Most women can benefit significantly from exercising throughout their pregnancies, writes Giles Warrington
PREGNANCY IS not a time to try and radically improve fitness levels or over-exert yourself. In fact, for the majority of expectant mothers, activity levels typically tend to drop during pregnancy.
Despite this, most women can gain significant health benefits from exercising throughout their pregnancy. The development and implementation of any exercise programme should be tailored to the needs of the individual.
Factors including current health and fitness status, previous exercise experience, stage of pregnancy and personal exercise goals all need to be taken into consideration before engaging in any physical activity programme.
It is important that all prescribed exercise programmes are adapted to cater for individual needs and circumstances and with the prior approval of your doctor or obstetrician.
The question of what types of exercise are appropriate for pregnant women really depends on what activities you enjoy. Any exercise programme should predominantly aim at improving aerobic fitness and muscle tone.
Aerobic exercise involves any continuous rhythmic activity which uses the body's larger muscle groups. Many medical and health promotion experts recommend walking or exercising on a stationary bicycle, where exercise intensity is easily controlled and loading on the joints is gentle.
The advantage of stationary cycling is that you are well supported and it can be done while reading a book or watching TV, which helps pass the time! Exercising in a seated position can, however, become uncomfortable in the latter stage of pregnancy. Other exercises, including swimming, jogging, low impact aerobics, aqua aerobics, light resistance exercises, yoga, and pilates are also commonly recommended.
Swimming creates a buoyant, supportive environment which might be particularly well tolerated, although diving should be avoided. Jogging does appear to be a safe activity, but probably most suited to those women who previously ran and had higher levels of physical fitness prior to pregnancy.
Pregnancy is probably not the best time to start running though, and walking might be a better starting point. Any running-based training routines may need to be modified and due to discomfort many women may need to decrease or cease running altogether during the later stages of pregnancy.
Resistance training involving low resistance (body weight or light weights) with multiple repetitions (10-15 reps) using a full range of movement have been shown to be a safe and effective way to maintain muscular strength and tone during pregnancy.
Although specific exercises involving lifting weight above the head or lying flat on your back (particularly in the second and third trimesters) should be avoided as they lead to changes in blood pressure as well as decreasing blood flow to the womb.
Any activities involving excessive bouncing, jarring or rapid changes of direction or that provide any risk of abdominal injury should also be avoided.
Pregnancy leads to noticeable changes to your body in terms of structure and function. These changes are specific to the individual and will affect your ability to exercise and should be taken into account when designing and implementing any exercise programme.
Next week we will further investigate appropriate exercise prescription during pregnancy as well as focusing on getting back to fitness after childbirth.
• Dr Giles Warrington is a sport and exercise physiologist and lecturer in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dublin City University (DCU)