Pregnancy exercise myths you should stop believing

In this day and age, our access to technology and information has made pregnancy exercise myths so rampant. You have YouTubers, TikTok influencers, and even Instagram content creators spreading lies about what exercise can do to pregnant women.

While some of these content creators are actual professionals, the normal audience wouldn't know how to pick them out. And so, we took it upon ourselves to do the digging, so that you don't have to.

In this article, we are going to settle these pregnancy exercise myths once and for all. If you want to know everything there is to know about exercise as you go through your pregnancy journey, keep on reading.

Exercise is dangerous for the baby

The first myth on our list is people (like the grandmothers of our babies and our concerned aunties) believing that exercising is bad for the baby. At first thought, you would think it's valid because you have the perception your pregnancy is so delicate that any strenuous activity could cause complications.

But according to health experts, exercise is not only safe - it's recommended. Studies were able to confirm that exercising during your pregnancy can lead to many benefits such as:

• Improved energy level
• Improved posture
• Stronger muscles for easing labour and delivery
• Increased endurance, which you'll need should your labour take longer than expected
• Breathing control, which helps in managing pain during labour
• Backache relief
• Less constipation
• Prevention of wear and tear on joints
• Restful sleep
• Making it faster to return to your pre-pregnancy body

Is exercise also safe for high-risk pregnancies?

If your pregnancy is high-risk, your physician might ask you to just stay away from highly intense workouts and to try just low-impact activities. These women are usually those who carry more than one baby, and have cervical insufficiency, gestational hypertension or preeclampsia, placenta previa, or severe anaemia, heart, and lung conditions.

The advice to do low-impact workouts also depends on the severity of the individual cases. So, they might be advised to do little to no exercise.

Any kind of exercise is okay

Now, because health experts have clearly stated that exercise is safe for pregnant women, it doesn't mean you should do any kind of exercise. The best way to approach this matter is to consult your doctor.

Or at best, avoid these types of exercises:

• Horseback riding, gymnastics, skiing, off-road cycling, or skating - basically, any activity that has jerky or bouncing movements that can cause you to fall
• Ice hockey, boxing, football, basketball or any activity or sport where balls are flying and can hit your belly
• Workouts that make you lie flat on your back - this is dangerous because your uterus is in a position that makes it hard for blood to flow back to your heart. It may also lower your blood pressure, making it difficult to pump blood back to your baby.
• Skydiving or scuba diving because decompression sickness can cause dangerous gas bubbles to form in your baby's body.
• High-altitude exercises - the higher the altitude, the less oxygen you inhale. Your baby needs that oxygen, so best if you work out on the ground instead.

Now, we know what workouts to avoid, what kind of exercises should we try?

Walking

Brisk walking is a great exercise for pregnant women who want to pace themselves into a workout routine. It's fairly easy to do, and you don't need any equipment to do it. Plus, you get to do it with your husband or other mum friends. For as long as you can talk while walking, you're good. If you feel like you can't talk while brisk walking, you can lessen your pace.

Swimming

Yes, just because you can't enjoy scuba diving, it doesn't mean you can't enjoy low-effort swimming in a pool. What you're just avoiding is decompression sickness, which you won't get if you're simply frolicking in the water, doing some breaststrokes while you're at it.

Prenatal yoga or pilates

This type of exercise is beneficial not only for your body but for your mental health as well. And, the best part is prenatal yoga and pilates classes are more readily accessible now. If you're attending a normal yoga or pilates class, make sure to let the instructor know that you're pregnant, so they can personalise their coaching. They will either modify your poses or have you skip some lying poses.

Strength training

Your labour is going to be the most strenuous physical activity that you're going to experience. So, best if you prepare your body for it. That means strengthening your muscles and your bones so that they're not brittle when show time comes.

Safe exercises should keep your heart rate at 140 beats per minute

Many studies have already disproven this myth. There is no target heart rate for working out. What you want to go by with to ensure you are not pushing yourself too much is to check your RPE or rate of perceived exertion. What you want is a max of a six or a seven on a scale of one to 10. How do you find that out?

So, one is when it feels like your body is not making any effort at all. A six or a seven is when you can feel your breathing but you're not out of breath. It feels like you still have about 30 per cent of your energy left in you. When you're at that point, either you maintain this level of RPE or slow down.

Didn't exercise before pregnancy? Don't bother starting now

"Exercising during pregnancy is not recommendable for women who do not exercise in general."

Where this myth came from is a mystery, as working out during your pregnancy is not as intense as any workout you'd do before or after pregnancy. Nonetheless, it's important to point out that regardless if you've had experience working out before, working out while you're pregnant is safe.

Just make sure to pace yourself. Start with easier exercises like walking or swimming and allot yourself a certain amount of time per day for these exercises. Say you start with 15 minutes. Then, the week after, you can increase to 30 minutes. Add another 15 minutes the week after that, and so on.

Worry or call your doctor if any of these happens

So, we've set the record straight - exercising is safe for pregnant women, but we are not condoning that you ignore these signs or symptoms. Should you notice any of them, call your healthcare provider:

• Bleeding or spotting - blood or any kind of fluid
• Having chest pains, trouble breathing, or a faster heartbeat
• Feeling dizzy or faint
• Getting a headache
• Muscle weakness, trouble walking or pain or swelling in your lower legs
• Regular, painful contractions. You'll know you're having a contraction when the muscles of your uterus get tight and then relax
• Baby stops moving

You want to avoid these signs from occurring, and the only way to do that is to always pace yourself and drink plenty of water.

Hopefully, debunking these myths has enticed you to try working out while pregnant. Always remember that when in doubt: give your OB a ring. Otherwise, have fun on your fitness journey!

ALSO READ: 'Her baby will have muscles': Pregnant woman's workouts cause debate in China

This article was first published in theAsianparent.