References
- “Healthy Moms Perinatal Fitness Instructor Training Manual”; Sheila Watkins; 2007
- MayoClinic.com: Exercise During Pregnancy: Is Heart Rate a Concern?; Roger W. Harms, M.D.; August 2009
- Kids Health: Exercising During Pregnancy
- Baby Center: When not to Exercise During Pregnancy; November 2006
- “The New York Times”; Pregnant Exercisers Test Limits; Gina Kolata; Nov. 8, 2007
- American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Exercise During Pregnancy
