Going to gym

[Swimgirl83]

Hi all

I'm probably over thinking things but I'm getting so much conflicting advice!

Currently 12w 2d. Live in a tier 2 area. Gyms and pools re opened today. I love swimming and have missed it so much. I do have a treadmill at home that I have been using for walking on but its not the same.

Mentioned in passing to a friend that I was thinking of going to gym and have been told its an unnecessary risk while pregnant to take the risk of exposing myself to Covid at the gym. But then reading up online transmission rates at gyms seem to be very small!

Guess I'm wondering if anyone else who is pregnant is planning on going to gym etc

Pregnant women aren’t a vulnerable group. Is anywhere 100% safe, no and no one can confirm it is. However I would go, I’ve been pregnant during lockdown and my eldest has still been to nursery, we’ve been to the shops, parks, cinema etc. we have to live IMO.

No Covid when I was pregnant, but I found the gym intolerable from early on, because I developed a hyper-sensitive sense of smell and the sweaty weightlifters in particular made me gag violently. I suspended my membership.

as long as you take adequate requirements I see no reason why it's any riskier than going to the supermarket tbh. Chlorine in the pool will kill anything anyway!

Pregnant women are actually classed as clinically vulnerable to Covid-19 @onlyfoolsnmothers. Pregnant women are more likely to get seriously unwell with Covid than non-pregnant peers. That said, the risk is still small.

OP, my DH wants to go back to the gym but I'm asking him not to as I'm also pregnant. I'm 16 weeks. I think from 20 weeks plus the risk to mums starts to increase, so you're quite a way from that yet, and there's so far no evidence to suggest babies get poorly when their pregnant mum's get Covid, but I think there's now evidence Covid can be passed to baby in utero. My DH is a key worker so we're exposed to Covid that way and so on balance I feel anxious about taking additional risks with the gym where there will be lots of shared touch points etc. Totally your call though, judging risk is a personal thing and as pps have said, there's nothing that is totally risk free.

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I'm 11 weeks and planning to go swimming tomorrow. As far as I see it, the potential benefits to my mental and physical health outweigh the slim risk of contracting covid. That said, I know everyone has different risk filters so its very much personal choice!

I’m currently 40 weeks - I think it depends what you feel comfortable with in yourself whether you want to go or not. To share my experience in case it helps - when gyms reopened I felt nervous but with the measures my gym had put in place to reduce the risk I felt very safe and was happy to continue going 2-3 times a week (previously would have went 5 but it was too much for me!) i continued going until I got to about 32 weeks when I had to stop because of hip and back pain getting too much it wasn’t worth it.
During the very first lockdown my mental health really suffered from being off work and afraid to leave the house with being in a vulnerable group... so I’d say while it’s really important to be extra safe and careful, it’s just as important to do things that are going to help your mental health as well so long as it can be done as safely as possible.

Pregnant women are more likely to get seriously unwell with Covid than non-pregnant peers can you share the source?

I think the physical benefits of exercise during pregnancy far outweigh the risk of catching covid, especially if you were exercising before. Between lockdown, my gym was easily cleaner than any shops/pubs/restaurants etc. Make sure the cleaning regime is rigorous in your gym, if you feel uncomfortable or unsafe then you can always leave.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/people-at-higher-risk/pregnancy-and-coronavirus/ the risk is the unknown not the risk itself
Completely up to everyone what they are happy doing but let’s not spread false info without a source

It's quite an accusation to suggest I'm spreading false information @onlyfoolsnmothers, I find that quite baffling.

A large scale study and it's findings are here from early November www.aha.org/news/headline/2020-11-04-study-expands-covid-19-risks-pregnant-women

Just re-read my comment and I'm sorry for being snappy @onlyfoolsnmothers

Here's a snapshot from the summary of the study if it's helpful. They found that that pregnant women are more at risk of being seriously ill with covid, but the risk is still small and the number of pregnant women who got really unwell is really small.

Data on pregnancy status were available for 461,825 (35.5%) women with laboratory-confirmed infection, 409,462 (88.7%) of whom were symptomatic. Among symptomatic women, 23,434 (5.7%) were reported to be pregnant. After adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and underlying medical conditions, pregnant women were significantly more likely than were nonpregnant women to be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) (10.5 versus 3.9 per 1,000 cases; adjusted risk ratio [aRR]=3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.6–3.4), receive invasive ventilation (2.9 versus 1.1 per 1,000 cases; aRR=2.9; 95% CI=2.2–3.8), receive extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) (0.7 versus 0.3 per 1,000 cases; aRR=2.4; 95% CI=1.5–4.0), and die (1.5 versus 1.2 per 1,000 cases; aRR=1.7; 95% CI=1.2–2.4). Stratifying these analyses by age and race/ethnicity highlighted disparities in risk by subgroup. Although the absolute risks for severe outcomes for women were low, pregnant women were at increased risk for severe COVID-19–associated illness.

@Swimgirl83 now that I'm almost into my 2nd trimester, the morning sickness has started to go away so I'm intending to go mad in the spin class, my friends who have children said that if there was anything they would have done differently to prep for childbirth was 1) more cardiovascular exercise and 2) learning to mentally push through discomfort (gritting through those last reps/ lactic acid build up)

Needoutsideopinions2020 no problem, I appreciate the link, i will read now (not that it
Overly matters to me as newest is 4wks now). The only thing I read about pregnant women was it would be harder for them to go in a ventilator if they needed one- but people are learning more each day about covid

I’m 13 weeks and can’t wait to get back to the gym on Friday. I went back as soon as it opened after the first lockdown. It’s probably 1/4 full of usual capacity at its busiest times, a lot of the time there might be 10 people in there. All machines are now spaced well apart. sanitised wipes available everywhere to wipe down equipment before use. You can’t say the same for most supermarkets on the other hand. So anyone who has an issue with going to the gym or judges you but still goes to a supermarket right now has absolutely no right! Keeping yourself in shape/ fitness levels up is vitally important in pregnancy.

I work in a gym and can tell you that they are far safer than many other places you're probably going. They are well ventilated, people are easily socially distanced and everything is cleaned and sanitised very regularly. You can't say the same for shops and supermarkets can you!

I think you're much better off having a healthy pregnancy by staying fit and active than worrying about a minuscule chance of of getting ill at the gym.