Exercise during Pregnancy - Benefits and Safety Tips

While exercising may be the last thing you feel like doing when you’re pregnant, it’s important to stay active as regular exercise has a range of health benefits for both you and your baby. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) encourages pregnant women to do between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate intensity physical exercise each week. This includes a combination of aerobic and strength conditioning exercise.

Get expert advice on safe and effective exercises during pregnancy. Learn how exercise can benefit you and your baby.

Before you start any new exercise program, it’s best to check with your Healthcare professional to assess any medical risks.

Benefits of exercise during pregnancy

There are many benefits to exercising when you’re pregnant. These can include:

increase in fitness and energy levels
stress relief
faster recovery from labour
better sleep and insomnia management
decrease in back and pelvic pain
decrease in the risk of developing anxiety or depression
decrease in delivery complications

Regular exercise can also help to reduce the risk of developing the following pregnancy complications:

pregnancy-induced hypertension
pre-eclampsia

How much exercise is enough?

When you’re pregnant, you should try to keep active every day. RANZCOG encourages pregnant women to do 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity physical exercise each week. They also caution against exercising for more than 60 minutes at a time unless the intensity is relatively light. If you’ve previously been inactive or if you’re overweight, it’s important to limit your exercise duration to 15 to 20 minutes at the start of exercising and build up to 30 minutes sessions over time.

What exercises should you be doing?

It’s important to do a combination of both aerobic and strength training exercises when you’re pregnant.

Aerobic exercises

Aerobic exercise or “cardio” means “with oxygen”. It’s continuous exercise that causes your breathing and heart rate to increase and keeps your heart, lungs and circulatory system healthy.

The following aerobic exercises are generally safe to do during pregnancy:

walking (aim for a brisk pace)
swimming
jogging (if you’re already jogging regularly)
stationary cycling

Strengthening exercises

Strengthening or anaerobic exercise involves short burst of energy and is usually higher in intensity. Anaerobic exercise is any activity that breaks down glucose for energy without using oxygen. A lot of energy releases in a small period of time, and your oxygen demand is greater than your oxygen supply.

RANZCOG recommends pregnant women perform strengthening exercises twice a week on non-consecutive days. These exercises should cover the main muscle groups in the body. Examples of strengthening exercises include using light weights, body weight or elasticised resistance-bands. When you’re pregnant, it’s important to avoid lifting with heavy weights, walking lunges, or straining your body.

You should aim for one to two sets of 12 to 15 repetitions for each strengthening exercise. These strength training exercises should be at a moderate intensity with slow, steady movements and correct breathing technique.

Exercises to avoid

You should avoid strenuous exercise during hot or humid weather and you should also avoid exercises that involve lying flat on your back after the first trimester of pregnancy.

It’s important not to perform activities that include a risk of falling over or getting hit. These can include: