Safe Exercises During Pregnancy: A Guide for Expectant Mothers

Question
QUESTION: Hi, Helene,

I saw that you answer questions about exercise during and after pregnancy. What kinds of things do you recommend? Before I was pregnant, I was doing Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home. Are you familiar with her? I also did Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones workout and occasionally the Biggest Loser or My Fitness Coach for the Wii. I prefer workouts I can do at home.

I guess I'm mostly just interested in knowing what kinds of aerobic moves are not safe during pregnancy.

ANSWER: For aerobic exercise during pregnancy, you need to stay in a moderate training zone. Always work out at a level that you perceive to be "somewhat difficult." You never want to get to the point where you are panting heavily or feel breathless. As your pregnancy advances, you'll notice that your rate of perceived exertion will rise and that you'll need to slow down a bit to keep in a moderate zone.

You also want to stay with exercises that you are familiar with, and used to doing. So if you haven't been jogging, you don't want to start that now. Fitness walking, is safe for everyone. Low impact exercise DVDs should be OK too.

For more information on what exercises to avoid during pregnancy go to:
http://befitmom.com/contraindicated_exercise.html

For more  information on aerobic exercise during pregnancy go to:
http://befitmom.com/aerobic_exercise.html

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the speedy reply! The walking workout I like to do involves knee lifts and reaching across your body to touch your opposite knee. It also does some power kicking, light jogging, over the head reaching, etc. Is that all stuff safe?

Answer
RE: reaching across your body to touch your opposite knee: OK now, but when your belly gets big, it will get in the way and the move will become difficult.

RE: power kicking: might be too taxing on your joints, and after 20 weeks your balance will not be the same, so you'll need to modify this.

RE: light jogging: OK

RE: over the head reaching: OK, but make sure that as your belly expands, that you do not arch your back when your reach over the head.