Pregnant women can train hard, but it doesn't mean they must
Our director Lyz spoke with Sarah Berry of The Sydney Morning Herald about just how hard women can exercise in pregnancy. ‘It’s time that we encourage and support women in continuing to exercise in pregnancy rather than scare them as the health benefits are simply indisputable”. Explains Lyz.
Our greatest respect to Sarah Berry for not only doing a 10km run pregnant 👏 but more importantly on listening to her own individual pregnant body and deciding to downgrade from the half marathon.
Here is Lyz’s advice for pregnant women regarding vigorous exercise:
High intensity or prolonged exercise (more than 45 minutes) in pregnancy can lead to hypoglycaemia so ensuring adequate calorie intake prior to exercise and ongoing good nutrition is essential.
Be aware of your own temperature regulation. Hydration levels, the environment and the exercise intensity all play a role.
Ensure you can continue to breathe steadily through the exercise and familiarise yourself with the Borg scale, ensuring you describe it as “somewhat hard” or could talk to someone.
Watch for any changes that running doesn’t feel "quite right” anymore such as pelvic girdle pain, urinary leakage, or pelvic heaviness.
Listen to your body on a daily basis; pregnancy is always changing and if you aren’t feeling great, your body is telling you something. These days are best as a light walk or rest days.
If you are going to exercise in pregnancy, make pelvic floor exercises as apart of your regime due to the impacts that go through the pelvic floor. There is strong evidence that pelvic floor muscle training during pregnancy can prevent and treat urinary incontinence in the postpartum period.
If you develop any of the contraindications listed below. Please stop and seek medical advice.