So the rabbit died as they said in the old days. You got two pink lines on your
home pregnancy test and your doctor confirmed it. You are going to be a mommy!
Congratulations, you have an incredible journey ahead of you. You are going to
need plenty of energy to grow a life inside of you and a good workout routine
will help you.
A lot of women are under the misconception that exercise during
pregnancy is bad. Unless you have complications such as a threatened miscarriage
or you are a high risk pregnancy, most doctors will recommend you exercise
throughout your pregnancy. Exercising during pregnancy can help you balance your
hormones, help loosen your bowel movements, relieve stress, and help avoid or
control gestational diabetes. It also can help you with your weight gain and
make labor and delivery a little easier on you. There are some modifications
though you will have to make to your exercise routine and some guidelines to
follow especially if you have not really exercised before you were pregnant.
First get your doctors ok to exercise through out your pregnancy. As I said
earlier, unless you have a complication your doctor will more than likely give
you the ok. Once you have the ok, think about what exercises you did in the
past. If you have not done much, start off slowly. Walk for about five minutes a
day and add an additional five each week until you are up to thirty minutes.
Even if you have worked out before you got pregnant, you do need to tone it down
a little because you are going to be carrying extra weight.
You want to make sure you do low impact activities that will get your blood
pumping but not get you out of breath. If you have exercised before you should
keep your target heart rate at 140-150. It is going to be less if you never
really exercised before. This does not mean you have to run out and get a heart
rate monitor; you can do the talk test. If you are doing your exercise and you
find that you can not talk without feeling winded, you are working out too hard.
You want to find it a little challenging to talk but not be huffing and puffing.
So what kind of exercises should you do? Almost every doctor will tell you to
walk. Walking just thirty minutes a day, three times a week will have a positive
impact on your pregnancy. Yoga and Pilates is becoming the hip thing to do and
help with your mental health while pregnant. Make sure you do a pregnancy geared
class or video since they are designed specifically for your new body. Aerobics
are good also, along with walking you have swimming, or even light jogging will
work.
So what should you avoid, most doctors will recommend that you cut out any
sit-ups and some weight lifting after your first trimester. This is because once
you hit four months, your uterus will probably be slitting on at least one of
your major veins and can slow your blood returning to your heart. So take it
easy on those crunches. NO matter how many you do while your pregnant you are
still going to get a baby belly!
How long should you exercise? Well, that is really up to you. Some women
report being able to exercise all the way up to their delivery date while others
have to stop by the time they hit their third trimester. When you are pregnant
you really need to listen to your body and if you find you can not walk as much
as you could a month ago, then you need to stop. Do not push yourself. It is not
the time for the "no pain no gain" motto. Rest when your body tells you too.
Gone are the days when being pregnant meant you should do nothing. You can
still exercise. Keep in mind though you are exercising to maintain a healthy
pregnancy, not to lose weight during your pregnancy.
