Pregnant Workouts?

Hey one of my workout buddies just got pregnant, she is so excited :) She is wondering what kind of workouts she can still do ... lately she's just been walking on the treadmill, but would the elliptical be ok? Should she not lift weights anymore for her arms? Its her first and its still waaay early like 5 weeks right now, dont want to do anything to cause miscarriage at such a fragile time ... Just wanting some info for her ... thx!
 
First congrats to you friend and i hope everything goes ok for her.

My wife recently found out she was pregnant also. Shes about 16 weeks right now and is out of the more fragile stage of the first trimester of pregnancy. She asked one of the members of staff at our gym who has a qualification in workouts when pregnant. He said, under no circumstances do resistance training at all during pregnancy. For cardio none impact is best, so walking on the treadmill (not running), static bike or elliptical is fine, but make sure that your heart rate stays under the 140 bpm mark. The reason being the body temperature increases to higher than safe levels which can cause problems.

Obviously don't take this and medical advice, best thing your friend can do is either speak to staff at her gym or go see the doctor.

Iffy
 
Hiya

I agree with Iffy, best thing to do is get your friend to ask her doctor or nurse the next time she goes for a check up :)
 
Bike, elipticals, most all weights, rowing, and stairclimbers are all okay, provided she stays hydrated and keeps up with her healthy diet and is not afraid of falling off the machines.

Tell her to avoid crunches, running and anything that could make her fall. She should also avoid powerlifting (I am so sure that was on her mind anyways) because a small injury could become a debilitating problem with all the additional stress on the body. She should take it easy but take it seriously and yes, consult a doctor for everything.
 
Nothing too vigorous-- keep things very calm and steady, because if she "just found out" or just got pregnant, then the egg could detatch from the uterus if there is too much movement.
 
Iffy, that personal trainer (sorry to say) doesn't know what they are talking about. It depends on what her activity was like before pregnancy. As an example, my exercise physiology professor completed a triatholon in her third trimester of her first pregnancy; however, she stated if she had not been active previous to being pregnant then her main activity would be something along the lines of water activities that are easy on the joints.

Keep in mind that her body is producing a hormone called Relaxin that will make her joints (knees etc) semi-unstable, so she will be more prone to accident and injury. It's important to make sure she sees a doctor and perhaps you should call up your local university and speak with one of the kinesiology professors or grad students; they are a lot more knowledgable than your personal trainers in the gym.

Walking is fine, water activities are fine, and certain amounts of resistance training is fine.
 
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