What to expect when you're expecting (86 page)

Stay cool. Any exercise or environment that raises a pregnant woman’s temperature more than 1.5 degrees should be avoided (it causes blood to be shunted away from the uterus to the skin as the body attempts to cool off). So stay out of saunas, steam rooms, or hot tubs, and don’t exercise outdoors in very hot or humid weather or indoors in a stuffy, overheated room (no Bikram yoga). If you generally walk outdoors, try an air-conditioned mall instead when the temperature soars.

Dress for exercise success. Play it cool by wearing loose, breathable, stretchable clothes. Choose a bra that provides plenty of support for your larger-than-life breasts but that doesn’t pinch once you get moving (a sports bra can be a great addition to your maternity wardrobe).

Put your feet first. If your sneakers are showing their age, replace them now to minimize your chances of injury or falls. And make sure you choose workout shoes that are designed for the sport you’re pursuing.

Select the right surface. Indoors, a wood floor or a tightly carpeted sur
face is better than tile or concrete for your workouts. (If the surface is slippery, don’t exercise in socks or footed tights.) Outdoors, soft running tracks and grassy or dirt trails are better than hard-surfaced roads or sidewalks; level surfaces are better than uneven ones.

Stay off the slopes. Because your growing abdomen will affect your sense of balance, ACOG suggests women in the latter part of pregnancy avoid sports that come with a higher risk of falling or abdominal injury. These include gymnastics, downhill skiing, ice-skating, vigorous racquet sports (play doubles instead of singles), and horseback riding, as well as cycling and contact sports such as ice hockey, soccer, or basketball (see
page 224
for more).

Stay on the level. Unless you’re living at high altitudes, avoid any activity that takes you up more than 6,000 feet. On the flip(per) side, scuba diving, which poses a risk of decompression sickness for your baby, is also off-limits, so you’ll have to wait until you’re no longer carrying a passenger to take your next dive.

Stay off your back. After the fourth month, don’t exercise flat on your back. The weight of your enlarging uterus could compress major blood vessels, restricting circulation.

Avoid risky moves. Pointing, or extending, your toes—at any time in pregnancy—could lead to cramping in your calves. Flex your feet instead, turning them up toward your face. Full sit-ups or double leg lifts pull on the abdomen, so they’re probably not a good idea when you’ve got a baby on board. Also avoid any activity that requires “bridging” (bending over backward. or other contortions, or that involves deep flexion or extension of joints (such as deep knee bends), jumping, bouncing, sudden changes in direction, or jerky motions.

Not only does your pregnant body not fit into your regular workout clothes anymore, it also may not fit into your regular workout routine. Now that you’re exercising for two, you’ll need to make doubly sure you’re exercising the right way. Here are some pointers, whether you’re a gym junkie or a Sunday stroller:

The starting line is the practitioner’s office.
Before you lace up your sneaks and hit the aerobics class, make a pit stop at your practitioner’s office for the green light. It’s highly likely you’ll get it—most women do. But if you have any medical or pregnancy complications, your practitioner may limit your exercise program, nix it entirely, or—if you have gestational diabetes—even encourage you to be a little more active. Be sure you’re clear about what exercise programs are appropriate for you and whether your normal fitness routine (if you have one) is safe to continue when you’re expecting. If you’re in good health, your practitioner will likely encourage you to stick with your regular routine as long as you feel up to it, with certain modifications (especially if your regular routine includes pregnancy-taboo sports, like ice hockey).

Respect your body as it changes.
Expect your routines to change as your body does. You’ll need to modify your workouts as your sense of balance shifts, and you’ll probably also have to slow down to avoid taking a spill (especially once you can no longer see your feet). Also expect workouts to seem different, even if you’ve been doing a particular routine for years. If you’re a walker, for example, you’ll feel more pressure on your hips and knees as your pregnancy progresses and as your joints and ligaments loosen. You’ll also have to accommodate your pregnant body by avoiding any exercise that requires you to lie flat on your back or stand without moving (like some yoga and tai chi poses do) after the first trimester. Both can restrict your blood flow.

Start slow.
If you’re new at this, start slowly. It’s tempting to start off with a bang, running 3 miles the first morning or working out twice the first afternoon. But such enthusiastic beginnings usually lead not to fitness but to sore muscles, sagging resolve—and abrupt endings. Start the first day with 10 minutes of warm-ups followed by 5 minutes of a more strenuous workout (but stop sooner if you begin to tire) and a 5-minute cool-down. After a few days, if your body has adjusted well, increase the period of strenuous activity by about 5 minutes until you are
up to 30 minutes or more, if you feel comfortable.

Thirty Minutes Plus?

Is more (exercise) more—or less? That depends. If you’re really ambitious (or just really fit), and you’ve been green-lighted by your practitioner (based on your fitness level), it’s safe to work out for up to an hour or even more, as long as you listen to your body. Moms-to-be tend to fatigue sooner than they used to, and tired bodies are more apt to injure themselves. Plus, overexertion could lead to other problems (dehydration, for one, if you don’t take in enough fluids; for another, lack of oxygen to the baby if you’re short of breath for long periods). Burning more calories during your marathon sessions also means you’ll need to take in more, so be sure to compensate appropriately (the best part of a workout, wouldn’t you say?).

Of course, if you’re already a gym rat, remember that while pregnancy is a great time to maintain your fitness level, it’s not a time to increase it (you can set new personal bests after baby is on the scene).