Exercise during pregnancy is a topic that comes up a lot with my patients, either before they get pregnant, or as soon as they come in having tested positive on a pregnancy test.

Exercise and pregnancy is not completely straight forwards, and is very much indiviualised to each person. What I think is important to note, is that being active and healthy in your pregnancy will give you the best outcomes possible, not only for pregnancy, but hopefully delivery and recovery afterwards.

A misconception that many people have is that when they become pregnant, they must stop doing exercise altogether which is not true. People are worried that if they exercise, the might hurt their unborn child.

I find that the best way to decide on what exercise people can do during pregnancy, is to first to look what what level of exercise they were doing beforehand, and often modify around that if needed. If someone is going to the gym 2-3 times a week, I will encourage them to keep this up, however, they might need to modify some of the exercises that they do, and certainly always advise them to talk to the gym instructors as programs may need to be modified as the pregnancy progresses.

If someone loves running, and can do so easily, I am happy for them to continue if they can do so without getting so puffed out that they couldn’t hold a conversation in short sentence with friends.

Pregnancy is not the time to take up running from scratch, nor is is a time when you should suddenly decide to start training for a marathon, but it certainly is a time where we can focus on keeping active.

Some sports might need to be ceased, or changed due to the risk of injury, but again, that can be a shared decision made by the patient and doctor, or really, and informed decision made by the patient once they have been give all of the options and risks. Please note that some sports will require a woman to obtain a medical certificate to state she can continue her sport / exercise, or denote what can and can’t be done.

RANZCOG (Royal Australian College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) has information in exercise, but sometimes I find trying to explain the BORG rating bit difficult, though it does have some other good information in it.

*RANZCOG – Exercise During Pregnacy Factsheet

The above recommends that most women reach a BORG score of 12-14, which is below 15, which has the heart pounding and breathing very fast (so hard exercise) which is why the ‘can you talk in short sentences’ becomes a useful way to explain exercise.

General Advice

Even if you have never exercised before, it’s not too late to start when you get pregnant. Even taking up walking, which doesn’t have to be far or intense, can be beneficial for both your mental and physical health.

Fitness Australia, is in my opinion, one of the best resources regarding what time of exercise you can do and covers both the pre and post natal time frame. It shows the type of exercises that you can do after delivery at certain weeks, and the slow increase in intensity is pretty sensible and clear, in my opinion.

*Fitness Australia – Pre and Post Natal Exercise Guidelines

There will of course be exceptions to the rule, such as if your pregnancy becomes complicated by a medical condition, or if you have other health conditions, however, your GP can certainly help you work around these.

Allied health

Allied health, such a physiotherapist, can also play an important role in keeping you active, safely, during pregnancy.

Eastern Health – where many of my shared care patients are booked in with, offer a program run by physiotherapists at a small cost.

*Mum’s in training – Antenatal Exercise Group – Eastern Health

If you look around, you can also often find antenatal pilates groups (I think they’re often called pregnancy pilates) or other physiotherapy based programs. There are some around for mothers with babies too, which can work well for some women.

Although there’s a lot of talk of gym, programs and sports, it’s important to remember that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with just grabbing your runners and going for a quick walk with your pup or best friend. Whatever keeps you active and moving in pregnancy is the best exercise for you.