Exercise is by far the most confusing issue I have confronted so far in my pregnancy (omg—every time when I write that word, I get so excited!). I’ve always been an avid gym-goer, and I love to run and do those crazy stair-climbing machines (the ones where you’re climbing real stairs). But as soon as I found out I was expecting, I looked more closely at the literature on safe exercise during pregnancy. Although every resource encourages 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day, there is much conflicting information on just how intense it should be.
The American Pregnancy Association recommends that pregnant women keep their heart rate below 140 at all times. Now, I’ve never regularly monitored my heart rate, so I didn’t realize until now just how amazingly low that is. On Monday, I had to do my normal stairclimbing routine at half the intensity as I usually do, and I was still at a heartrate of about 150. And typically I run about an 8 minute mile, but yesterday on the treadmill even a 9 minute 30 second mile got my heart rate above 150. Exercising at such a low intensity honestly doesn’t feel like exercise at all.
But wait—other resources, such as the Mayo Clinic, disagree: they say the 140 beat per minute rule is outdated. (And still other experts openly disagree with one another, as you can see from this comment thread on BabyCenter.) The Mayo Clinic says that as long as a woman has been regularly exercising before pregnancy, heart rate limits don’t really apply. What’s really important, they say, is that you can carry on a conversation during a workout. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists concurs:
Heart Rate
The extra weight you are carrying will make your body work harder than before you were pregnant. Exercise increases the flow of oxygen and blood to the muscles being worked and away from other parts of your body. So, it’s important not to overdo it.
Try to exercise moderately so you don’t get tired quickly. If you are able to talk normally while exercising, your heart rate is at an acceptable level.
OK, so I need to be able to talk “normally.” I don’t talk to anyone at the gym, so that’ll be a tough one to assess, but what I have been doing the last two days feels easy and moderate, so I’ll stick with that, I guess. I’ve ordered a heart rate monitor (do you know how hard it is to take your pulse when you’re running on a treadmill?) and will I try to hover right around 150. It’s rather surprising to me that there is so little consensus about one of the most important things women should do when they’re pregnant, but I’ll just go with my gut and hope for the best.
You are correct the 140 mark is outdated and not something w adhere to at this time. Even at the writing of our book we included the 140 bpm minute myth because it is so prevalent. Research has shown that this is not the case and that exercise is good. Now, if your heart rate is up in the 170′s and you feel like you are going to pass out then this could be a problem. The fact that you are in shape means your hear rate will recover quickly and go back to normal soon. I recommend that my patients exercise and not monitor your heart rate because it is more important that you get out there and get some exercise.
That’s right, you did address this in your book! If I had remembered, I would have mentioned it. Thanks for reminding me, and thanks for the info, as always!
This has been confusing for me, too. Logically, I know I can exercise at a moderate level. But especially during the first few weeks I just HAD to be extra careful for my own peace of mind. I exercised regularly, but very moderately. Lifting weights was about the same as pre-pregnancy. During cardio, my heart rate would never get above 120. I didn’t physically feel like I could push it further and on the rare occasions that I did, I experienced round ligament pain on one or both sides of my lower abdomen.
Now that I’m 7 weeks, I’m still going slower, but my heart rate is pushing up to near 130. Pre-pregnancy I exercised in the 150s range unless I was doing interval training.
Long story short, I’ve just been going by what I feel. I happen to do the elliptical mostly (bad knees), so I have the luxury of checking in on my heart rate every now and then.
Yikes, exercise! I am really bad about regular exercise exercise, although I am really active at work. Then I remembered this whole blah blah about not exercising when pregnant if you didn’t regularly before and I want to be as healthy as possible when I’m incubating a person, so I best start exercising “regularly” now. But I bought myself fancy pants as incentive and went running yesterday, so we’ll see.