Feeling daft for asking, but can I jog?

[stillfrazzled]

Am only 4 weeks (just found out today).

Hopefully will be 2nd DC (have DS already) but have had two mcs already this year so completely paranoid.

Is it safe for me to do my usual (fairly gentle) 25-min run in the morning? Have been doing it for three months and got quite into it. Also feel like I should keep my fitness up if I can! But don't want to have to blame myself if all goes wrong again.

As I understand it the advice is that you can continue doing exercise if you were doing that form of it before you got pregnant but you shouldn't introduce anything new (can take up swimming and walking though). Also it shouldn't be too strenuous and you mustn't get too hot. Sounds like what you do will be fine. I would be running still (20 weeks now) if I wasn't so sick and knackered.
hope that helps

Congrats! And sorry to hear about your mc's. yes, agree, the jog sounds fine. however, i stopped running because i also had a mc in January, so have just been doing long walks and gym without treadmill since I got pg again (19 weeks). It just didn't feel right to run and I didn't want to risk it, even though I know running does not cause a mc. I also didn't run when pg with DS, even though i was a personal trainer at the time. All down to what feels right to you.

Congratulations! I´m still running at nearly 17 weeks. My doctor advised me that as long as there were no problems, not only was I allowed to carry on exercising but that I shouldn´t stop completely as it would be bad for my circulation (German doctors are very keen on looking after the circulation).
Racing is not usually advised, keep hydrated and don´t get too hot.

At 4 weeks I did a 25km ski race on the Saturday, followed by a 50km race on the Sunday. No ill effects followed for either me or the bean although I was a bit tired afterwards. It was only a week later that it crossed my mind that I could be pg.

I ran with DS til 36 weeks and with DD til 34 weeks - I had very good pregancies and lovely ealthy babies and was back running quicky afterwards.

Personally I swapped my jog for speed walking, but that was partly as I am sooooo prone to tripping!

I ran until 28 weeks. Then it started to hurt so I stopped...

It should be fine as long as it doesn't hurt, but make sure you don't get really hot and that your heartrate doesn't go up too much (I've read 140bpm as the safe level, which isn't really high at all when exercising!).

I'm not a jogger, but walk a lot usually and I've found that my heart is working harder anyway so it takes less exertion for my heartrate to go up and for me to get hot, so I'm taking it easier.

Speaking as someone who ran for the bus this morning and is now suffering badly with back pain I thought Id weigh in on this . Id say that if you are going to jog in the earlier stages of pg, watch how you feel afterwards and if you start to feel more strain on your joints and back that you would do usually dial it down a bit. I kept going to the gym up to about 18 weeks (I also went skiing at 7 weeks)and then had to accept that it was just too much on my joints. When you really cant move the next day, youve porbably overdone it . The hormone relaxin makes all your joints more 'stretchy' than usual and its easy to end up with more aches and pains than you would do usually. Id go for fast walking or swimming when you start to get a bit further along. Ive also found acqua natal a good way of learning exercises that are very gentle but correct some of the strains on your body bought on by pg.

I'm nearly 12 weeks and i didn't want to give up exercise - I had been doing lots of bikram yoga and 5K runs 2/3 times a week but uphill a bit; so after taking into account all the advice about exercise, i decided it was far better for me (mentally and physically) to continue. I stopped Bikram yoga because it's done in 113 degrees and that's obviously that's not great (although you'd be surprised how many pregnant women keep doing it); but I went back to gym and I do 30 mins cardio 2 or 3 times a week. Much gentler - if I run, it's slow and on no incline on the treadmill. I mix it up with cycling and step if I feel tired or like it isn't a day for running. I also try to walk a lot more on days I don't exercise, even though I'd just bought myself a lovely new vespa...

I do feel my back is achy, though, for the reasons HelenaCC says. I am not immobile at all the next day but I can feel the ache. So I've started pilates again which I used to do a lot of. I definitely think I need to stretch as much as I do cardio.

When i've got through 12 week scan, I'm going to switch to a gym with a pool and still exercise but mix it up and listen to my body. I'll also do yoga twice a week.

In the US, my friend says doctors tell patients to keep exercising...

Good luck xx

Congrats on your pregnancy stillfrazzled!

I've been reading a lot about this recently. I'm 12 weeks pregnant and for the first 11 weeks I felt too terrible to do any exercise, but now that I'm feeling better I am back to it, although I've only been swimming and cycling so far.

One of the things I did was to buy a heart rate monitor. The figure of 140 bpm is a bit old now, there is no longer a "blanket" number you should stay under. However, you shouldn't let your heart rate get too high (stay in Zone 2) and you shouldn't let yourself overheat, especially in the first trimester.

A gentle jog sounds perfect, and some people say it even helps stave off the pregnancy symptoms!

I have to say - and maybe this is contentious - but I do genuinely think that unless you are really pushing yourself or you are unfit and pushing at levels of fitness that are out of reach, it's hard for the body to 'overheat'. I can understand not sitting in a sauna or a hot tub but you'd really feel a terrible faintness or head rush or look completely pink-faced and sweaty if you overheated. So i think you can safely exercise without driving yourself nuts.

And I agree - it really helped staved off those bad hormone days and generally pregnancy symptoms.

It's probably true generally (I think it's a big reason why you shouldn't start or increase a strenuous exercise regime when pregnant) but I certainly have found that it's like my fitness took a nosedive as soon as I got pregnant in terms of how easily I overheat. I now overheat doing exercise I would've thought pretty easy before, and I'm talking pink, sweaty, feeling dizzy, the whole nine yards.

Japhrimel - of course, I am not saying that it doesn't happen and I also think my fitness levels have decreased; but I think if you're in touch with your body and recognise the symptoms (so stopping if you feel dizzy etc) you can keep exercising without putting yourself in danger

Oh absolutely. I was just pointing out that while many people can continue with the same level of exercise as before, some people do need to ease off a bit, whatever their pre-pregnancy exercise level was.

Yes - agreed. And no one knows what that is for someone else, it's so subjective.