ultrarunningmom

The default recommendation for pregnant women is to exercise while pregnant, at least three days a week for 30 minutes. Basically, the same recommendation for everyone. There are many benefits to mom if she begins exercising and if she continues exercising while pregnant. Yes, the experts agree it if you haven’t been exercising starting during pregnancy is just fine. You do need to listen to your body and if you have a high-risk pregnancy make sure and check in with your doctor before you start anything.
Many of the benefits are what you would expect because they are the same benefits for everyone: better sleep, better mood, cardiovascular health, decreased levels of stress, weight control, respiratory health, and on.
Mom’s to be also improve their circulation, which helps to prevent constipation (big win). Preventing constipation, of course, reduces your chances of getting hemorrhoids. It also helps with swelling in ankles, varicose veins and leg cramps (ah the joys of pregnancy). Doing some core strengthening can reduce and prevent back pain as well.
But another big benefit for mom’s who exercise throughout their pregnancy is a shorter labor and less likely to have a perineum tear, if you do tear it’s not as bad. Unfortunately, it’s not going to reduce the pain you may experience.
Alright so exercise is good for mama, but that’s not enough to get you off the couch when you are tired, don’t feel good, and moody. Well we can through in a healthy dose of parental guilt then.
An exercise physiologist and anatomist at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, Linda May, conducted a study with 66 moms to be and their fetuses. She measured fetal heart rates at 28, 32, and 36 weeks of pregnancy after splitting the women into two groups: those who exercised at least 3 days a week for 30 minutes and those who didn’t.
Linda May was measuring the babies’ heartrate and the heart rate variability. Variability is the span between beats. Increased heart rate variability means a healthier heart and better overall health because the heart functions more efficiently.
In babies whose moms were exercising, Linda May found by 32 weeks there were differences between the two groups and by 36 weeks there was a “big, significant change”—lower heart rate and increased heart rate variability. The moms who exercised more had babies with lower fetal heart rate and increased heart rate variability.
Those benefits to baby didn’t stop after the baby was born either. The benefits continued to be seen when the babies were brought back in at one month of age. So if you can’t do it for yourself, do it for your growing baby.

Weekly Miles: I’m back running from the knee issue this week and started with 18 miles. I’ve found consistent rolling of  my shins is dong the trick, which I don’t normally roll. I plan on running outside more next week. I also picked up a maternity support belt to take some of the pressure of the baby off my bladder.