Why It’s Important & How To Get Started
Not long ago, if you saw a
pregnant woman jogging or working out, you would have thought she is doing harm
her unborn child. We knew little about exercise’s effects on child and mother,
and advice given to moms-to-be was based on misconceptions and hearsay. Three
decades of research have brought clarity to exercising safely during pregnancy
and how exercise benefits both mother and child.
Guidelines and recommendations for exercise during pregnancy continue to evolve as more comprehensive research is performed. For example, in 1984, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published the first exercise guidelines for pregnancy. One guideline stated that the maternal heart rate not to exceed 140 beats per minute. Even though it was revised in 1994, this guideline is still cited today. Current research has found that maternal heart rate is not an accurate indicator to gage exertion due to the physiological adaptations that occur in a pregnant woman’s body.
