Friday, March 5, 2010

Early Pregnancy Exercise Safety

IMG_3843I have just started to train a new pregnant woman at the gym- she thinks she is 7-8 weeks pregnant. I noticed during the assessment she was getting breathless quick and kept referring to how deconditioned she is. I told her the facts on what is happening to her body while exercising during this early stage of pregnancy.

Things that are happening in your pregnant body
1. Your blood volume is increasing up to 40% more
2. Your blood vessel may not have dilated enough yet to catch up with the elevated volume so spikes in heart rate with little effort occur. Your blood vessels are dilating to accommodate volume. This depends on what week you are in.
3. More blood to your periphery

The difference in your early pregnant body during exercise
1. Breathlessness
2. Dizziness
3. Sweating

It is critical in your first trimester to work in your age appropriate heart rate zone. The neural tube is developing and an elevated core body temperature may hinder proper development. Due to your blood volume changes listed above an your bodies accommodations, elevated core body temperature is easily achieved.

TARGET HEART RATE ZONES (taken from par med x for pregnancy)
The heart rate zones shown below are appropriate for most pregnant women. Work during the lower end of the HR range at the start of a new exercise program and in late pregnancy.

Age Range Heart Rate
< 20 140-155 bpm

20-29 135-150 bpm

30-39 130-145 bpm

11 comments:

Lucille Roberts said...

Just be careful because if a woman's body starts giving her signs to cool it and she doesn't then the baby will feel the effects much worse then the woman.

mitch said...

nice advice!

pregnancy exercises said...

some times exercise can harm pregnant ladies, if they don't know the kind of exercise they are doing. this blog has given detailed explanation about all the changes and problems body get in pregnancy time.

Lower Stomach Workout said...

Great post!! I love your site!!

Baby Trend Jogger said...

Very nice post!

ONline Backup Files said...

wonderful post since nowadays pregnancy most affects the immature and they need to many advice to overcome this sticky period§

OnlineBackup said...

informative posts! looking forward to reading more useful!

Anonymous said...

For some specialized exercises that are more like yoga than any intense routine check out Mommy and Me, Long Island its got some interesting features to it.

Unknown said...

The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn. work out reviews

Amelia Emma said...

These are the great blogs; I assure you that I really enjoyed a lot in reading.
obstretician

Loving Parents said...

Exercise is great during pregnancy. I like this post. All of the pregnancy women should follow this post. regarding Pregnancy Exercise

[Valid Atom 1.0]