To play sport when pregnant - just been banned from yoga!

[squirrelish]

I am only 4 and a half weeks pregnant. This is my first, so I am new to all this. I find exercise really important for reducing stress. Everything I have read says that you can carry on with your usual exercise at first.

I have already been asked not to come back to my gymnastics class (ok, maybe I was expecting that one) and my yoga(!) studio. Other sports I have enjoyed in the past are horse riding, watersports and martial arts. I don't think I'd be allowed to go back to these either.

I know swimming is going to be suggested, but A) swimming laps is boring B) I have a serious skin condition which gets worse when I swim.

So, am I being unreasonable to want to do something more engaging than walking and running for the next 8 months? As I said, I am new to all this, so maybe I am.

In that case, why even mention it, if you recognise it is silly and ignore it yourself? It just sounds like trying to put a pregnant woman of healthy exercise, which really is not helpful.

I did pregnancy yoga from 13 weeks to 39 weeks and it was great. I got lucky and got a slot int the mat hospital classes, and just kept it each set of classes. It was run by a midwife, so she did lots on breathing as well for labour. It really helped me to stay supple and moving all the way through.

I also walked a lot, which may seem boring (I have exercise induced asthma to am rubbish at running) but it meant I was keeping moving, and as someone earlier said, kept my stamina and energy levels good for labour. In my case, it helped to cope with DBaby shoving my lungs up so much smaller too without feeling completely breathless all the time. I did a bit of swimming as I enjoy that but couldn't get to a pool often enough to call it exercise.

Why are you telling anyone when you're only 4 & a half weeks pregnant? That's like 3 days after your missed period. What a weird thing to do, do you even know if your numbers are doubling?

Any exercise you were doing previously is fine

Wando1986

If you read the whole thread

She's been TTC for over two years and wanted to be on the safe side. Stop being such a cunt

wando your the one who deserves the , a course on empathy and to learn how not to be so rude.

RTFT - she had been TTC for two years and she can tell whoever she likes, when you have been TTC for that long it feels like a miracle when it happens you want to tell everybody, and you are extra cautious.

At 4.5weeks pregnant you wouldn't drink alcohol so it is perfectly natural to check if actives you do such as yoga are safe to do.

I am so jealous of all you women who could carry on nearly as normal during pregnancy!

I was incredibly fit before I got pregnant but at 5 weeks started vomiting several times a day, getting worse when I made any effort (like climbing stairs) and carried on for the whole fucking 9 months. No question of me carrying on with karate, running and swimming - too busy sticking my head down the toilet!

OP - find a class which will take you and do it as long as you feel able. Do NOT feel guilty if you can't though. I did practically no exercise throughout the whole 9 months but because I was really fit before, I got me pre pregnancy body back within a few days.

Why do people care so much about the 12 week "rule".

You can tell people you're pregnant when you like. FGS.

Oh for goodness sake, you're pregnant not ill and you're only 4 weeks gone, you really shouldn't be telling people, there's a reason people don't

Which is?

I'm shocked they banned you from yoga. We had a lady coming to our pilates class when she was fairly heavily pregnant, and she only stopped when she wanted to. Our instructor just amended the exercises and intensity to suit her needs, and she rested when she wanted to etc.

But femelle, she couldn't have modified the exercises if she hadn't been told the student was pregnant...

And if you read, it's a hot class/ studio and it's well known that raising core temp is not recommended in pregnancy.

Wando Not entirely true, and insensitive.

Hey OP,

pretty sure if you've been exercising already then it's safe to continue to do what you've been doing cept for contact sports where your stomach might get hit or anything that raises your temp too much like bikram yoga that others have mentioned.

You could also check out Girls Gone Strong on YouTube who have just put out a really good series on ante and postnatal exercises what's safe/not safe.

Big shout out to all the supportive posts on this thread, I stopped cycling cause ppl put the fear in me bout falling off and losing the baby, stopped running cause my ligaments were too soft and I felt like I was going over my ankles all the time and stopped lifting cause I felt judged by ppl once my bump started showing 😑 now just walking for miles and doing loads of lengths in the pool, both if which are boring as hell 😕

I did yoga and pilates until 42 weeks. My intsructor was very helpful and I just did exercises on the ball instead of the ones lying on my back. You just have to be careful not to push a strech.

I did body pump until about 5 months and only stopped because the instructor was an arse and wouldn't let me continue. Although doctor said it was ok ( just light weights ) l it really helped my back in pregnancy and while bf.

I did yoga (I was very high risk) until 4 days before I gave birth. My instructor is very highly qualified and we still did some more challenging stress position holds and inversions (there are some you can do - with an instructor who knows their stuff).

In terms of health and safety I'd say the riskiest thing I did was walking (hiking- which IS proper exercise not a stroll in the park) - adjusted centre of gravity, potential dizziNess, heavier etc ... I had to check ground quality and was nervy near sheer drops!

Oh and by high risk I have a recurrent miscarriage condition.
Telling a sports instructor is like telling a health care professional to me, whilst wouldn't recommend telling people you vaguely know down the office unless you're super tough in terms of un-telling without it ripping your heart out each time you do, telling people in charge of health and safety is safer and psychologically better - you know they know and won't put you under any risks. Of course some get over the top and that is the point at which you find a better instructor!

The reason you have been asked to leave yoga is that teachers are not supposed to teach women in their first trimester. I don't think this is much to do with a risk to the baby (although doing anything too strenuous could I suppose carry some risk) but more to do with insurance. If you went to a yoga class, then had a mc it could leave the teacher open to legal action. However, there is no reason not to take it up again after 13 weeks and if you have a senior enough teacher (or can find one) they might be happy to continue with you on the understanding you do things at your own risk.

I personally think it's a bit far to ask you to leave unless it's an advanced class or hot yoga. I think if I were your teacher I'd make it clear that it's your responsibility to look after yourself and would make sure you didn't do any intense forward bends, twists, and inversions, just like the rest of pregnancy really.

What style of yoga do you do?

Source: am currently 17+4 weeks pregnant and training to be a yoga teacher since July last year. Had several weekends of training since becoming pregnant with what I can/can't do drilled into me...

Hi OP, congratulations on the pregnancy! I'm a midwife and we always recommend people stay active throughout the pregnancy. As you say, it is great for mood and energy levels and increased fitness is closely linked to an easier labour.

Yoga isn't recommended for the first 12 weeks annoyingly due to the stretching involved. After that though it is wonderful, either as as a special antenatal yoga class or in a regular class with a good instructor with experience teaching pregnant women who can advise on modifications when needed.

I skied at 9 weeks pregnant with DS (sorted morning sickness out a dream!) as the fetus was still protected beneath the pelvic bone. Personally I would have avoided sports with a higher risk of direct injury to the abdomen through trauma (skiing, cycling,higher octane ball sports, horse riding etc) after 12 weeks but plenty of people don't stop. It's just a matter of reflection on the risks you are happy taking and that is different for everyone.

Otherwise anything like dancing (Zumba is great) or running is absolutely fine, we just recommend that you stay within your fitness 'comfort zone' (this is not a time to try to beat your personal best!) and as a rough rule of thumb if you are too out of breath to hold a conversation then time to slow down a bit. Lots of fluids and enjoy yourself 😀

To those telling OP not to tell people before 12 weeks - please desist. Sadly in my job as a midwife I often see tragedies and difficult decisions through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. There is no time of total safely and everyone has to work out how to manage hope and excitement within that. Personally I did tell close friends and family before 12 weeks as I wanted their love and support if I had encountered a sad outcome. I think the idea that women should keep quiet so as not to inconvenience others with sadness or worse that she has 'tempted fate' by being excited and happy is appalling and it annoys me to hear supposedly modern people talk like this!

Also to those who view swimming lengths as boring (it is a bit!) aqua aerobics or aqua zumba may be worth a try. In the third trimester water exercise really comes into its own as you feel far less lumbering and heavy in it!

Thanks @EastEndQueen for the great post.

I've had to stop hot yoga temporarily and I'm so miserable as it's literally the only thing I do - like 4 times a week. Argh! Need to find something else to do for next 8 weeks (7.5 now I'm counting!) or I'll go mad. Haven't put on any weight yet but I've been stuffing my face with carbs so it's coming...

If you do hot yoga then I agree with your teacher stopping you for now and I would advise caution if you want to continue after 13 weeks. I usually do ashtanga and had to stop for the first trimester as it's not recommended by the head of the lineage so no teacher worth their salt were going to let me continue and now have to do lots of modifications and stop if I feel like I'm overexerting myself or getting too hot. Very gentle, non-hot yoga with a senior teacher should be ok though.

Sorry but I think a lot of this can't be right... I've always exercised. All my trainers were massively helpful in helping me keep exercising until the very end and I had twins. I adapted stuff as I got bigger, at month 5 I stopped running because I knew about the risks to a softening pelvis, and I chose not to ride horses for the whole 9 months because for me that is just a hobby and not worth the risk.
In the first 3 months I didn't even know I was having twins, I was just careful about not overheating as it was a hot summer and I knew there were some risks about overheating around that time when training hard. I was still doing pretty intense exercise until month 8, after that I just swam and walked until 37 weeks. Then I stopped. Babies born at 39 weeks.

I cycled and did pilates until the 8th months but stopped kickboxing. There are sports you can do whilst pregnant, just not horseriding or martial arts.

You can continue to ride horses while pregnant. There is nothing to say that it is forbidden, it's just a personal preference. One of our leading eventers Mary King won European Team Gold and Individual Bronze when 5 months pregnant.

That's not to say it's for everyone, but it's not for us to judge other peoples informed choices.

Brilliant post EastEndQueen xxxx

I continued with a salsa class for most of the first trimester with my first but to be honest would have rather not done so because I felt slightly sick most of the time.

I also walked a lot and really wish I hadn't because I got bad pelvic girdle pain and ended up almost unable to walk. I was much more carefully the second time and it was nothing like as bad. I still feel it sometimes though and my youngest is nearly 2. It's worth reading up on pelvic girdle pain/SPD because it's more common than people realise and strenuous excercise can make it worse especially if you are not aware.