Big safety considerations:

Avoid exercise in warm humid areas (especially is

1st trimester) . Avoid isometric or straining while
holding your breath, maintain adequate nutrition
and hydration (drink liquids before and after exercise), avoid exercise o back after 16 weeks, avoid
activities that involve physical contact or danger,
know your limits!!

Reasons to stop exercise and seek medical

help:
Pregnancy is, a unique opportunity for
healthcare professionals to educate
pregnant women on the benefits of
healthful eating and being physically active.

Your body will be going through

many physiological changes during
pregnancy. This is very important to
think about when prescribing safe
exercise.
You need to be prescreened by your
primary care physician before starting or continuing an exercise program.
Your diet is just as important when it
comes to our babies health, so getting some counseling on appropriate
food choices and portions is highly
recommended!
Dont eat for two but eat twice as
healthy!

Persistent and painful uterine contractions, bloody

vaginal discharge, gush of fluid from vagina, unexpected abdominal pain, sudden swelling of extremities like ankles hands and face, swelling,
pain and redness in calf, headaches and blurred
vision, chest paint and heart palpitations, excessive shortness of breath, absence of usual fetal
movement.
Unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity
during pregnancy can cause issues for the mother
and her offspring later in life such as diabetes,
obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Once you have been prescreened by your primary

care physician, you can work your way toward a
healthy lifestyle fo r you and your baby.

Source:
Rosenbloom, Christine A. Sports Nutrition: A
Practice Manual for Professionals. Chicago:
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2012.
Print.

Is it okay to exercise
while pregnant?
Yes!
It is highly recommended that pregnant
mother should exercise during pregnancy, AS LONG AS ITS SAFE!
This pamphlet will explain the guidelines
to maintain a healthy activity level during
your pregnancy.

What physiological
changes impact your
exercise routine?
As a mothers, you need to be able to adapt to
the metabolic changes your body is going
through.
Why? You and your baby are using the same
major energy source, called glucose. Glucose is a sugar and is found in carbohydrates.
Your body has to get used to sharing this energy
source.
If you live an unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle,
your body wont do a good job getting used
to this change and you may end up with high
blood glucose as a result.
What does this mean? You can get gestational
diabetes and gain excessive weight. It will
also increase your risk AND your babies risk
for developing cardio vascular disease.
What does that mean for your baby? The environment for the developing fetus (your
body) will impact the babies growth and development throughout their entire life!

Safety first!
Type aerobic exercise and muscle conditioning.

Physical Activity Readiness Medical Examination (PARmed-X) is a tool used to prescreen pregnant women to see if they are
healthy enough to exercise. It includes:

Exercise guidelines using the FITT principles: frequency, intensity, time and
type of exercise.

Guidelines for aerobic and muscular

conditioning exercise.

A list of safety considerations and reasons to stop and seek medical advice.

It is recommended to start the exercise program during your second trimester after the
fatigue and other discomfort from the first
trimester have worn off.

The exercise prescription will be based off

the FITT principles and this will be different
for each woman.
Frequency it is recommended no more
than 5 days per week and no less than 3.
Exercising too much or too little correlates
to a low birth weight. Low birth weight puts
the child at risk for obesity and CVD.
Intensity PARmed-X will give you a target
heart rate zone, which is based off your
age, fitness level and BMI. When starting
an exercise program start at the lower end
of the heart rate zone and slowly work your
way up. Use the talk-test to avoid over exercising.
Time Healthy women can start with a 1015 minute warm up and cool down and a 15
minute exercise. Add 2 minutes per week
until you reach 30 minutes.

Aerobic exercise- includes activities like walking, stationary cycling and aquatics. You should
be carful not to do exercise that increases your
risk of falling or cause damage to the abdominal
area like soccer, horseback riding and gymnastics.

Muscle conditioning one or two types of exercise should be done for every major muscle
group. You need to move the targeted muscle
group continuously with added weights at high
repetition. That includes 12-15 reps with a comfortable weight without fatigue. Breathing is extremely important to prevent injury. You should
avoid holding your breath while exercise because this can cause a change in blood pressure. There are many other precautions to consider with this type of exercise: avoid laying on
your back, rapid changes in directions, abdominal exercise if diastasis recti occurs. You
really need to focus on using the correct posture
as well.