Exercise during pregnancy.....

(Midwifery student here...)

The main thing is that you avoid exercises that are overly strenuous, have heavy bouncing or jumping, or involve the core abdominal muscles. DO NOT DO sit ups, crunches, plank, etc. as those can cause an abdominal rupture (tear in your abdominal muscles).

Good things to do would be walking, swimming, hiking, yoga, prenatal exercise videos, gentle dancing (belly dancing is actually GREAT for preparing for labor!), elliptical, bicycling, tai chi, gentle aerobics (no bouncing/jumping)... things like that.

Be sure to increase both your water and salt. Since your blood volume has increased, you need more of BOTH to keep everything balanced and to prevent pre-eclampsia. High-mineral sea salt is best (the more color the better). And eat lots of protein and healthy fat after you workout (ie nuts/nut butter, beef jerky, etc).

Always check with your OB or midwife to find out weight-lifting restrictions, or specific movements to avoid, depending out your particular needs/abilities/condition.

I would not take the advice of anybody who is not a qualified clinician that is up on the latest evidence-based and peer reviewed information on the subject. I suggest you ask your OBGyn.

I can share with you my wife's experience (she's a nurse BTW and did some research along the same lines). At the time (12 years ago) the conventional wisdom from the American Academy of Pediatrics was that you should slow down once your heart rate gets to a certain point, (I think 70% of MaxHR) which for her was 135 beats per minute. The concern was that a very high heart rate could interfere with the flow of blood across the placental barrier. There is some newer research that calls the 70% rule into question. I can't speak to it in detail but I understand that they looked at the training and experience of a group of women who were running and doing triathlon training and found no adverse effects.

My wife, a world class power lifter, remained active during her pregnancy by doing circuit training and cycling. She wore a heart rate monitor and slowed or stopped when it started beeping at the 135 BPM threshold. In fact she was doing squats while she was 8 months pregnant with our twins, and that impressed even the most stalwart of meatheads in the gym.

In any event, I would treat anything you read on the Internet with a grain of salt and seek out the advice of a qualified, licensed OBGyn who is up to date on the subject.

I really dislike the idea of someone trying to burn calories while pregnant. With the amount of women who undereat and overexercise, NO!. You're asking for a miscarraige if you're anything like probably more than half of women who attempt to exercise and diet. Seriously, you need to do a lot of research and talk to doctors and be realistic with your goals. This isnt a laughing matter.


You should probably be doing some kind of light strength training and light cardio, but absolutely not attempting to manage your weight. Hell, I'm pro choice, but, don't do in the one ya want to keep.