Pregnancy, Fitness, And Those New Mom Pounds
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Pregnant women can continue many sports or exercises during and after pregnancy. Exercise can help you better prepare for birth. And taking off those extra pounds is a top goal for many new moms, a special challenge when you’re busier and more tired than ever before. Check with your doctor or midwife about any exercise plan, because some conditions may limit your options. Here’s some basic info on exercise during and after pregnancy to get you started.
One important fact - don’t exercise lying on your back or stand in long yoga positions after the third month. Lying on your back and standing motionless decrease your heart rate, which could lower blood flow to your baby.
Stretching and kegel exercises are almost universally recommended for moms-to-be. They diminish discomfort and help you prepare to deliver.
If you exercise or participate in a sport, you probably do some basic stretching exercises. Stretching exercises may also be an end in themselves for women who want to get just a bit more fit during pregnancy. Web M.D. and the Cleveland Clinic suggest five good warm up/stretch exercises: Rotating your neck, shoulders and ankles; a swimming motion; thigh shifts; and leg shakes.
Kegel exercises, strengthen the muscles and motions you will use during labor. Both promote faster healing of tissue and decrease incontinence postpartum. Last for prepartum, they recommend a couple of tailor exercises, done sitting on the floor that help with general tone and diminish lower back pain that’s typical during the later months of pregnancy.
Okay, now for sports themselves. In general, contact and high impact sports, skiing, water skiing, scuba diving and horseback riding are discouraged for all pregnant women. Women who already run can probably do so during at least part of their pregnancy. Exercise that works for most women includes walking, swimming, yoga, riding stationery bikes, stair climbing machines with rails, mild aerobics and dance (no high impact or jumping, though).
What about weights? While many more people are doing weight and resistance training these days, there’s not much research about pregnancy and weights. An article on About.com has a good overview.
You’ll see lists that tell you when to stop exercise and check with your health provider. These are on every list: exertion to the point of not having enough breath to talk during exercise, being breathless before you start, dizziness, headache, chest pain, muscle weakness, pain or swelling in your calf or ankles, and decreased baby movement.
The next big moment is when you find yourself a frantically busy new mom, often exhausted but freting about those extra pounds. Besides helping you regain your shape, exercise can increase your energy during this draining time.
Again, Web M.D. with the Cleveland Clinic recommend walking, abs contractions done with relaxing deep breathing, shoulder and head lifts, curls, pelvic tilts and kegels. For instructions visit Web M.D.
Last, if you’d like some videotapes for company and encouragement, one especially popular guru for exercise and yoga while pregnant and after are DVDs by Sara Holliday at fitbysara.com. If you are interested in a personal trainer, she offers coaching by phone, and some cities have trainers with special certifications for working with pregnant women.