Exercise in Pregnancy: How much?

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How much exercise is safe during pregnancy?

I'm six weeks pregnant with my second child.

I'm usually fit and active, running 4 times a week. However, I've not really run for the last two months due to illness and good old laziness. My body is starting to feel like jelly and really want to get back to exercising but with the cold dark mornings I don't really want to go for a run. So I'm thinking of trying a cardio exercise DVD at home.

Would this be ok? I know the advice is not to start anything new but I'm usually fit and active I've just had a bit of a lapse. Also can I do stomach toning work during the first trimester?

THink I found my answer but if you know different please let me know

"High-impact aerobics can be dangerous, even during the first trimester. Activities like basketball and gymnastics are considered high-impact and should be avoided during pregnancy. High-impact activities include jumping, hopping, bouncing, both feet leaving the ground at the same time, and other high-energy motions. These moves are especially risky for women with a history of miscarriage or with a co-existing health condition."

running in pregnancy

I'm a fitness instructor and have kept up all my normal classes, including Zumba and Bodycombat, which includes quite a bit of jumping. Unless your doctor tells you differently, it is fine to continue with your usual exercise. Yes it is also fine to work your abs during first trimester.

I'm a fitness instructor too, my mw recommended I continue for as long as I feel able. Some forms of exercise are not advised after 12 weeks (abdominal and oblique work best avoided, reduction of high impact etc) but most of it's down to listening to your body and being sensible. The general idea is not to attempt to push yourself beyond anything you would normally do- exercise is for health purposes above everything else now.

Pre 12 weeks you should be fine, just don't blast into your same speed/distance immediately, same as you wouldn't after six weeks off if you weren't pregnant! And watch out for stretches on the cooldown....your body is filling up with relaxin so you shouldn't be stretching beyond normal range.

My obstetrician was happy for me to continue exercising provided I avoided getting hot and sweaty. If you are taking part in any classes tell the instructor you are pregnant so that they can adjust things where necessary. Also stop immediately if you feel hot, faint, or have a bleed.

I kept jogging to 3rd month, then swapped to cross trainer (less high impact) till week 35, now swimming every morning till delivery (currently week 39). Mw seems to think it's fine!

Swam every week up to delivery, dropping distance if I needed to in both pregnancies.

With second pregnancy, also spent it running round after a toddler, and lifting / carrying him about.

I'm not sure I'd start a new exercise DVD now, but could you either start something low impact, or antenatal? Or go back to the running, taking it slow to start with?

Im 6+5 and I've been running approx 3 times a week. I've lowered my mileage mainly because I'm PG but also I'm pretty rubbish at running when I haven't got a race to train for- can't see me entering anything for a while! So my runs are usually 5k instead of 8-10k

My fave form of exercise is mountain biking & if it was sunny & dry outside I'd still be out on the trails. But as it's it's mucky and gross I feel a bit nervous about wiping out so I haven't been on my bike outside since I found out. Instead I've been doing sessions on an indoor bike trainer in the garage, good exercise but not too inspiring!

My plan is to listen to my body and see how it goes. I need exercise to keep me sane, I hear people on here talking of hormonal rage so I hope throwing on my running shoes combats that! I love eating and can generally eat what I want coz I exercise so much and I don't want to go cold turkey and pile on the pounds!

Oh & I bought a Pre-Natal Pilates DVD which I love,, it gets mixed reviews on Amazon but it's broken down into 5 10 minutes sessions and you can do as much or as little as you want. The instructor is an inspiration. www.amazon.co.uk/10-Minute-Solution-Prenatal-Pilates/dp/B001U3EOJ

I really wanted to keep up my running but I do tend to push myself. So I've decided brisk walking is the best thing for me. About half an hour a day and I have to say I feel brilliant for it.

Pre-BFP I was running around 12k, 3-4 times a week. I took about 6 weeks off with an injury and that's when I got pregnant! I'm now running about 6k 2-3 times per week, taking it much slower. Partly because I lost quite a bit of fitness during my time off and partly due to pregnancy nausea & fatigue.

In my last pregnancy I kept running until it started to get icy, so around 5 months, but again much shorter distances and much slower. I walked as much as possible instead.

I like the idea of the ante-natal Pilates DVD. I might ask Santa for that!

The DVD is only £5. I got it in HMV x

I was very fit before getting pg. Am actually planning on taking fitness courses after I have the baby! I was quite sick from 6 weeks but did keep something up - 30-45 min runs twice a week 10km on bike in gym, yoga and light weights. Last week - 17 weeks - I had a trainer take me through what I should/should not be doing. The programme she gave me was brilliant! Now am working out and doing lots of mobility stuff as well as a bit of cycling (in the gym) etc - is really good to keep exercising - tho not as intense as before. Helps me feel human; as I still feel sick most days!

You just need to listen to your body.

I did some running in early pregnancy and then gave it up. I did fitness dvds till about 20 weeks then I switched to a prenatal fitness dvd (erin obrien) which I did till about 30 weeks. I was hiking till 39 weeks. I took up a lot of swimming, till 40 weeks+. I joined a pregnancy yoga class which I enjoyed.

If something felt like it was too much, I pulled it back. I took more breaks. I drank more water. I did any exercise I wanted to, but I didn't "push" myself if you see what I mean.

I think it paid off - it helped me get through my labour (natural delivery with no tears, but 30 hrs long) - and was out walking within 2 days and running again within 4 weeks. It's 10 weeks since I gave birth and my fitness levels are pretty decent again now. Obviously some people have unavoidable complications in labour and am not suggesting exercise would have changed that, but you are giving yourself the best chance you can. Oh and I think it's fine to do abs work until your body tells you it's not - you'll recognise that when it happens! - when you have a bump you do NOT enjoy situps! If you google you can find lots of good adapted moves for pregnancy also.

I am 12 wks and also very active pre BFP. I am not doing as much high impact exercise like kickboxing or running anymore. I have been doing a lot of walking, crosstrainer and some light jogging. I plan to keep it up but listening to my body first and foremost! I hope to start some prenatal yoga too soon.

I'm a fitness instructor (but only doing a few classes around my fulltime job) and between weeks 6-13 I was simply too knackered to do anything very much! Had I had the energy, I'd have definitely kept it up though. By the time I felt up to it, running just felt massively uncomfortable - even though I went at a much slower pace than normally.
Also - by about 8 weeks doing abs work felt really uncomfortable for some reason. I had no bump, but I still felt like there was something in there!
So it's really an individual thing I'd say. I'm doing the square root of bugger all now (save for dog walking and ante natal yoga) and CANNOT WAIT to get back into the gym. It'll be a long road back to fitness though, I can't deny.

Following up on this, those of you who have had children before, what did you do after the birth to get back in the swing of things, and how long do you really have to wait? Thinking of how best to fit exercise around caring for a newborn..

I was very fit before I got pregnant and I am stilling running 10kms 6 days a week and/or gym sessions. I did this with baby 1 as well and was fit and healthy the whole way through pregnancy. Also did lots of stretching to get ready for labour. I think it helped but who knows.

I am almost 17 weeks and still feel fit as a fiddle although I am not showing at all really so it makes it easier to keep running. I think last time I felt more uncomfortable running by this stage so I switched to the bike and the cross trainer.

And to answer the question about getting back into shape after the baby, I got back to the gym really quickly but then I never really stopped. However I didn't run for around 2 months because it's very tough on your pelvic floor. I felt like my fitness never really went but it took a while for my body to completely get back to it's pre-baby shape. Around 9-12 months really.

This time I am going to get a jogging pram I think and jog with the new baby. Last time I would leave the baby with my husband or my Mum and went to the gym. It really saved me from depression I think, because I found looking after a newborn baby very very difficult.

yuletide

I'm 10 weeks postpartum.

I took it step by step and just stopped if anything was too much. I was walking 3 days after delivery, just short distances around the block or around a park with baby in a sling. About week 3 I started doing post-natal stretches and yoga (very gentle). Some longer walks/hikes from about 4 weeks. 5 weeks I started running again, but I pulled it right back and started from the beginning as if I'd never run before (doing the couch to 5k programme, so only doing 3k runs at the mo, 3x a week). 8 weeks I added in strength training, that's where I am now. I am working out pretty much every day at the moment and it feels nice to feel my fitness coming back (my body looks decent but it's not the same size it was yet). It's quite shocking how much of a knock your body takes, even if you were exercising right to the end of pregnancy. I try and go out with her for a walk every day too, I use a sling so that's good exercise too!

I had a very straightforward birth though - you'd probably need to add a month to this for any kind of complicated birth, and longer for a section - to be honest wasn't expecting to be up to this point already. My pelvic floor feels fine, I do do pelvic floor exercises several times a day. I have a spectrum of exercises from very gentle to quite tough and I just started at the gentlest and progressed when it felt ok.

I am also very lucky in that my baby was a great sleeper from about 6 weeks! So I can exercise at 7am when she is still in bed with her dad. I do home workout dvds, and just run around my neighbourhood. You may have much more disturbed nights and find it hard to gather the time and energy. LIke emmyloo I find it really really helps my mood though.