Confused by exercise advice

[Glitterygreen]

Does anyone else struggle to make sense of the exercise in pregnancy advice? What exercise are you doing which you consider to be OK?

All I keep reading is about the 'talk test' but I don't understand - does this mean you should be able to talk as normal as if you were doing nothing special, or just that you shouldn't be unable to speak because you're panting so hard?!

Aside from just walking along the street, most exercise does make me out of breath to some extent - jogging, swimming, cross trainer etc...which tbh I thought was part of the point? While doing them at a medium intensity I could still hold a conversation but if, for instance, I was on the phone you could definitely hear that I was exercising. Is that OK?!

I went swimming last week for about 50 mins and did some front crawl/breast stroke with a short break after every 5 lengths, but was noticeably out of breath for the first few seconds after stopping, as I normally would be. I suddenly found myself wondering if that was alright?

All of these things are things I've been doing before pregnancy and the guidelines say you should be fine to carry on what you've been doing before as long as you feel comfortable, but I just find the whole thing so confusing with the breathing stuff.

There genuinely isn't much exercise I could do at all which doesn't result in a change in my breathing...just feel like I can't do right for doing wrong.

Yes, you can carry on doing exercise that can get you out of breath if that's what you're used to doing pre pregnancy. As you say, that's the whole point of exercise.

What you could maybe start doing is reducing the intensity very slightly, which you'll probably find yourself doing as your pregnancy progresses anyway. If you had managed 5 lengths of the pool before taking a wee break, maybe reduce it to 4 as you might feel you reach a point of exhaustion more quickly than before due to the increases strain on your body.

Pregnancy isn't the time to try to push yourself to set new records, but if you have a decent level of fitness anyway and exercise regularly you can pretty much carry on as you were, listening to your body and reducing the intensity and duration as you feel you need to.

You might find it helpful to wear a HR monitor. I tried to keep below 140bpm I think. I basically carried on with what I was doing, including spin up to 38 weeks and swimming, cross trainer and weights up to the day i went into labour. I just gradually lowered the intensity.

Definitely ok to get moderately out of breath if you're doing exercise you're used to. You'll probably find you get breathless more easily than before - that was one of my first signs of pregnancy - so you'll naturally take down the intensity or have more breaks.

There's a lot of conflicting information out there but I really rated the Bumps and Burpees book and instagram account for reliable advice.

Thanks all, this is reassuring to read. I am only 8 weeks at the moment and luckily not struggling with symptoms really, so I feel comfortable continuing with much of what I was doing before. I haven't actually done any running but may do some on the treadmill at a slower pace than usual.

I do wear a Fitbit with a HR monitor but have read that the 140 limit is defunct now and out of date as it doesn't take into account individual levels of fitness prior to pregnancy. Although honestly I defo won't be doing the things that take me up to my usual highest HR in any case.

I've got no issue slowing down when my body feels like it needs to and don't get me wrong I am no fitness guru at all - if anything I am a bit on and off with exercise so am making an effort to keep it up through pregnancy as it is advised - but I have just found the existing advice a bit hard to make sense of as it's so woolly.

I've been doing what I did pre-pregnancy but not pushing as hard (sometimes having to stop because I feel so sick, something i think it's a bit of an excuse for me). I train at pretty high intensity 3-4 times a week (CrossFit) and have continued playing netball through my first trimester. Coaches at the gym are aware I'm pregnant though and encouraging me to do as I feel on the day.

Where I live the GP has to refer you to a MW and he said to keep doing what you were doing before, not the time to take up something new and challenging but if you already did something challenging (like marathon running), to carry on as long as I felt OK.

I’m still exercising at 24 weeks. I haven't run since the end of December because I found it was becoming uncomfortable, but I’ve been spinning, doing yoga and HIIT workouts regularly and walking/hiking a lot. I find I've naturally slowed down a little bit and I'm not pushing myself as hard as I was before in my spin classes, but I'm still getting out of breath and feel like I’ve done a decent workout!

Thanks so much for all the responses, I am glad to read them all!

I was just getting really confused with the whole 'talk test' thing because I really would need to be pushing very hard to be so out of breath that I couldn't hold a conversation at all, whereas below that I can still hold one but would definitely be out of breath.

Seems like I can just continue as is for now then and just listen to my body if it starts to feel too tiring or too much.

I'm back doing my weight lifting training but I have had to reduce intensity of workouts as I am still feeling pretty fatigued and getting out of breath easily. But I'm happy I'm back moving 😊

You can continue most exercise as long as you feel comfortable. Keep intensity at a level where you can talk during/after.
I continued doing heavy lifting in the gym up to 35+2 with our youngest last year (was down to 40kg squats & 80kg deadlifts by then), she'd got really low down in my pelvis so it was uncomfortable to continue and I had a c-section at 38+6 (was back in gym 10wk pp). I had to stop doing the valsalva maneuver, widen my stance for bump and couldn't do barbell rows once bump emerged. I did need longer rest periods between sets so took my time with my workouts, also kept walking the dog which got my heart rate pretty high so I'd need to sit sometimes. My resting heartrate is lower now than it was pre-pregnancy so win win, baby sits in her chair watching me in the gym now (even falls asleep as she's so used to the noises, adorable).

I'm 28 weeks pregnant. My midwife advised to continue with the non contact exercise I did pre-pregnancy.
I ran a half marathon at 10 weeks and still run 5km 1-2times a week (albeit slower than a few weeks ago) plus Pilates at my gym. I'm not yet ready to regress to antenatal classes but will likely need to in a week or two.

I talk to myself or to members of my run club when running and now I'm bigger I can definitely feel when I'm out of breath.
On the Fitbit front- I personally decided to take it off as it was messing with my metrics and I didn't like the numbers it showed (petty I know 🤣). My midwife is happy with my baby's growth and and I'm happy with my pregnancy fitness and shape. I'm a FTM.

Word of advice, even if running slowly or a short distance take a water bottle with you. I definitely need more liquid than I needed pre- pregnancy

The talk test just means don't go so intense that you find it really difficult or impossible to hold a conversation. For me I'd have to be doing really intense HIIT or sprints, hardcore spin etc to get to that point. It's not just being a bit breathless.

Just do what you're comfortable with- early on that might be exactly what you were doing pre-pregnancy. As your pregnancy progresses you will naturally slow down.

At 29 weeks I still swim and hike uphill etc but I definitely swim slower and sometimes the walking is more of a stroll! It's not deliberate, but I feel very heavy and sometimes it feels like the baby is squashing my organs (I suppose he is!), so it's not comfortable to go any faster.

I do aerobic exercise to music so if I can atill sing along I know I'm ok!

27weeks today and going to the gym in an hour.

You want to get your heart pumping by enough that you can still be relatively coherent if you spoke. Your level of activity / fitness prior to pregnancy will play huge factor in what you can deal with.