For some women the thought of exercise during pregnancy is as appealing as a root canal without novacane. In their minds they have a nine month pass to keeping up with their gym routine. The first three months they are battling morning sickness and exhaustion at their first 3 months, The next three months they are beginning to show. And the last quarter of their pregnancy would so unforcomfortable that even only walking 10 feet to the bathroom would be a tough thing to do, causing them to say no of having a walk for ten more minutes.
On the other side of the coin, there are some women who do not let something as little as creating a life stand in their way of exercise. These are the women we might see actually teaching a class at the gym, or speed walking throughout our neighborhood with their protruding bellies.
Most of us however fall somewhere in the middle and that is just how their doctors like it. Exercise is very much recommended when women are pregnant. It does help control weight and helps for soon delivery as well. And always bear in mind, that you need to know important factors to ensure yours and your baby’s safety while doing exercise.
For beginners, you need to always check on your heart rate every time you work out. Letting your heart rate rise to high could be dangerous to your little one especially in your first trimester. You want to maintain a steady heart rate and should do the talk test throughout your workout to make sure you are at a safe level. Talk test is like you are talking while having workouts. If you find yourself doing talking while exercising very hard then you might be having your workouts too hard and you really need to slow down. Most doctors recommend that you work at a pace where talking is challenging but still doable.
You should NOT do experimenting or attempting new workout routines when you are pregnant. This means that you should not try the new spinning class that your gym offers. Stick with the routine you have already been doing and that your body is used to. You may find that you have to make some modifications to some of your exercises as your pregnancy progresses. If you are a runner, a modified low impact jog through out your first trimester is fine but once you enter your second trimester and begin to show, your jog has to be brought down to a walk. For those of you who love sit ups, crunches and floor pushups, you can continue to do these up until you hit about 14 weeks or so. After that time period no floor exercises are recommending.
If you do not have any sort of exercise routine in place before you get pregnant, this still does not give you a free pass. Doctosrs will surely tell you that walking is a great exercise for pregnant women who doesn’t have risk. Walking at least thirty minutes, three times a week is a safe way for a pregnant woman to stay active.
Walking is something you can do through out all three trimesters though you might find yourself moving at a slower pace by your third trimester. Another great plus to walking, especially as you approach your due date, is that walking can actually bring on labor. You will find lots of doctors who advise their patients to do walking until their due dates to get things rolling. Some women who have walked throughout their entire pregnancy have an easier delivery and recovery period.
The days of pregnant women kicking their feet up and not moving from the couch for nine months are days of the past. Though strenous exercise should not be done, it is still not an excuse to skip exercise and stop moving while you are pregnant.
Entries (RSS)