General Tips:
1. Listen to your body
- Be very aware of body temperature inside and out!
- Be aware of changes in energy and how you feel before, during and after exercise
2. Do activities you are already used to - but consider modifying intensity and or weights used and be cautious about adding new activities
- Things to add - activities that promote circulation and add energy such as walking, stretching and other activities you enjoy - be conservative as you begin!
- Things to avoid - activities that involve high levels of intensity and involve dramatic changes in temperature or pressure
Such as:
- i. Interval exercises - cycle class, kickboxing, squash
- ii. Angles - things that have you on your back or pressing overhead
- iii. Pressure - holding your breath, overhead movements, heat, crunches or any pressure on your abdominal area
- iv. High temperatures - hot yoga, packed fitness classes, exercise outdoors in hot weather
3. Take your time - gradually modify intensity as your pregnancy progresses
- Make warm ups longer and more gradual
- Take longer rests between sets or exercises
- Make transitions in intensity less dramatic - keep intervals more gradual and less intense
- Take more time to gradually cool down
4. Fuel for your body - stay well hydrated when exercising and make sure you have consistent and high nutrient foods to fuel your workouts
5. Stretch...carefully - remember your joints become a looser...stretching is great, but make sure it's controlled
Great tools and exercises to add:
- stability ball - great for supported exercises and stretching
- bender ball - safer option for keeping abs strong
- Bands - moderate, consistent and safe way to add resistance training
- Walking - adding poles for posture and support since you're front loaded!
- Pool exercises - swimming, aqua fit
Prenatal (General Trimester Guidelines)
First Trimester (0 - 12 weeks)
- If you were previously active you can work 3-4 times per week
- If you were previously inactive, start a program with very moderate intensity (such as walking, swimming, etc.)
- Consider starting any activity after the 13th week.
- Stay well hydrated and don't become fatigued or overheated
- "Your baby is most susceptible to heat in the first trimester, and you're more likely to be fatigued," says Michelle Mottola, Ph.D., associate professor of anatomy and kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.
Second Trimester (13 to 27 weeks)
- It is safe to increase workouts by 5-10 per cent, if active you can increase frequency to 4 times per week.
- If you were previously inactive, only increase to 3 times per week.
- Do not exercise on your back for more than 30 seconds.
- Stay well hydrated and don't become fatigued or overheated.
Third Trimester (28 weeks to delivery)
- Avoid exercises on your back.
- Listen to your body very closely during this stage. It is much easier to overheat in the third trimester.
- Stay well hydrated and don't become fatigued or overheated
General Tips:
- listen to your body and your instincts
- stay comfortable
- avoid quick changes with intensity and BP - increases in core temperature and can be bad for the baby
- you should always be able to talk comfortably - short sentences without laboured (pardon the pun) breathing
General Post Partum Guidelines
- Listen to your body
- Exercise when you have energy - or very moderately to start creating energy!
- Ideally exercise should be regular - 3+ times per week
- There should be no exercise associated pain or heavy bleeding
- Focus on proper hydration
- Adequate rest is a must!
- Infant weight gain should be normal
- Focus on adequate caloric intake
- Wear one or two supportive sport bra(s)
Liberated guidelines
- Only four years ago, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists was advising pregnant women not to exercise longer than 15 minutes at a time, and to keep their heart rate below 140 beats per minute.
- Among other fears, doctors believed that strenuous exercise could trigger early labor or divert blood flow from the fetus.
- In 1994, though, after a review of the research, ACOG dropped the heart-rate and duration restrictions and affirmed that women could continue to do moderate exercise throughout pregnancy -- with their doctor's blessing, of course, and barring certain medical complications.
- Debates still remain - some fitness experts still feel that exercise puts women at greater risk of joint injury, due to the effects of the pregnancy hormone relaxin, which loosens the cartilage in the pelvis joints so the baby's head can pass through the birth canal.
- Scientists have not been able to show that relaxin affects other joints in a pregnant women's body, however.
While pregnant women may be more susceptible to joint injuries, relaxin is not the culprit: It's women's heftier size in late pregnancy, says Michelle Mottola, Ph.D., director of the R. Samuel McLaughlin Foundation Exercise and Pregnancy Lab at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada.
