Exercising during pregnancy

Often we wonder whether it is right or not exercising throughout pregnancy. If any complication do not limit your ability to exercise, fitness can be a big plus for both you and your baby.
Exercising during pregnancy can have indeed positive effects on your mood, it helps to relax and relieve the stress and especially if performed during the first trimester, it increases blood flow and its capacity to transport oxygen and nutritional substances necessary for the foetus to grow.
Furthermore, exercising enhances cardio circulatory and respiratory systems efficiency allowing you to ease labour and delivery. That’s not all: by exercising on a regular basis, fitness can increase blood flow to lower limbs, avoid an excessive increase of body mass and reduce the risk of complications like gestational diabetes and backache.
Obviously, it is necessary to always keep in mind that pregnancy is a very delicate condition and everything has to be made with due cautions, as well as exercise. During pregnancy, you will need to discuss your exercise plans with your doctor early on and make some adjustments to your normal routine. No exercise has to be performed if complications or particular risks arose.

Which exercises are the most suitable for pregnant women?

Walking

The easiest and probably the best exercise for a pregnant woman is walking, an excellent way to tone muscles, get fresh air, keep the body regular, and help to sleep soundly at night. To get started, walk half an hour a day and choose places far from traffic and smog like public gardens or parks. Taking a walk is ideal to enjoy a few moments of relax. You can continue into your last trimester and right up until birth as long as it is comfortable for you. Moreover, walking can help you to regain your pre-pregnancy body more quickly: a good walk with your baby, with the pushchair or with a baby carrier, could be a useful and pleasant experience.

Bicycling

Making a cycle ride could be a good idea too for pregnant women. It is instead necessary to consider that with bike you have more chances of falling so it is recommended to avoid riding in the street or on uneven floors. In this case as well, the ideal place is a park, where the air is purer and there are no cars around. Instead, a stationary bike can be useful to prevent water retention in legs.

Swimming

Many health care providers and fitness professionals say swimming is the safest exercise for pregnant women, especially after the first months. Indeed, if up to the fourth month it is advisable taking light exercises, in the following months, considered the increase in weight and the consequent and gradual reduction of mobility, the most suitable exercise can be just swimming.
Swimming is an exercise easy to perform even when the body mass is increasing as it keeps your body toned without adding weight and stress to your joints until the last months of pregnancy. Besides swimming, you can also perform other activities like aqua gym and swim gym.

Specific exercises

Some gyms and hospitals organize specific pre-natal classes that include exercises to relax, to provide relief to the backbone and improve abdominal muscles. Specific exercises have been conceived to bring benefits to pregnant women avoiding at the same time excessive efforts. These exercises aim to stimulate cardiovascular system in order to enhance the transport of nutritional substances to foetus. Moreover, they are particularly effective for the prevention against water retention and varicose veins. You can also perform some specific post-partum exercises to regain pre-pregnancy shape after the stress that the event inevitably caused it. Weight increase, spine overloading and breastfeeding and everything a pregnancy may involve can both physically and morally exhaust woman’s body. But don’t worry, be patient and in a few time things will get back to normal.