Exercise in pregnancy

[YellowHat]

I'm only 4 weeks pregnant (as in I've just found out) and I'm not sure what to do about my exercise regime. I normally do 2 spinning classes per week plus a few walks. Am I ok to continue as normal for now?
Thank you for any advice.

As long as you keep your fluid intake high, and don't overheat (i.e sweat alot), listen to your body if it is tired stop.
You may well feel too tired to get started in the first few weeks, I am 10 weeks and I am only just thinking about returning to my boxing, I did it until I was about 6 weeks, but I was too tired and couldn't motivate myself, feel a wee bit more with it now so I am heading back on Friday.

Also after sitting weeks no lying flat i.e. no old fashioned sit ups.

I think the advice is that don't do anything that gets you too hot. Obviously if you are fit and used to doing exercise you are okay to continue for as long is comfortable but you do need to be conscious about overheating. If you get hot and sweaty you can take a jumper off but your core body temp will be up which will affect your baby. Raising the body temp can increase risk of miscarriage (same reason why you can't have a bath too hot). However when I did a 10K a few years ago, Nell McAndrew, who is uber fit, did it when she was 4 months pregnant but I guess she just took it very slowly.

Hope this helps!!

Thanks, the spinning does get me very hot alright, the walking not so much. I hate giving up the spinning as I love it but maybe it's for the best. Will just keep up the walking so.
thanks again

Hey Yellowhat!

I am a bit of gym-bunny myself (I'm 10 wks), and I have carried on going. Just tell whoever is taking the class that you are pregnant, and if there is anything you need to be missing out on, they will let you know.

One thing I have found though is that I don't have the same capacity or 'ooomph' as I did before; no reserve of energy? And couldn't breathe the same (eg when on treadmill doing run). I thought I was just being a big girlie preggy-wimp, but I've since found out that's because your womb is taking about 25% more cardio effort than when you aren't preggers. So I feel reassured and am glad that I have stuck with going anyway.

Ditto what the others have said about getting over-hot. Drink loads if you need to.

Best of luck, and keep up the fitness. I hear that it makes everything a lot easier down the line!

Thanks Mavis, that's good advice re letting my instructor know, then I can keep up a pace but not have him shout at me to push it
I have a class today so I think I'll go and play it by ear.
Thanks again

Hello,

I'm 4 weeks myself, and asked my GP this very question yesterday!

He said that I'm fine to continue as before, but to avoid any contact sports.

I specifically asked about the raising of temperature too, as I had also heard that it was dangerous to overheat.

I have been advised that whilst the increase in core temperature from a virus could be an issue, getting hot/sweaty through exercise is never going to be a problem.

He said that as long as you are sweating, then this will cool your body down so that your core temperature will not get anywhere near the 'danger zone'.

Unfortunately, this diversion of blood flow to the skin (along with the diversion to your uterus) can make you feel a bit faint and dizzy, so definitely listen to your body and stop if you feel you need to.

His advice was that the very significant benefits to me and the baby from a good cardio workout far outweighed any risk from overheating.

That said, I am just back from the gym (in an attempt to shift this horrible headache I seem to have) and I managed about 1/10 of my usual intensity of workout. Perhaps nature has a way of self-regulating these things?

Thanks fouroffour, that's reassuring to know, straight from the horses mouth so to speak. I'm also glad you mentioned the tiredness, I think I already feel a bit tired and was feeling a bit silly as it's such early days.

I carried on as normal till about 14 weeks (dynamic Pilates classes, which are a lot tougher than they sound), then had to give up because I couldn't do the abdominal exercises safely any more. I'm still swimming and cycling as normal. I agree about not having quite the reserves of energy that I normally do, though: there were days when I really struggled with the classes - swimming and cycling are less of a problem as I set my own pace.

I'm not sure about telling the instructor TBH, provided you listen to your body and are careful not to overdo things: it might just get you thrown out of the class as lots of people are petrified of pregnant women! (I got thrown out of a pretty gentle Pilates matwork class when I 'fessed up to being pregnant at 12 weeks, on the grounds that I "might get dizzy" - I made a formal complaint about that one.)

Thanks fouroffour, that's reassuring to know, straight from the horses mouth so to speak. I'm also glad you mentioned the tiredness, I think I already feel a bit tired and was feeling a bit silly as it's such early days.

I carried on cycling to work until I was 8 months preg. Had to stop as I didn't have enough puff for the hills! Exercise is good, particularly low-impact stuff like cycling. I would carry on with your spinning but listen more to your own body than a shouty instructor.

Can't believe you have started almost exactly the same thread I wanted to as I also go spinning twice a week and have just found out I'm pregnant- only 3 weeks. I don't really want to tell anyone until 12 weeks so had been feeling reluctant to tell the instructor. Thanks for the advice on here. I think I'll carry on spinning for a bit - with extra water.

Wow fouroffour your GP sounds like the most sensible doctor I have ever heard of!!

I am 29 weeks with DC2 and still running ~3miles a couple of times a week and playing badminton once a week. I'll give up / switch to walking and swimming when it gets too uncomfortable, but at the moment it makes me feel more 'normal' and so I will carry on.

I read once that you would have to run 22 miles of a marathon - at marathon pace - before your core body temperature might get anything near a dangerous level, so I reckon you will be OK with your spinning. Also, if you get too low on oxygen and that's threatening the baby you will faint - your body's way of making you take it easy I suppose.

If you need any more reason to carry on, this timely article should help

there was a good thread on this a couple of weeks ago if you search. There are plenty of us who have carried on kind of as normal. I'm a cyclist (mountain bike and road) and am still riding my bike at 20 weeks, as well as gym and spinning. admittedly it's all a bit tamer than it was before I got pregnant, I don't have as much "ooomph" as mentioned above, and I'm walking the rockier / trickier sections of mountainbike rides.

I exercised through both my pregnancies until around 39 weeks (though changed/adapted the exercise regime as the bumps got bigger) - stopped kickboxing as soon as found out I was pregnant with DS1 but carried on with body combat (dropped the intensity so wasnt dripping with sweat), pilates, PT sessions with weights and cardio, bodypump (dropped weights down) and step class (though again dropped the intensity). After half way through pregnancy dropped the more intensive cardio and focused more on walking, yoga and pilates. Do what works for you.

I've been trying to find out more about this as well recently (am only 4 weeks). DP came home with this yesterday - not really what I hoped to hear as I play squash, which it counts as high impact and hence higher risk. Swimming and cycling etc come out OK though

Maswera - I'd definitely count squash (and indeed any game where you run the risk of getting hit by a ball in the abdomen) as a contact sport like kickboxing and give it a miss now you know you're pregnant.

For the spinners, how about taking a small fan with you if there is somewhere to plug it in, then you can switch it on for extra cooling?

My doctor has been very supportive and told me that I should carry on doing sport and if I need to stop then I should gradually taper off as otherwise it would be bad for circulation (I'm in Germany and circulation and bladders each seem to be particularly important things here).

Her guidelines were: not too hot, not too cold, drink plenty, take some food with me, keep an eye on heart rate and no racing. We actually had a bit of negotiation on the no racing rule and although I missed the biggest cross-country ski race of the season, she allowed me to do the final race as long as I swapped from the marathon distance to half-marathon and promised to keep my heart rate low. I did the race and felt great although I did feel like I hadn't really been racing - no charging up hills, no chasing people down, all very sensible and boring.

I've been reading these books and the advice is pretty similar in all of them - exercise is good, but don't overdo it and listen to your body:
www.amazon.co.uk/Female-Cyclist-Ultimate-Training-Velopress/dp/1884737587/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_6
www.amazon.co.uk/Runners-World-Guide-Running-Pregnancy/dp/1579547478/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid= 1270712432&sr=1-1
www.amazon.co.uk/Exercising-Through-Pregnancy-James-Clapp/dp/087322941X/ref=pd_sim_b_4