By far the biggest worry for us pregnant mums is the safety of our little ones. Most of our energy during pregnancy is focussed on providing a safe and nurturing environment for our babies to thrive and develop and the biggest fear in our hearts is doing anything to harm or disrupt our baby's development in the womb.
But pregnancy can be a confusing time. There is an absolute minefield of pregnancy health and fitness information out there and unfortunately a lot of it is conflicting, inaccurate, misleading and sometimes even potentially harmful to your pregnancy health and the development of your baby. So it's no wonder that the forums are full of confused pregnant women with pregnancy information overload; looking for a straight and definitive answer to their truckload of pregnancy questions...
"Is it safe to exercise during pregnancy?"
"My midwife said I should only do gentle cardio exercise, but X said it's fine to do spin/body combat/pump class during pregnancy?"
"What do I do if I can't eat because I'm so sick? I'm scared that the baby is starving? Someone suggested I use protein shakes...are they safe?"
So here are the Top 3 Rules to Safe and Effective Pregnancy Fitness:
1) Any exercise is not good exercise
Exercise during pregnancy needs to targeted, specific and relative to both your fitness level and the week of your pregnancy. What works for you in weeks 5-9 will not work for you in weeks 20-24 or 36-40.
Your pregnancy fitness program should be based on results, not doing exercise for the sake of doing exercise, (otherwise what's the point, right?).
A good pregnancy fitness plan will focus on short pregnancy workouts which target the pregnancy and labour muscles and expose your baby to controlled amounts of physical stress to increase her tolerance to labour.
It will also focus on metabolism boosting pregnancy exercises that will keep you burning calories for at least 24 hours after your pregnancy workout and keep excess fat OFF of your body.
2) Sleep is highly underrated
Too many women these days squash pregnancy into their already hectic lives; ask any pregnant woman if she naps daily in the day and the answer is more than likely, "no" or "sometimes".
Sleep is the only way our bodies can recover, regenerate and repair from physical and mental stress and daily wear and tear and a daily deficit in sleep adds up and eventually wears down the critical processes you need to maintain your pregnancy health.
Sleep is also the only time that we get to balance hormones. Now hormones are not talked about enough when it comes to pregnancy health as they are VITAL to the physical, mental and psychosocial development of your baby. They are also a major factor in controlling pregnancy symptoms, food cravings and pregnancy weight gain.
Aim for 8 hours every night and a daily nap of 30 minutes to keep you alert, energised and in balanced pregnancy health
3) Your BABY is what you EAT!
You may think that pregnancy is a time when you should be able to relax and enjoy the sweeter things in life, but think about this. Every mouthful of food that passes your lips determines the development and future health of your baby.
That may seem extreme but it is absolutely true. Put junk in, guess what you get out?
A pregnancy diet which includes a lot of sugar, refined carbohydrate and processed food is deficient in nutrients, which means that your baby does not have the tools she needs to grow strong healthy cells.
Base your diet on clean, nutrient dense fresh and organic foods with allowances for the odd treat and both you and your baby will thrive.
Author Resource:
Nisha is a leading expert on Pregnancy Fitness and the author of The 9 Month Club Pregnancy Fitness Coaching System . For a FREE comprehensive guide to safe and effective pregnancy health and fitness get the complete set of 20 videos " 20 Rules to Safe and Effective Pregnancy Health and Fitness" for FREE from The 9 Month Club - The Home of Pregnancy Fitness at http://www.12daysoffitness.com
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