Safe Exercise During Pregnancy: Heart Rate & Weightlifting FAQs

Question
Hi
I'm week 10, did not workout before, Is it safe to start now? Also for running/walking what heart rate should I keep at? and what about weight lifting?
Also, Is it true that the heart rate of the baby is reduced while I'm working out?
Yesterday, I run/walk for 45 min and I think that for 15-20 min I reached 160 or so, Did I do any damaged? should I be worry?
Also, I had a miscarrige before this pregancy, the pregancy did not develope at early stage, does that change anything regarding working out now?


Answer
The good news is that there is not a correlation between moderate exercise and miscarriage.

The best way to determine your target HR during pregnancy is through perceived exertion. Always stay in a cardio zone where you can still speak easily. If you get to the point where you huffing and puffing, then you are working out too hard. Take you pulse when you are in a good training zone to determine where your specific RH should be. This will change as your pregnancy progresses.

It's not true that you baby will not get enough oxygen when you exercise. When your baby gets bigger and starts to need more oxygen, then you rate of perceived exertion will rise, and you will get out of breath. Your muscles will tire much more quickly too. Essentially, your baby gets "first dibs" on oxygen and nutrients. You'll really start to feel your perceived exertion level change from about week 20 onward. From this point you should slowly taper the intensity of your workouts to stay in your target cardio zone.

Try to get at least 30 minutes of moderate level exercise on most days of the week. A long as you stay on a moderate level, workouts that last longer than 30 mins. are OK.

I'm sure that you did not harm your developing fetus from your walk/run yesterday.

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