Benefits of Exercise During Pregnancy

Always check with your personal doctor to make sure that it’s safe for you to exercise during pregnancy. Although some questions have been asked about the effects of exercise on pregnant women, there is no significant proof that a gentle exercise has any bad effects on pregnancy. Most of the studies although did not shown any benefits for the baby, but then exercise can help you feel better and maintain your weight. Exercise during pregnancy can also help ease or relieve pain or discomfort during pregnancy. It can build up more energy and prepares your pregnant body for labor by increasing your stamina and muscle strength. If you have no serious medical problems and you have an uncomplicated pregnancy, it’s probably safe for you to do some exercising.

Watch Dr. Jay Goldberg on exercise during pregnancy

Transcript

What are recommended exercises during pregnancy?

During pregnancy, I don’t recommend that you change much. You want to keep your heart rate down, below about 15 beats per minute, and you can do so by getting one of those heart rate monitors. Sometimes a safe way to know that you’re exercising too much is if it’s hard for you to converse while you’re exercising. If you’re on the treadmill and you’re huffing and puffing, and someone asks you what time it is and you can’t spit that out, you’re probably pushing it a little too much. I usually say walking, hiking, jogging, using a treadmill or StairMaster, doing pilates or yoga, spinning, swimming; they’re all fine. You can do most anything when you’re pregnant; even run a marathon. Trying to keep your heart rate down is probably the most important thing. Now, that goes for a normal pregnancy. If you have complications at all, such as bleeding or threatening a miscarriage, if you’re later in the pregnancy and your cervix is shortened, or your doctor’s recommended bed rest, then there are going to be other recommendations. Obviously, you’ll cross those bridges when you get there.

What exercise precautions should I take if I’m pregnant?

Typically it’s probably not a good idea when pregnant to do exercises that involve contact. So, examples might be kickboxing or maybe basketball where you may take an incidental elbow to the gut. This is not a recommended exercise or activity that you’d participate in. But most other exercises are really not restricted.
At what point in my pregnancy should I stop exercising?

I don’t recommend you stop exercising in pregnancy unless told so by your doctor. If you’re having an uncomplicated pregnancy, you can go on long walks – treadmill or such, the day after your due date. My wife, as an example, is a big spinner, she would spin throughout her pregnancies to the point where her knees would hit her belly when she was on the spinning bike. She went for a spinning class about 3 days after my older son’s due date.

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