Pregnancy and Exercise – Some Guidelines

Women want to stay healthy throughout their pregnancy, both for themselves and their babies, but most aren’t exactly sure what they can do when it comes to their pregnancy and exercise. While you want to stay fit, your first priority is still your baby. Here’s a few easy guidelines you can follow to help you figure out how best to combine pregnancy and exercise for you.

With both pregnancy and exercise, it’s important to remember your limitations. This is especially true when it comes to doing any kind of exercise that involves straining or stretching. Examples of this include weight lifting, pilates, or yoga. If,in the later parts of your pregnancy you exercise, you are most likely to strain or pull a muscle or tendon.

This is because of the hormone relaxin, which your body secretes when you’re pregnant to help make your ligaments and tendons more pliable to accommodate the baby. The relaxin also makes all of your muscles, tendons, and ligaments more pliable, which makes it easier for you to push too hard and injure yourself. The number one rule of pregnancy and exercise is to take it easy.

This is not meant to scare you off of combining your pregnancy and exercise. On the contrary, staying active is one of the best ways to stay healthy for you and your baby. What you need to do is remember that your body is going through massive changes, and you may not be able to do all the things that you would before you got pregnant. But with a few modifications, you can do almost all kinds of activity during your pregnancy and exercise.

A great way to accommodate your pregnancy and still exercise is to take it to the water. Any kind of water activity, whether it be swimming or water aerobics, is a great way to take into consideration your pregnancy, and get the exercise that you need. Even if you’re late into your pregnancy and exercise is the last thing on your mind because you feel completely awkward and ungainly on land, you’ll feel graceful and light when you get in the pool.

Walking is another great way to take it a little easy during your pregnancy and still exercise. If you’re pregnant in the winter, take it inside by going to your local mall or walking track at the gym to keep going even if it’s too icy to walk outside.

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How to Properly Exercise During Pregnancy

More and more women are concerned with staying fit while they are pregnant, but aren’t sure how to safely exercise during pregnancy. But there are things that any pregnant woman, even if she wasn’t previously active, can do to make sure she gets enough healthy exercise during pregnancy.

Most doctors will tell you that any exercise program you had in place prior to getting pregnant can be continued as long as you feel comfortable with it. There are certain exceptions, of course; you may need to modify your exercise during pregnancy if it could adversely affect the health of the baby.

So that means that rollerblading, rough road mountain biking and white water rafting are out because of the possibility of injuring yourself or the baby, as is hot yoga because it raises your internal temperature too much, which can be harmful to the development of the baby.

But there are lots of other things that you can do safely to get some exercise during your pregnancy. Brisk walking and swimming are two great ways to get healthy aerobic exercise during pregnancy without putting your baby at risk of harm. Swimming, or water aerobics, in particular, can be quite enjoyable in the late stages of pregnancy because the water provides a supportive and buoyant environment that may make you more comfortable.

Running is also an acceptable form of exercise during pregnancy, as long as you feel comfortable doing it (it may get harder to do as your belly gets larger or the baby drops further into your pelvis.) However, doctors only recommend that you run while pregnant if you were a runner before you got pregnant; they do not advise picking this up if your body is not already used to it. Many women, who were runners before, continue to run late into their third trimester.

Yoga and pilates can be great forms of exercise during pregnancy, and both can help strengthen your core muscles, which will help make carrying the baby easier. You do need to exercise caution when participating in any kind of exercise that involves stretching during pregnancy though; the hormone relaxin, which is secreted by the body to help your ligaments stretch to accommodate the baby, can also allow you to overextend your muscles and tendons, which could lead to injury. Look for a class that is specifically geared towards pregnant women.

Whatever form of exercise during pregnancy you choose to participate in, make sure that you try your best to stay active. While it isn’t always easy with your changing body, it is important in helping you to stay as healthy as possible, for both you and your baby. For more information on what is the best kind of exercise during pregnancy for you and how to stay fit, Click Here Now to Check Out Pregnancy Without Pounds for Yourself.

Pregnancy Exercise

One of the best things you can do to prepare for pregnancy is start exercising regularly. You don’t have to join the Boston Marathon, but even walking around the block a few times per week will help tone and condition your body and help you prepare for the journey ahead.

Women who regularly engage in some form of exercise before and during pregnancy are more likely to experience quicker and less problematic labors. That is a good enough reason in and of itself to start exercising as soon as you can.

The other important thing you need to do during your pregnancy is make an appointment to see your healthcare provider. Good prenatal care throughout your pregnancy is essential for maintaining a happy and healthy pregnancy. If you are not yet pregnant but thinking about becoming pregnant, many practitioners recommend scheduling a visit so they can review your health history for you and help overcome any potential barriers to your fertility.

Your healthcare provider can also set you up on a regimen of prenatal vitamins, and help you understand your cycle better so you know the times of the month you are most likely to get pregnant.

Most practitioners will schedule your first visit between 8-11 weeks if you are having a normal, low risk pregnancy. If you aren’t sure when you became pregnant, you should consider scheduling an appointment with your provider right away to ensure that everything is going along as it should and that you have no risk factors for possible complications.

Article by Beverley Brooke, author of “Ensure a healthy safe pregnancy for you and your baby”, visit http://www.pregnancywizard.com for more on pregnancy exercise