What's 'over-exertion'?

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Just that really.

I love to exercise but have been reading stories about how over-exertion can cause premature labour (am 25 weeks). But nowhere defines over-exertion!

After a few sessions recently I've had some BH, which I took as my body telling me I'd done too much (so I dropped it down at the next one), but it scares me only finding out afterwards when it's too late to alter the amount I've done... However I also don't want to not do as much as I'd like to for no reason - exercise is a real treat for me (I know - I'm weird...).

Any guidelines?

Over-exertion = you feel bad.
Feeling bad includes feeling too hot, thirsty, knackered or sore.
Are you sure they were BH or were the twinges actually ligaments stretching (normal)?

I still do zumba on occasion at 35 weeks. But I am careful to listen to my body. I now can't jump at all (that stopped around 28 weeks) I have to keep everything low impact etc etc.

As long as your body is used to the exercise and you listen to your body, you should be ok.

I teach an aerobics class and my midwife has encouraged me to carry on for as long as I can! I think as long as YOU feel ok during and after then there's no reason to worry. I'm not there yet, but I know from fellow instructors' experience that the baby does move a lot more after a session but nothing to worry about, it's just a natural after-effect of your heart rate going up. Go for it!

Thanks! You've really reassured me. I feel fine whilst doing the exercise - occasionally tired but a 'normal' tired (ie an exercise tires me like it would when not pregnant), rather than my body screaming at me to stop...

They may well have been ligaments stretching - it was the right area. That would be better :)

Thank you.

In my first pregnancy I spoke to one of the trainers at my gym who said that based on my baseline heart rate and heart rate while exercising I should keep it below a certain rate (I can't remember what now and it was based on my normal rates).

I'd speak to your midwife and someone at your gym/class (although be aware that not all trainers have experience of pregnancy).

The official guideline is that if you cant maintain a conversation while exercising you need to bring it down a notch. I believe this is linked to blood pressure being lower during pgcy and there being more of you for the blood to get around iyswim so its important not to push past that "comfortable" point of exercise.

Hoovering, and housework generally. That's definitely over-exertion.

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Oh bertha I agree with you there, Zumba is fine but hoovering or mopping, oh no I can't quite manage that

Ok. Noted the advice re heartbeat and conversation.

So does that mean that if I keep my heartbeat at a low rate and can talk I can exercise all day if I want to (not that I want to - just a very extreme example!), or are there guidelines on time also?

Sorry for all the questions but all the advice is for women who are just starting to exercise, not for gym bunnies like me :)

And I'll show your post to DH Bertha - am trying to convince him to hire a cleaner ;)

Advice online/google that is...

Redyellowgreen, I really recommend the Cherry Baker book on exercise during pregnancy, it covers pretty much all types of workouts, at all stages, for all levels of fitness. Obv there are some things it's not ideal to do after 12 weeks (ab work being the main one!) but nearly everything comes down to you listening to your own body and how you feel. It's not recommended to do anything more than you would have done before pg, and exercise will eventually start to feel more draining, so you also need to adapt as you go along. There are very few hard and fast rules because everything pg lady is so different! You just need to be sensible get into the mindset of health being your primary objective, and fitness secondary, whereas before you may have been more focused on results. Hope that makes any sort of sense!

That's tosh about the heart-rate limits, sorry to sound rude, but it's been disproven. It's based on 1960s tests on American male college students, not based on understanding of pregnant woman physiology.

The general rule is you continue with what you did before and no dramatic changes or pushing near what feels like your highest limits. And always listen to your body.