If you can relate to this then I have good news for you! You can, and you SHOULD exercise during your pregnancy. Rest and relaxation during pregnancy is an outdated, old-fashioned notion that is no longer recommended by those who are in the know regarding the most up to date studies regarding pregnant women and exercise.
I love the idea of helping women who are completely lost when it comes to exercise and fitness. That's what inspired me to study to train pre and post-natal women. Most pregnant women have been told that they shouldn't exercise and they are simply terrified to even try it. The problem with NOT exercising during your pregnancy is that you are setting yourself, and your baby, up for a difficult pregnancy, birth and recovery.
So why should you exercise during pregnancy? Well, we all know why exercise is so good for us, pregnant or not. It's good for your brain, your body, your self-esteem, it can calm your nerves and even reverse disease. There have been countless studies to show the numerous positive effects fitness can have on the human body. Now studies are showing that exercise can have a wonderfully positive effect on a developing fetus. One of those studies, done by the Society for Neuroscience, showed that those who exercised during pregnancy could be giving their unborn child a serious neurological advantage.
The study involved a group of 18 pregnant women who were followed throughout their pregnancy, starting in their first trimester. 8 of them were signed to a sedentary group, 10 of them to an active group and the active women were asked to exercise at least 20 minutes a day, three times a week. Eight to twelve days after the women gave birth, researchers fitted the newborns with electrodes that measure brain activity in response to various sounds. (This is an established test for memory according to Dr Dave Ellemberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Montreal) The newborns of the active moms showed far more mature, more effective brain patterns.
Dr Dave Ellemberg said, "What we found out is that there's this amazing transfer from what the mother does, onto her child. Moms-to-be can give their kids "a kickstart even before they're born."
This is just one test of many but the proof is there. Exercise is good for your baby. The notion that a pregnant woman is like an egg shell and that she is one step away from shattering is just crazy. The human body is a remarkable thing. If we were THAT fragile, we may not have survived as a species. Women have been pregnant, and given birth, under the most trying of circumstances over the centuries. In a lot of countries, women are still doing manual labour right up until they give birth.
We know that exercise is good for your baby but why is it good for you during pregnancy? Well, aside from the obvious points I mentioned earlier about it being good for your body and your health and preventing disease, exercise will make your pregnancy a LOT easier on your body. Your body goes through so many changes while you're pregnant. You end up with aches and pains you never had before. One of those is backache and also an arched lower back.
Another thing that the extra weight will affect are your legs or, more specifically, your knees. If you aren't used to carrying around extra weight, your knees are going to struggle. A way to counteract that would be to exercise your upper legs. Start right from the first trimester and get them ready to deal with the increasing weight they will be carrying.
If you've walked around carrying extra weight you'll know that it tends to leave you a bit breathless and tired. This is where fitness will really benefit you. Train your body to be able to handle the extra weight without it putting strain on your heart or your baby. Cardio workouts are essential for that reason, among a few others. Cardio will also help with that water retention that most pregnant women have to cope with. It can get horribly uncomfortable. If you can get yourself moving, it will lessen the retention.
Something that most pregnant women aren't prepared for is their lack of balance as they get bigger. We are used to our centre of gravity being in a certain place for all our lives but that is going to change drastically over the months during your pregnancy. Exercising your body's neuromuscular system will be a huge help to you there. This is best done right from the first trimester so as to prepare your body for the extra weight coming along soon. Having strong legs and a strong core will go a long way to helping you retain your balance as well. Exercises on a stability ball will encourage all of those muscles to kick in and train your body to know what to do if you feel off balance.
The birth itself is pretty hectic. If your body is weak and unfit, I can guarantee it won't be an easy birth. You will be exhausted and your body will struggle to keep up with what's needed. By the end of it you will be so tired and sore that will be horrible because all you'll want to do is spend time with your new little baby. Avoid difficult child birth and give yourself a chance to really be PRESENT when your baby is born by exercising throughout your pregnancy to keep your fitness levels up. It will allow you to maintain throughout and feel relatively okay afterwards.
In the weeks to come after giving birth, your body is going to need some time to recover. That's normal. However, if you are fit and healthy, your body will heal FAR faster which means you will be up and about and able to be there for your baby sooner and you'll have energy for it. Some women, after giving birth, suffer from post natal depression. If you have exercised all the way through your pregnancy you dramatically lower your chances of that happening. I can't imagine anything worse than experiencing the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth only to feel empty and numb afterwards. This alone would be a really good motivator for me.
If you think that, because you aren't pregnant, none of this applies to you I'd like to go back to the first post in this series. If you haven't exercised before and you decide to start exercising once you are pregnant, then you will definitely need supervision by a professional trainer. If you have exercised for several years, then carrying on with exercise once you fall pregnant will be fine. What I'm saying is, most women, at some point in their lives, are going to fall pregnant. Exercising from early on will give you a definite advantage and allow you to carry on exercising easily through your pregnancy with very little changes needed.
I'll end with one last point. Most women who don't exercise through their pregnancy end up never exercising again in their lives. That's because their time is too taken up with looking after a baby and it's really hard to form new habits that benefit YOU when your life is taken up by the needs of your baby. Women tend to not think of themselves when their children are involved. IF you start exercising during your pregnancy, you are already forming a habit of juggling your needs with your baby's, and you'll be acclimatising yourself to facing different kinds of challenges so it'll be easier to continue along those lines once your baby is born.
That's it for today's post. Next week will be the last post in this series and I will give you some exercises that you can do at home or at a gym, to get your started on your healthful, fit pregnancy!
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