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Questions About Exercising During Pregnancy Answered
Your Pregnancy Weight Control Fears and Questions Answered – Exercise During Pregnancy
When I got pregnant for the first time, I had enough knowledge and experience with exercise to understand how to keep in shape. What I didn’t know and felt very unsure and nervous about was how to exercise whilst pregnant. I knew I didn’t want to put on unnecessary weight just because I was pregnant but I had fears and lots of questions about how to keep in shape and not do any damage to my unborn child. I searched the internet for answers but didn’t really find what I was looking for. I wanted a proper regime while always putting my baby first.
1. The Benefits - There is no doubt that exercising during pregnancy helps prepare your body for the stressful time that it is about to go through. Strengthening your muscles and increased endurance and stamina can definitely help with a lengthy labour. Exercise also releases endorphins to the brain, which can help relieve any stress and tension that you might be feeling. Your positive emotions and energy can only feed in to your unborn child. Although, exercise might not be what your body craves, once you start working on a light routine, those aches and pains and embarrassing issues like constipation tend to work their way out of your system fairly quickly. ‘Working Out’ during pregnancy is not intended as a way of losing weight during pregnancy, however, it will help you to regain that figure that you had before becoming pregnant much quicker than if you give in to the urge of not exercising at all.
2. Warm-Up, Work-Out, Cool-Down. - Keep in mind that the general rule when pregnant is to gain no more than 5 pounds in the first trimester, 10 in the second, and 10 in the third. In order to maintain this and exercise safely, the emphasis for pregnant women would be to concentrate on aerobic exercise. Walking and swimming are advisable exercises for pregnant women, however, a gentle aerobic routine can maintain a good level of fitness, which you will need when running around after that toddler. Warm-Up, Work-Out and Cool-Down. These are 3 essential parts of exercising when pregnant and each area needs a dedicated amount of time. It’s advisable to spend approximately 10 minutes warming up, make sure to take the time to do this. As a mother-to-be, you will have enough aches and pains during pregnancy without adding to it. As with any standard aerobic exercise make sure to stretch out your muscles thoroughly. Work out mainly your lower body muscles and make sure to hold each stretch for a count of 10 seconds, repeat each stretch 3 times on each chosen area.
3. The Dangers - Some things to stay away from during pregnancy are more obvious than others. Horse-Riding would be one that springs to mind to keep well away from. It is inadvisable to carry out any activity where there is a danger of incurring a heavy fall, so water-skiing and snow-boarding are also out I’m afraid!! During the latter stages of pregnancy it is absolutely 100% forbidden to go scuba-diving and in the name of being over-cautious it may be best to stay away from it altogether during those important 9 months. One danger that you may not have been aware of; is to stay away from saunas. Women generally experience low blood pressure during pregnancy, and this, added to the intense heat of a sauna can cause blood vessels to dilate and fainting can occur. On a more serious level, if this blood flow shift occurs for an increased period of time it could cause a reduction in the blood supply to the placenta.