Myth Busting Pregnancy and Fitness
Okay, we know. When you’re in the throes of morning sickness, the last thing you likely want to think about is keeping up a fitness routine. But there are several reasons why remaining active throughout pregnancy is a good idea:
It’s good for your baby.
A growing body of research has linked exercise during pregnancy to all kinds of positive outcomes, including healthy birth weights, healthier childhood weights, and higher likelihood of a full-term pregnancy. There’s some evidence that moms who are active throughout pregnancy have kids with better cognitive development, too.
It’s good for you.
Regular exercise significantly reduces the risk for a slate of pregnancy complications: preeclampsia, hypertension, gestational diabetes, weight gain, congenital abnormalities, preterm labor, and potentially even miscarriage. This is why many practitioners actually “prescribe” about 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. Moreover, physical activity can also help stave off some pregnancy discomforts, from first trimester morning sickness to third trimester backaches.
It can lead to shorter labor.
Studies found that women who exercise at least three times a week have significantly shorter labors -- nearly an hour shorter, in fact. And given that labor is something akin to an endurance sport, regular exercisers may find that they’re better equipped to roll with the cycle of contractions, too.
It makes recovery easier after.
Focus your prenatal routine on strengthening key muscle groups (like your pelvic floor) and maintaining good cardiovascular fitness, and you might find that your post-birth recovery is easier than it otherwise would be.
By this point, you’ve probably heard all kinds of advice related to exercise. Let’s break down some of the misconceptions.
Myth: You need to scale back your intensity level.
The truth is, if you were active before your pregnancy, and you’re in your first or early second trimester of a healthy pregnancy, you’re probably safe to continue the same activities at the same intensity level, unless a provider has indicated otherwise. Don’t be surprised or discouraged if you start to slow down a bit, though. I remember being increasingly frustrated with my inability to really crank in a spin class as the first trimester wore on. Advice around intense exercise stems from a suggestion that women shouldn’t increase their body temperature too much for fear of harming their baby. But your body is pretty good at regulating its core temperature on its own -- if you start to overheat slow down! Ditto if you get really out of breath or dizzy.
Myth: You can’t lift weights during pregnancy
If you were lifting weights before pregnancy, you’re fine to continue doing this for quite awhile. And you’re fine to do some weight-bearing exercise late in pregnancy, too -- weighted squats are actually good for labor prep, and continual work on biceps, triceps, shoulders, and upper back helps maintain good posture as your body changes, and builds strength in key areas that’ll be taxed when you’re carrying around a tot. If you weren’t a regular weight-lifter before pregnancy, you definitely want to get a little guidance from a pro (heck, we’d give you this advice even if you weren’t pregnant). Form is always important, but especially during pregnancy, when different muscle groups are under unusual strain.
Myth: Stop all core exercise immediately
I have never done more core exercise than during pregnancy, and I truly believe it was the key to a relatively pain-free 10 months. That said, you might need to shift how you’re thinking about core exercise, especially as your belly grows. Core exercise during pregnancy should be focused on strengthening your pelvic floor, supporting your posture, and preventing or minimizing diastasis recti - a separation of the abdominal muscles that’s a common occurrence in pregnant women. That means you’re working on engaging your core deep from within and as a group of muscles that give full-body support. You know what doesn’t help your cause on this front? Most of the things you probably think of as core exercise: planks, sit-ups, crunches, basically anything that isolates your abs at the expense of your entire core system. There are a lot of prenatal core resources out there these days, most notably, perhaps, the Bloom Method, which is a workout app that uses diaphragmatic breathing as a base for some pretty intense exercise routines. Pilates is also particularly good for this kind of core work, look for a studio or instructor that specializes in prenatal.
A few important notes:
Although we would recommend to continue gentle exercise in the first trimester it is also important to listen to your body. Focus on doing what you are able and have the energy for. As the second trimester approaches and nausea and fatigue improve then you can aim for the 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week.
As your pregnancy continues, you’ll likely need to scale back your jumping (not least because it’s hard on your joints), high-impact sports (things more likely to cause physical injury because of the risk of running into things -- like skiing, high-contact team sports, karate…), exercise that has you in an inversion or lying on your back for a long period of time, and anything for which your shifting balance puts you in danger. Otherwise, you should be able to continue the activities you like.
And if you haven’t been particularly active up to now, it’s not too late! We recommend starting with walking, swimming, yoga, and pilates, and looking for local prenatal classes at studios in your town.
A few of our favorite local prenatal fitness resources:
This Lower Highland-neighborhood community center offers several prenatal yoga classes each week, some with an acupuncture component. Look, too, for restorative fitness classes that focus on isolated areas of discomfort.
This Lower Highland yoga, dance, and pilates studio offers several types of yoga, including multiple prenatal and postnatal classes each week. Prenatal offerings focus on breath work and poses good for each trimester.
This Boulder-based studio offers a series of classes aimed at strengthening and rehabilitating the core, and setting you up for a strong pregnancy and easy postpartum recovery. Check out the studio’s app, too, for workouts you can do at home.
