Exercise in pregnancy

[philbee]

Hi all. I am very newly pg, and just wondering what to do about exercising. I was just getting into the 30 day shred DVD, doing a bit of running and swimming and other aerobics and small weights. It seems like things have changed since I had DD, and advice now is to do moderate exercise 20-30 mins 3-5 days a week. I feel like the DVD is probably too intense, but I could really use some ideas for exercise as I go mad without doing anything, and the classes round here seems to be very very gentle. Thanks.

The advice is not to start anything new, not to do abdominal crunches or similar. Keep hydrated and listen to your body.

Swimming is fine, weights shouldn't be a problem if done properly. I was boxing (non contact when pregnant), swimming and using cross trainer and bike. With this pregnancy I swim and gym.

philbee, I love this DVD: www.amazon.co.uk/Pregnancy-Health-Yoga-Tara-Lee/dp/B0012KSDG0
but be slow and carefull in the first trimester. afterwards I found my local pregnancy yoga and pilates classes really great.

Thank you. I do do yoga at home as well, but with DD I had SPD, so classes just got fairly repetitive because I had to modify so much. I've found some other ones as well though, so there are obviously suitable DVDs out there. nunnie, thanks for the reminder about crunches, I had forgotten those. I found some sparkpeople pregnancy workouts which have core exercises, rather than crunchy ones.

I highly recommend keeping fit during pregnancy - I have had a really easy time with high energy throughout and am convinced the excercise played a part in that. In fact, I went through a bad month at work and more or less stopped excercise as I was working really long hours, and suddenly I found myself complaining about all the aches and pains other pregnant women were describing... got back in the routine and things quickly improved.

My caveat is that I was pretty fit for a good 9-12 months before getting pregnant so excercise was not new to me.

In the first trimester I didn't change very much at all. I informed instructors and just paid more attention to what my body was saying, drank loads etc. I was doing everything - Zumba, Step class, walking, various cardio activities and resistance training. The only thing I dropped was PowerPlates which is not recommended in pregnancy.

In the second trimester I started incorporating pre-natal pilates, and started phasing out the Zumba & resistance training over the course of the trimester.

By the 3rd trimester, I stopped Zumba and Step Class, started aqua aerobics, kept up the pilates and walking.

Many people will recommend sticking to "gentle" excercises and that's fine.. I just say listen to your own body, everyone is different, and now is not the time to start pushing yourself too hard.

PS Highly recommend belly dancing, it was actually 'invented' for pregnant women.

I was training for a 1/2 marathon before I discovered my pregnancy so like you, was loathe to stop exercising. Pilates/yoga alone wont cut it. Running is out now mostly as my boobs are huge & incredibly sore so have been doing 45min daily sessions on the crosstrainer, upright bikes & swimming. Also been doing these crazy 'Oz Style Yoga' home sessions my DP recorded from Sky....its good for toning as I'm loathe the tell any instructors I'm PG as we all work together. Though I do find my tummy cramps if I've worked too hard...I think stick to your routine but avoid going 100%...stick to 75% effort. I'm 8+5 weeks & havent had a hint of nausea, yet!

I second nunnie's advice to keep going with what you're used to and listen to your body, it is scary in the first trimester but maybe you can bring someone up at the gym into your confidence? I was confused about my dates for sometime and carried on regardless until about 14wks but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this!

I know there is a lot of conflicting advice out there: I found this US site a valuable resource and reassurance, considering how risk averse they can be over there I thought this was very pragmatic.

Labmonkey on here also recommended this DVD which I've found really good - when I was doing it at 20wks I found it a reasonable workout, but a bit lame, by 30wks it was exhausting but good!

Just got back from a swim at 39+1!

OP whatever you were into before you got pregnant (the stuff you list sounds pretty fine) should be ok during pregnancy, with the caveat that you need to listen to your body more, not push yourself too much, stay hydrated and fueled and not overheat. I think the latter is the most important these days what with this nice weather! Indoor classes without good ventilation and running outdoors in the heat of the day would strike me as something to be careful about.

But your body will tell you if you're overdoing it. Go with how you feel re. intensity. If it feels too intense, then ease off. I really think it's pretty hard to go too hard though -- nature kicks in long before that to let you know! All that stuff about keeping your heartrate below 140 is arbitrary and frankly wrong information. I know the NHS stuff says "gentle exercise" but if I'd gone from my normal exercise routine to "gentle" walking or swimming I would have gone downhill fast and lost a lot of fitness, not to mention my sanity.

In the end, it's your personal choice what you do but please don't be put off by people saying you have to take it easy and not do much during pregnancy. Women for generations were doing manual labour, looking after other little ones, and getting lots of exercise in their daily lives, long before the car and the couch and the TV came along. You will thank yourself later for staying as fit as you can in pregnancy -- just let your body be your guide as to how much and how often.

Fwiw, after being really fit before pregnancy I slowed down a lot in the first trimester just because I didn't feel like doing much morning sickness, fatigue, general out-of-sortness so I just tried to get out and get some fresh air and enjoy it and not worry about an exercise regimen per se. Second trimester I had a resurge of energy and got very active again, then at about 30 weeks I suddenly noticed a huge decrease in lung capacity coupled with the ever-growing baby so I've been slowing down again. Still active just modified to accommodate the conditions.

I think it really depends on the person. I was riding properly (schooling, lessons) until about 12 wks, then kept pottering about on the horses until 23 weeks but found I was quite tired and not as capable physically so there was little point continuing with that.

I now (35wks) do a bit of Pilates, I just choose the exercises that feel comfortable (they also help a lot with my back pain) and a bit of walking although much of it is very slow!

I think all the advice is different if you're at risk of developing SPD again - you could make it worse or develop earlier by doing the wrong exercise. If I were you, I would stick to exercises appropriate to SPD, i.e. yoga with modifications, aqua natal, the right type of swimming.

I'd put a lot of time into getting fit before I got pregnant and was determined that I could carry on with it. With SPD it doesn't work like that. I definitely wouldn't do anything with lower body impact like running. I'm convinced that even using a cross-trainer contributed to me developing SPD very early in pregnancy. I have lost a lot of fitness, but for me minimising SPD is more important for now. On the plus side my shoulder muscles are amazing from being on crutches!

I have the DVD apelsinnka recommended and it's great, has plenty of SPD modifications. It does get repetitive, but it's good to be able to do something!

I think if you're used to keeping fit then you can carry on, but you might want to check things over with MW.
I kept going as normal at the beginning (sickness and tiredness permitting!)
There's a fitness expert on this site that you could ask maybe? www.fittamamma.com/forum/