Is Your Exercise Program Wearing You Out?

As a BabyFit member, you understand the importance of exercising moderately and consistently throughout pregnancy—for the health of you and your baby. 

 

For some of us, common sense dictates that the more you work out—and the higher the intensity—the better.  But that’s not necessarily true.  Even if you’ve gradually increased the intensity, duration and/or frequency of your workouts, you can still run into problems. 

 

Have you noticed that your workouts suddenly feel harder than before, even though you haven’t changed anything?  Do you feel like you are losing ground, even though you’re working hard?  You may be overdoing it.  

 

The cause of overtraining is simple.  Your body is going through many rapid changes as your baby—and belly—grow and develop.  Even relatively simple tasks are harder to complete when you’re hauling around extra weight.  If you’re not allowing your body enough time to recover (from exercise and the increased demands of pregnancy), or if you’re doing the same exercises too much, common symptoms of overtraining can occur:

1.  Your first priority should be rest.  Just a day or two probably won’t do it.  Depending on how severely you’ve been pushing yourself, three to five days should give your body enough time to recover—both physically and mentally.

 

2.  Get plenty of sleep and make sure you’re eating well, particularly during this recovery period.  Focus on getting adequate amounts of protein, complex carbohydrates, and lots of fruits and veggies.

 

3.  When you are ready to return to your exercise routine, start off slowly.  Most research shows that it is okay to exercise at your pre-pregnancy level of intensity, but you may need to cut back on the length and frequency of your workouts.