Exercise While Pregnant
What kinds of exercise can you do during pregnancy? Ask your health care provider before you start. Talk to him or her during your whole pregnancy, too. Let him or her know what exercises you do.
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Your provider may put a limit on exercise and other physical activities if you have:
- A history of preterm labor
- A history of 3 or more miscarriages
- A cervix that doesn’t work the way it should
- Heart disease or high blood pressure
- Placenta previa
Exercise Benefits
Most women can and do exercise during pregnancy. In fact, they should! Regular exercise can:
- Help you keep fit during pregnancy
- Relax your muscles and your mind
- Help with backaches
- Help with constipation
- Lower the chance for getting varicose veins and hemorrhoids
- Give you a sense of well-being
- Help you sleep better
- Keep your blood flowing well. This keeps your legs from swelling.
- Make delivery a little quicker and easier
- Leave you more fit after delivery
You can usually do the same forms of exercise you did before pregnancy. But you need to do them safely. Don’t go to extremes. Don’t overwork your heart. If you do, you could get short of breath or sick to your stomach. You could get dizzy or faint. Check your pulse when you exercise. Ask your health care provider how many beats per minute not to go over. In general, heart rate should not go over 140 beats per minute in pregnancy.
What to Avoid
These are things you should not do:
- Any sport or activity with a risk of blows to your belly. Example: contact sports
- Any sport or activity with the risk of a hard fall. Examples: horseback riding, water skiing
- High-impact aerobics or any exercises that make you bounce or jerk a lot.
- Scuba diving, water skiing, and surfing
- After 20 weeks of pregnancy, exercises that have you lie on your back on the floor.
- Deep knee bends, full sit-ups, and straight-leg toe touches. Also, don’t do double leg raises in which you raise and lower both legs at the same time.
Safe Exercises
These forms of exercise are usually safe: