Exercise Tips for Pregnant Women
- Consult your health care provider when you know or suspect you are pregnant. Discuss you medical and obstetric history, your current exercise regimen, and the exercises you would like to continue throughout pregnancy.
- Seek help in determining an exercise routine that is well within your limit of tolerance, especially if you have not been exercising regularly
- Consider decreasing weight-bearing exercises and concentrating on non-weight-bearing activities such as swimming, cycling, or stretching. If you are a runner, starting in your seventh month, you may wish to walk instead.
- Avoid risky activities. Avoid activities that require holding your breath and bearing down. Jerky, bouncy motions also should be avoided.
- Exercise regularly at least three times a week, as long as you are healthy, to improve muscle tone and increase or maintain your stamina. Exercise for 10 to 15 minutes, rest for 2 to 3 minutes, then exercise for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Decrease your exercise level as your pregnancy progresses.
- Take your pulse every 10 to 15 minutes while you are exercising. If it is morethan 140 beats/min, slow down until it returns to a maximum of 90 beats/min.
- Avoid becoming overheated.
- Do not use hot tubs and saunas.
- Warm-up and stretching exercises.
- A cool-down period of mild activity involving your legs after an exercise period will help bring your respiration, heart and metabolic rates back to normal and prevent the pooling of blood in the exercised muscles.
- Rest for 10 minutes after exercising, lying on your side.
- Drink two or three 8 oz glasses of water after you exercise.
- Increaseyour caloric intake to replace the calories burned during exercise and provide the extra energy needs of pregnancy.
- Take your time.
- Wear a supportive bra.
- Wear supportive shoes.
- Stop exercising immediately if you experience shortness of breath, dizziness, numbness, tingling, pain of any kind, more than four uterine contractions per hour, decreased fetal activity or vaginal bleeding and consult your health care provider.
