How Often Should I Exercise?

In order to take advantage of all of the benefi ts that prenatal exercise can bestow, it is important to make exercise a regular part of your life. Aerobic activity should be performed three to six days per week, while strength training should be done two to three days per week.

However, remember that your rest days are just as important. You need to give yourself one day off each week from aerobic activity, no matter how great you are feeling. This will prevent fatigue. Also, you should perform your strength training exercises on non-consecutive days. For example, if you do a full body workout on Monday, you should not repeat these exercises until Wednesday. If you only do upper
body exercises on Monday, you can do lower body exercises on Tuesday.

Stretching can (and should)be done every day.

You will also want to practice the concept of “rest/activity cycling” when one hour of quiet time is set aside for every hour of exercise performed in one day. This also helps prevent fatigue.

What If I Have Never Exercised Before?

Don’t worry too much if you haven’t exercised much before becoming pregnant. As long as you have your doctor’s consent, even women completely unfamiliar with exercise can start an appropriate program after becoming pregnant. The first step is to
find one aerobic activity you enjoy doing. Walking,either outside or indoors on the
treadmill, is always a good place to start. Other activities include swimming,indoor or outdoor cycling,stair climbing, low impact aerobics or using an elliptical machine.

By choosing one main activity and one back-up activity, boredom from a regular routine will become less of a factor. Your back-up activity can also be used as a substitute if your main activity becomes uncomfortable later into your pregnancy.

Once you have chosen your exercise activities, remember to do not too much too soon. For the first week, begin with 15-20 minutes per day. As you become more comfortable, add five minutes each week until you are doing at least 30 minutes each day.

Actually, aerobic activity is only one-third of the exercise equation. Strength training is also important. You will want to perform strengthening exercises for all of the major muscle groups of your body, focusing especially on the abdominal, hip and pelvic muscles since these will be used primarily during labor and delivery.

The final, but very important, part of any workout equation is stretching. Many people do not view stretching as integral to their workout regimens, and will stretch
only if they have time. When you come to the end of your workout, stretch all of the muscle groups that you have used. You will reduce soreness, increase fl exibility and help prevent future injuries. For more stress reduction and focus on flexibility,
try incorporating a prenatal yoga class into your routine once or twice a week.

Who Should Exercise?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the American College of Sports Medicine,recommend that 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise should be performed on most, if not all, days of the week. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists suggest that pregnant women also adopt this recommendation. However,consulting your physician before performing any exercise is very important. Even for those women on bed rest during pregnancy, performing low impact upper body, abdominal and pelvic exercises is often permissible. Your physician will let you know if you have conditions that would contraindicate exercise.

Some of these include:
• Heart disease
• Lung disease
• An incompetent cervix (i.e., the cervix is too weak to remain closed during pregnancy)
• Carrying multiple babies that may be delivered early
• Persistent second or third trimester bleeding
• Placenta previa (a condition caused by the placenta covering the cervix)
• Premature labor during the current pregnancy
• Ruptured membranes
• Pregnancy-induced hypertension

If none of the above apply to you, get ready to begin exercising!

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Pre-Natal Fitness

So you are expecting a new addition to your family? Congratulations!

The next nine months will be filled with excitement, anticipation and a wide variety of decisions. In between choosing a pediatrician and deciding what color to paint the baby’s room, make sure you set aside time to get your body ready for labor, delivery and the demands of motherhood.

Gone are the days of spending a pregnancy in front of the television with a bowl of ice cream. Now, more than ever, expectant mothers are taking control of their pregnancies with the help of exercise.

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