Lifting While Pregnant
Thank you Tia Claire Toomey for blasting all over social media that yes you can still workout and at pretty high intensity levels while pregnant and it is COMPLETELY OK.*** I’m putting an asterik here because this varies person to person, so please don’t read this first sentence and run with it. Continue to read on to learn more about how exercise is safe for you during your pregnancy!
According to the 2019 Canadian Guidelines for Physical Activity Throughout Pregnancy has dispelled many old beliefs such as “don’t lie on your back and exercise while pregnant”, and that pregnant women should exercise 150 minutes per week at moderate intensity, spread out across 3 days per week. There is a whole slew of absolute contraindications (aka who should not exercise) and relative contraindications (it’s probably ok to exercise but you should clear up some of the medical history and concerns with your MD first.)
Exercise at minimum 150 minutes per week: this should include a mix of resistance training and aerobic training, across all 3 trimesters of pregnancy, and can be moderate or high depending on what your previous levels of exercise were prior to pregnancy.
Lying on your back and exercising: The main concern with this is that baby and the uterus will shift over the inferior vena cava and can cause lightheadedness and nausea. If you lye on your back to exercise and don’t have these symptoms, it’s ok to do a bench press or pelvic floor exercises on your back. Around 20 weeks gestation you want to start limiting this to 30-60 seconds if tolerable. You can always modify by inclining your surface up, example, elevate the bench to do dumbbell bench instead of flat bench.
Lifting over 20 lbs: Ladies, this is outdated and if someone is telling you to not lift over 20 lbs while your pregnant unless you have one of the contraindications listed in the research article mentioned above, then that person needs to get updated on their knowledge! You need to stay strong for yourself and your baby. Strength training throughout pregnancy has shown women to have a quicker post-partum recovery and an easier labor.
Holding your breath while lifting and pregnant: I will not say valsava is a complete no-no, but I would encourage you to breathe through your exercises instead of holding your breath. This is to reduce pressure down on your pelvic floor, which can reduce that heavy feeling you have during pregnancy and the urge to pee. For example, when squatting with weight, inhale down and exhale at the bottom back to top. Just keep breathing.
Trimester changes and exercise: During the 1st trimester you’re going to feel fatigue and possible nausea. Listen to your body and tone down the intensity of exercise so you don’t wear yourself out. 2nd trimester your energy levels pick back up and you can keep working out just like you were pre-pregnancy, unless your MD advised against so due to contraindications. 3rd trimester that fatigue is going to pick back up again and you may have to modify some lifts, i.e. barbell snatch, due to your growing belly. You can still do snatches, but you’ll have to windmill the barbell to avoid your belly, or just switch to dumbbell snatches for the time being. Dumbbell deadlifts may seem impossible with a narrow stance, so try widening your stance and doing a sumo dumbbell deadlift instead.
In case you didn’t read the article, I’m going to list out some absolute and relative contraindications for you.
Absolute, no no, contraindications for exercise:
Ruptured membranes.
Premature labour.
Unexplained persistent vaginal bleeding.
Placenta praevia after 28 weeks’ gestation.
Pre-eclampsia.
Incompetent cervix.
Intrauterine growth restriction.
High-order multiple pregnancy (eg, triplets).
Uncontrolled type I diabetes.
Uncontrolled hypertension.
Uncontrolled thyroid disease.
Other serious cardiovascular, respiratory or systemic disorder.
Relative contraindications aka check with your OBGYN and Pelvic Floor PT first
Recurrent pregnancy loss.
Gestational hypertension.
A history of spontaneous preterm birth.
Mild/moderate cardiovascular or respiratory disease.
Symptomatic anaemia.
Malnutrition.
Eating disorder.
Twin pregnancy after the 28th week.
Other significant medical conditions.
As always, monitor your signs and symptoms and always clear exercise with your OBGYN and Pelvic Floor PT first. We offer pre and post-natal physical therapy at Athletic Edge Physical Therapy. If you’d like an in-person or virtual consult, please reach out to us, we’d love to hear from you! Text or call: 858-371-2575, or e-mail us at: info@athleticedgept.com.
