The Do’s and Don’ts of Pregnancy Exercise

Introduction – The Do’s and Don’ts of Pregnancy Exercise

Getting active or staying active during pregnancy can be a confusing effort, with a lot of contradictory advice to be found. The fact of the matter is that exercising during pregnancy comes with a myriad of benefits, like preparing your body for labor and delivery, promoting healthy pregnancy weight gain, easing the aches and pains associated with pregnancy (low-back pain, constipation, overall fatigue etc) and sets you up for an optimal postpartum recovery. As long as you are healthy and your pregnancy is normal, it is absolutely recommended to incorporate physical activity into your prenatal routine. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that, “pregnant women should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week.”

A good prenatal exercise program should focus on strengthening the core and pelvic floor, preparing the body for labor by building strength through the lower body especially the posterior chain and low back, working on balance, posture, mobility and stability, as well as stretching and flexibility training.

At some point, modifications will be necessary in the latter stages of pregnancy to accommodate your growing belly, but that doesn’t mean you are relegated to simple stretches and yoga poses for 9+ months. Exercise during pregnancy can improve your mood and energy levels, assist in gaining strength and maintaining muscle tone as well as help you to feel confident in your body through pregnancy and beyond. So, what are the do’s and don’ts of pregnancy exercise? Let’s dive in.

The Do’s of Pregnancy Exercise

Some of the do’s of pregnancy exercise are focusing on Lower Body Strength Training, incorporating Unilateral Training, and emphasizing Core Strengthening Exercises.

Pregnancy Exercise – Do Focus on Lower Body Strength Training

Preparing for labor and delivery is truly an athletic event if there ever was one. And while you might not realize it, lower body strength is an especially important factor. Strong leg muscles will not only be helpful in carrying the increased load placed on your body as pregnancy progresses but they also help during the pushing stage of labor. Squats, lunges, deadlifts, hip thrusts and all of their variations are great options during pregnancy as they not only strengthen the large lower body muscles in preparation for this additional weight, but also serve to functionally prepare the body for the bending and lifting that motherhood requires. You can continue to perform squats and lunges throughout your pregnancy, focusing on proper form and slow, careful execution. These types of exercises also encourage the baby to face backward in the birth canal, a more favorable position.

Do Incorporate Unilateral Training while exercising during Pregnancy

Unilateral training simply means performing 1-sided exercises. Training the arms and legs separately allows you to strengthen both sides of the body equally as well as prevent or correct muscle imbalances. This type of training sets you up for motherhood like no other (think: holding a baby in one arm and doing all of life’s tasks with the other)! Upper body exercises like curls, rows, chest presses and carries like the suitcase carry or 1-arm rack carry are all excellent ways to train the body unilaterally. These types of exercises help keep the spine in a neutral position, force you to create stability through your trunk and core and are effective for both core training as well as posture training. The suitcase carry in particular is remarkably similar to what it feels like when carrying a baby car seat around- welcome to motherhood!

Pregnancy Exercise – Do Emphasize Core Strengthening Exercises

Core and lower back strength is imperative during pregnancy to help you deal with altered stability, alleviate common pregnancy-related problems like low back pain, strengthen the pelvic floor and support and stabilize your spine. Strengthening the deep core muscles can help you maintain good posture and promote efficient movement in your daily life- pregnant or not. Exercises like bird dogs, pelvic tilts (standing, lying, seated or on all fours), and cat/cows all help to engage the deep abdominal muscles and are safe for all stages of pregnancy.

While not exactly an exercise all on its own, it is important to be able to engage your transverse abdominals during pregnancy. Having strong transverse abdominals help both during labor as well as in recovery from diastasis recti. Our transverse abdominals are the deep abdominal muscles that wrap around your lower torso. There are a number of ways to cue the engagement of your trans-abdominals- some of the most popular are to think about “hugging your baby” or “pull baby up and in.” This is a mind-muscle connection making a subtle contraction, not “sucking in.” When you engage your transverse abdominals, you should not see movement anywhere else in your body.

The Don’ts of Pregnancy Exercise

Some of the suggested don’ts of pregnancy exercise are don’t exercise for Weight Loss, don’t perform Front-Loaded Core Work in the Latter Stages of Pregnancy, don’t Engage in High Risk or Contact Sports.

Don’t Exercise for Weight Loss during Pregnancy

Photo by freestocks (Unsplash)

Try to keep in mind all of the benefits that come along with staying active and incorporating physical activity in your routine. While many of us might associate exercise with weight loss, it is especially important to remember that during pregnancy that is not the case. No matter how much you weigh, it is not safe to lose weight while pregnant. (The exception here is in the first few weeks of the first trimester when it is more common to lose weight due to morning sickness, nausea, food aversions, etc).

Fitness is not simply a means to an end for weight loss. Pregnancy is a great time to increase your fitness, challenge your body and build or maintain strength and muscle mass but it is not the time to think about weight loss.

Don’t Perform Front-Loaded Core Work in the Latter Stages of Pregnancy

As your pregnancy progresses it will be important to make some changes to your core/abdominal training. While the exact time for this differs from woman to woman and even for the same woman in different pregnancies, it is generally accepted that by the end of the 2nd trimester it is time to begin modifying certain exercises. Front planks, push ups from the ground and mountain climbers, as well as traditional sit-ups and crunches should be avoided as they put an unnecessary amount of stress and pressure on the core. As the baby grows, these types of exercises can exacerbate the normal separation of the abdominal wall that commonly occurs during pregnancy, diastasis recti or DR. DR can be augmented by any extra stress put on your already stretched connective tissues, but you can move these exercises to an incline position (incline push ups, incline plank), a side-lying position (side plank, side-lying crunches) or simply remove them and include other, less strenuous core-focused exercises instead.

Don’t Engage in High Risk or Contact Sports during Pregnancy

This one is a no-brainer but it bears repeating: during pregnancy you should generally avoid any sports or exercises where there is a risk of falling down, being hit, or colliding with another person or with equipment. This includes things like kickboxing, hockey, soccer, martial arts, skiing, rock climbing, horseback riding, etc. It isn’t that these sports are inherently dangerous to you or to your baby, but more about the unknown fall/collision risk associated with them.

While Exercising during Pregnancy, be wary of…

Exercises Performed Laying on Your Back

Performing exercises in a supine position during pregnancy used to be an automatic no, but more current research is driving change regarding the recommendations of lying flat on your back when exercising during pregnancy. Some women find that laying flat on their backs for long periods of time becomes uncomfortable somewhere towards the end of the 2nd trimester.  You may feel dizziness or lightheadedness, or numbness and tingling in the legs. This is attributed to the growing size of the baby compressing the vena cava- the vein that returns blood to the heart of the mother. Simply changing positions is usually enough to alleviate the discomfort. Exercises traditionally done on the back can be elevated with a stability ball or foam wedge or performed in a side-lying position.

High Impact Exercises 

High-impact exercises fall into the be wary of category because they are neither an explicit don’t nor a must-do during pregnancy. If you are an experienced runner or enjoy HIIT workouts, for example, you may continue running/doing HIIT throughout most of your pregnancy (definitely consult with your prenatal care provider), but pregnancy is not the time to begin a running/HIIT training regimen. Overall, when it comes to high-impact exercises like running, skipping, jumping, etc – you can continue as long as you feel comfortable and stop if you feel pain or discomfort in your joints, pelvis or pelvic floor, hips or knees. As your belly grows and your balance and stability decrease, you will want to skip the exercises which put you off-balance and increase your risk of falling.

With these tips you can have a healthy, physically active pregnancy, prepare for labor and delivery and set yourself up for an ideal postpartum recovery process. What is most important to remember during pregnancy is to always listen to your body. If something feels weird, wrong or uncomfortable, either try to modify the exercise or don’t continue doing it. Incorporating exercise in your prenatal routine can help you to get strong, improve your state of mind, cope with the stressors of pregnancy and to relieve pregnancy discomforts. Strive to feel good and stay healthy both for yourself and for your little one!

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Ignacio Campo on Unsplash

References

01. Exercise During Pregnancy. (2022). ACOG; https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/exercise-during-pregnancy

02. Anca Gaston & Harry Prapavessis (2013) Tired, moody and pregnant? Exercise may be the answer, Psychology & Health, 28:12, 1353-1369, DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2013.809084

03. Olson, David1; Sikka, Robby S.2; Hayman, Jacob1; Novak, Melissa1; Stavig, Christina1 Exercise in Pregnancy, Current Sports Medicine Reports: May 2009 – Volume 8 – Issue 3 – p 147-153 doi: 10.1249/JSR.0b013e3181a61d51. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/Fulltext/2009/05000/Exercise_in_Pregnancy.00012.aspx

04. Losing Weight While Pregnant. (2022). Norton Health Care;  https://nortonhealthcare.com/news/losing-weight-while-pregnant/

05. Can You Lie On Your Back During Pregnancy? (2021). ProNatal Fitness; https://pronatalfitness.com/2021/04/22/can-you-lie-on-your-back-during-pregnancy/#:~:text=Since%20it%20has%20been%20established,al.