The Essentials of Exercise page 2
An Excerpt from The Real Deal Guide to Pregnancy
by Erika Lenkert
Monitor Your Heart Rate
Those extra pounds will ultimately increase your heart rate and consequently cause some huffing and puffing while you’re standing still, never mind strolling on a treadmill. While the old adage was to ensure your heart rate doesn’t top 140 beats per minute (which mine does anytime I step on the treadmill, pregnant or not), lots of professionals are now recommending a more flexible means of monitoring yourself: Whenever you step up your activity, make sure you can talk normally without gasping for air. It’ll ensure your body is getting enough oxygen to all the right places, including your internal air-conditioned condo (aka uterus).
Dress for Success
Now’s not the time to slack on supportive shoes or bras. I went on a tri-city treasure hunt to find a sports bra that could comfortably harness my heretic chest. But finding a sling that adequately strapped down those jugs made the difference between wincing with the slightest bounce and prancing as freely as a braless pre-teen.
Dressing in layers is also important, since heat and humidity easily overheats and melts the warmly wrapped mommy-to-be when she cannot strip down to lighter garb.
Hydrate
If you don’t want to steam like an engine without coolant, keep water nearby and gulp it down regularly.
Trust Your Body
If you feel more like exercising your right to lie on the couch than to take a hike, go with your flow. Since flexing and stretching your muscles is bound to give you more physical and emotional energy, it’s not the best idea to completely give in to pregnancy laziness. But on the days that you feel too tired to exercise, don’t. Your body is the boss now, so do what it says.
Don’t Sweat the Fat Stuff
Unless you’re one of those pregnant women who looks like a model with a basketball tucked under her shirt, there is likely to come a time when you won’t be too pleased with your full-body profile – especially when standing next to those ubiquitous gym or jogging path nymphs who flit around in a Spandex second skin. My remedy for this: Don’t look! When you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, wave and move on or focus on something pleasant about yourself like your thick hair, gleaming eyes, or fresh mani. It also never hurts to follow the heavyset herd to a prenatal exercise class where you are likely to see women who are faring better and worse than you.
10 COMMANDMENTS OF PREGNANCY EXERCISE
There is no one right way to exercise during pregnancy. But there are a handful of tenets worth warding.
- Talk with your practitioner about suitable exercise.
- Aim for 30 minutes of activity several times per week.
- Stretch before and afterward.
- Be careful.
- Hydrate.
- Dress for success.
- Follow your body’s cues.
- Don’t focus on your fat.
- Stop the second something doesn’t feel right.
- Remember that the goal is never to lose weight.
This excerpt is from the book The Real Deal Guide to Pregnancy, in stores now.
About The AuthorMommy and well-known lifestyle writer Erika Lenkert is a frequent contributor to In Style, Everyday with Rachel Ray, and dozens of other national publications. She has authored several lifestyle books, including The Last Minute Party Girl: Fashionable, Fearless, and Foolishly Simple Entertaining and Raw: The Uncook Book. Known for combining wit and wisdom, Erika is committed to helping today's mommy-to-be shirk the prevailing pregnancy paranoia so that she can confidently revel in all the weird, wacky, and downright funky stuff that comes with making human from scratch.
