The more active and healthy you are while pregnant, the easier it is to adjust to your altering shape and weight increase. It will also assist you in dealing with labor and getting back into the structure after the birth of your baby.
So take a step to maintain your regular day-to-day physical workout or exercise (game, jogging, yoga, dancing, or even stepping to and from the market) for as long as you are comfortable. Doing training or workouts is not harmful to your baby. In fact, there is information that women who remain active during the pregnancy phase are less likely to have complications during labor and delivery.
1. What are the benefits of exercising and working out during pregnancy?
If your sole aim to exercise was to fit into your favorite dress or to decrease your tummy fat, there is a need for you to change your perspective and priorities of exercise now that you are expecting a baby.
According to doctors and healthcare experts all around the world, exercise during the pregnancy phase can steer to a lower case of,
- Excessive weight increase
- Big size / macrosomic baby
- Gestational diabetes
- Cesarean section
Doing exercise training and workouts during the pregnancy phase also has other benefits –
- Keep up your physical health.
- Reduction in Lower back pain (back pain is common during pregnancy because of the growing tummy).
- Prevention or reduction of urinary incontinence
- Control depression and distress symptoms.
- It helps in decreasing anxiety.
- can also help reduce pregnancy symptoms such as constipation, bloating, and swelling
- Enhance postpartum retrieval.
2. What exercises are safe during pregnancy?
The type of exercise that is right for you depends on your present pregnancy, past pregnancy history, and how active you were before pregnancy.
In general, we doctors usually recommend walking and swimming as good types of exercise during pregnancy.
The following activities are safe to initiate or continue:
- Walking
- Swimming
- Stationary cycling
- Low-impact aerobics
- Yoga, modified
- Pilates, modified
- Pelvic floor muscle training (Kegel)
- If you are doing Running or jogging, Racquet sports or Strength training before pregnancy, you may continue with these activities during pregnancy after getting a nod from your obstetrician.
3. Which exercises should be avoided during pregnancy?
During pregnancy, you should avoid activities that put you at an increased risk of injury like where you could easily fall or hurt your belly.
The following activities should be avoided:
- Contact sports that put you at risk of getting hit on your baby bump (eg hockey, basketball, soccer, boxing)
- Activities with a high risk of fall or high risk of hitting the abdomen against a hard surface (eg, downhill snow skiing, water skiing, surfing, off-road cycling, gymnastics, and horseback riding)
- Scuba diving
- Sky diving
- “Hot yoga” or “hot pilates” may increase body temperature
- Yoga positions that result in decreased venous return and hypotension should be avoided as much as possible.
4. While pregnant, how can I stay safe while exercising?
Prior to participation in an exercise program, pregnant women should be evaluated for medical and obstetric contraindications to exercise.
With that in mind, the ACOG has provided some common safety advice to contemplate when exercising and working out during pregnancy.
- If you’re new to exercise or have any health disorders that may preclude you from doing so, consult your consultant or doctor.
- Start off slowly and slowly increase your level of activity
- Avoid exercising in hot or humid weather
- Gulp plenty of water ahead, during, and after physical workout and exercise.
- Wear supportive clothing.
- Prevent becoming overheated, specifically during the first trimester of pregnancy.
- Prevent lying straight on your back for extended periods, particularly during the third trimester.
- Stay away from contact activities and hot yoga.
5. What are warning signs that I should stop exercising?
You should stop exercising and let your doctor or midwife know if you have any of the following symptoms:
●Bleeding from the vagina
●difficulty in breathing
●Feeling light-headed or feeling dizzy
●headache or chest pain
● pain abdomenContractions
●Fluid leaking from the vagina
●Not feeling your baby move as much as usual
6. What are the guidelines for exercising while pregnant?
At least 150 min of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week such as brisk walking. It’s best to spread this activity throughout the week.
Exercising your stomach muscles
As your baby grows, you may notice that the void in your lower posterior expands, resulting in backache. These exercises help to boost the stomach (abdominal muscles) and may alleviate back pain, which is common during the pregnancy phase:
- Begin in a box position (on all four limbs), with knees under hips, hands under shoulders, fingers ahead, and abdominal muscles raised aloft to maintain your back in a straight posture.
- Heave in your stomach muscles and lift your posterior towards the roof, twirling your body and entitling your head to relax forward gently. Do not permit your elbows to bolt.
- Hold for a few moments, then gradually retrieve to the box posture.
- Take supervision not to excavate your back: it should never withdraw to a straight/neutral posture.
- Perform this slowly and rhythmically ten times, bringing in your muscles to work tough and shifting your back with utmost supervision.
- Solely move your posterior as far as you can without any discomfort.
Exercises for pelvic tilt
- Stand with your back to a wall and your shoulders against it.
- Maintain soft knees.
- Pull your tummy button towards your spine so that your back flattens against the wall: Hold for 4 seconds and then let go.
- Recite the exact activity up to ten times
Exercises for the pelvic floor
Pelvic floor exercises aid in enhancing the muscles of the pelvic floor, which are put under a lot of pressure during pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. The pelvic floor comprises tiers of muscles that extend from the pubic bone (in front) to the end of the spine like a supporting hammock (spine).
If your pelvic floor muscles are vulnerable, you may discover that when you wheeze, sneeze, or pull, you trickle urine. This is a fairly widespread occurrence, and there is no incentive to be displeased. It is called anxiety incontinence, and it can last after the pregnancy phase too.
Pelvic floor workouts can help to enhance these muscles—this aids in reducing or avoiding anxiety incontinence after the incubation phase. Even if you are youthful and do not have anxiety incontinence, every pregnant woman should do these pelvic floor workouts.
How to Perform Pelvic Floor Exercising:
- Close your bottom as if you are attempting to prevent yourself from going to the bathroom.
- At that exact moment, draw in your vagina as if you were clutching a tampon and your urethra too as if you were attempting to prevent the gush of urine.
- In starting, perform this activity rapidly, fastening and expelling the muscles as rapidly as possible.
- Then make the process go deliberately, clenching the compressions for as long as feasible before relaxing: Try counting to ten.
- Each day, endeavor to do three sets of eight squeezes: You could do a group at each feast to help you memorize.
Cardiovascular exercise during pregnancy
Stepping, swimming, jogging, and stagnant cycling are popular cardiovascular exercises that every pregnant woman should try to encompass in their daily routine.
Unless your consultant has advised you. Otherwise, adhere to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which suggest at least one and half hours of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.
Conclusion
Physical activity and workout sessions are profitable to both mother and baby during the pregnancy phase. Encompassing some aspects of training on maximum days of the week that can assist you in maintaining your core strength, muscle fitness, and cardiovascular network in primary condition. It can also improve your mental health (because of high levels of endorphins during pregnancy).
Pay attention to your body and cease the workout session if you experience discomfort or anguish. If you have any doubts or difficulties about how your body is reacting to an exercise or workout activity, discuss it with your doctor by searching for the best ladies doctor near me or a healthcare expert.
We at Vivant clinic, take pride in leading women to better health. We hope, with this article you have got the answer to your doubts related to pregnancy exercises. Still, if you need any assistance, please schedule an appointment with our compassionate gynecology & obstetrics Dr Shikha Sardana. Here, you will get the best gynecologist services in Chandigarh. Moreover, People are actively engaging with our doctors and getting the results with our gynecologist services in Chandigarh, so if you are looking for gynecologist services, consult us now.