When Joe Wicks, aka The Bodycoach, announced his wife Rosie was pregnant with their second baby, I was so excited for them! Even more so being on the same journey myself!
We share a real passion for encouraging women to exercise in pregnancy. For far too long women have been scared away from doing the things they love doing especially when it comes to fitness! This seemed like the perfect opportunity to get together and collaborate to share some evidence-based information and tips to encourage women to exercise safely in pregnancy!
We have known for a long time that exercise has a multitude of benefits in pregnancy, from reducing the risk of complications to helping prevent excessive weight loss and more!
To see the first part of our collaboration, here is a recording of the live video from our discussion on Instagram about the basics of exercising in pregnancy:
I have also contributed to this brilliant article written by Joe and his team. It covers all the important information you need to know about exercise in pregnancy and so much more!
https://www.thebodycoach.com/blog/the-essential-guide-to-exercising-during-pregnancy-1247.html
My experience
Throughout both my pregnancies, I have tried to prioritise fitting in exercise, which of course is increasingly difficult with a busy job and a growing family!
The best combination for me has been 45 minutes 3x per week of any of the following; swimming, spinning, pilates and some at-home pregnancy specific strengthening programmes.
I have suffered from pelvic girdle pain. Strengthening programmes, as well as yoga/ pilates (under the guidance of a women health physiotherapist) helped me to improve my symptoms. I was able to stay active and even to keep working where I may have otherwise had to take early maternity leave!
Ive also managed to avoid putting on significant weight from either pregnancy. I owe this to a combination of good genes and staying very active throughout!
The best types of exercise in pregnancy
Before starting any exercise in pregnancy, it is a good idea to discuss your plans with your doctor or midwife. However, the following types of exercise are all considered safe and beneficial in pregnancy. They can even be used if you weren’t particularly active before:
- Walking
- Swimming
- Stationary cycling
- Low-impact aerobics
- Yoga, modified for pregnancy
- Pilates, modified for pregnancy
- Running or jogging
- Racquet sports
- Strength training
In general, if you are used to doing a particular type of exercise, you can continue to do this in pregnancy, whilst taking additional precautions such as avoiding any contact sports, extremes of altitude or temperature and risks of falling.
What about exercise in the first trimester?
Whilst it is perfectly safe to continue your regular exercise routine in early pregnancy, many women find they need to reduce or stop due to the symptoms they may experience.
In pregnancy, a huge amount of change occurs in your body within a relatively short time period, for example by weeks 5-6 the volume of blood pumped out by the heart each minute has increased, and blood pressure is decreased.
It is normal to feel dizzy, be aware of a rapid heart rate as well as nausea or fatigue. It is important to be kind to yourself and work within your own limits.
You may prefer to reduce or stop your usual exercise routine until you are feeling better, when some of the early pregnancy symptoms resolve. This is unlikely to have any long-term effect.
However, if you do prefer to continue to exercise then you can feel reassured that there is no evidence that exercise in early pregnancy causes an increased miscarriage rate, in fact women who are fit before and in early pregnancy may have a lower miscarriage rate.
What should be avoided?
Exercise to a very high intensity
Part of the way the body adapts to pregnancy means that the heart is working significantly harder than outside of pregnancy.
If you are fit and well, your heart can adapt easily, meaning that blood volume, heart rate, stroke volume, and cardiac output normally increase during pregnancy, while the resistance it pumps against decreases.
During intense exercise, the heart is required to work harder and if the heart cannot accommodate these additional stresses, it may make you feel dizzy or even faint. In addition, the ability to exercise anaerobically is impaired during pregnancy.
This can make you feel more exhausted, or that you have a lower maximum exercise performance than previously as your body takes longer to replace the oxygen that lags behind.
Exercise in heat
Exercising in heat risks raising the maternal core body temperature too high. For the mother this may result in feelings of dizziness or even collapsing.
There are also suggested risks of birth defects for the foetus by regularly raising the mothers internal body temperature over 39 degrees.
Lifting barbell weights above your neck after 12 weeks
In pregnancy your centre of gravity naturally shifts, and there is a natural lordosis of the spine. These changes lead to an increase in the forces across joints and the spine during exercises. This puts weight through the neck so requires a precise technique for knee and shoulder alignment.
It is difficult to achieve this position without the supervision of a properly trained expert. Therefore it is easier to use handheld dumbbells instead.
Timed circuit classes with weights
Timed circuit classes that are not specifically designed for pregnancy may involve using heavy weights at high intensity. The classes may involve bar bells, lying on your back and fast movements with quick changes in direction. This can put excessive pressure on joints.
It is best to attend pregnancy-specific classes, or at least ensure the instructor is aware of your pregnancy.
Lying on back after 16 weeks?
Lying on your back may result in the growing uterus putting pressure on some of the larger blood vessels in your abdomen. This reduces the flow of blood back towards the heart and can cause lower blood pressure.
You may feel dizzy or even increase the risk of stillbirth if women lay on their back for prolonged periods after 28 weeks.