exercise guidelines?

[bmccartney]

I'm a bit upset. My OB told me that abdominal exercises of any sort weren't safe to do in pregnancy. I've have been doing them up until now (4 months pregnant)...I just never had asked her about exercising before. The info that I had been reading online supports exercising your abdominals and pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy, which is supposed to make delivery easier. I'm not yet at the stage where lying on my back is contraindicated because I haven't grown much yet. She also told me not to let my HR go over 140 bpm, which seems outdated too from all my research. I've still been doing Cathe, just with less intensity when I feel fatigued. I don't to be a bad patient or obviously do anything to hurt the baby, but what did your Docs tell you all about this??

 

[Manmohini]

Especially when not far along, my doctor said just go ahead and keep exercising--no guidelines. I did abdominals in my first trimester (whenever I didn't feel as if I would vomit). The second trimester, I kept up all my excercises except I stopped doing abdominals on my back. I began to do them on the ball and as side planks mostly. Toward the end of the second trimester, with iron levels low, I started noticing a loss of stamina, so I really reduced my intensity level. Also, during second trimester, I changed everything to low impact.

My doctor is a believer in exercising as long as it's not competitive or dangerous, so she never put stipulations on it. However, since I had a miscarriage in the past, I wanted to be gentler on my body, and so I adopted a few restrictions that other women and on-line posters mentioned--no lying on the back after the 5th month, reduced jumping, heartrate under 140. You can still get a good workout observing these restrictions. Granted, it's not like what it was prior to pregnancy, but the way I feel is that any movement at all must be better than sitting on the couch.
Manmohini

 

[Manmohini]

By the way, on the topic of exercise, I heard the other day that the stationary bike could be a problem in the mid to late third trimester because of pressure put on the perineum. Does anyone know anything about this? I've been riding the stationary lately (although my knees are bumping my belly). Any of you other third-trimester ladies riding the stationary?
Manmohini

 

[emackay]

Hello there,

My doctor agrees with what Manmohini said - exercise is great during pregnancy. My doctor's rule of thumb is if it hurts, don't do it. I am almost 32 weeks and I still do ab work on my back (my doc says up to 20 minutes is okay if you feel alright). Basically, my doc says that even a 10 degree tilt off of your vena cava is enough to keep circulation normal, so even if you wake up on your back it's okay. Your body will alert you to a problem by making you dizzy, etc.

I have cut back on my intensity a bit due to nausea and sore feet, but everybody is different. A HR of 140 is very outdated - but using the talk rule helps, as well as your perceived exertion level. If you can still say a few words at a time, you're doing fine Also, as my pregnancy progresses I am finding that my aerobic capacity is getting better (for many women, it is better than pre-pregnancy after they give birth - your cardiovascular system has double the blood volume and is used to working harder, etc. etc.).

Long story short, do what makes sense to you It sounds like your doc is erring on the conservative side, but even ACOG agrees that 140 is not the cut-off and that ab work is good for you.

Manmohini - I'm using a recumbent stationary bike. I think the idea of avoiding prolonged pressure on your perimeum is b/c it can exacerbate hemorrhoids. But so can sitting down for too long ...

Take care and good luck,
Arancini

 

[lrhollid]

Not pregnant, but thinking about it. I was curious about exercise and pregnancy, so I started reading around. There is an interesting book by Clapp called Exercising Through Your Pregnancy. He addresses a lot of the questions that you mentioned about heart rate, abdominal exercises, etc.

HTH!

 

[emackay]

Yep - one of the most useful books I've found, too

Another, for abs, is by Tupler. There's another all around book that Cathe recommends called Fit to Deliver which has goodguidelines for everything, too.

arancini

 

[TikiScrapper]

I had a similar experience with my first pregnancy. I had my first child through a military hospital and later found (through my own research and through my current doctor) that those guidelines are out of date and now considered somewhat overly cautious. The one fact I continue to find stated over and over regardless of specific heartrates is that it is important for pregnant women to remain at their normal activity level for as long as they comfortably can.

I hope you are not feeling guilty for continuing to be active as long as you are listening to your body and not over doing it.

Wishing you a healthy pregnancy!

BTW, you and I are at about the same gestational point.