ENJOY THE FRUIT OF YOUR LABOR.
Exercising while pregnant is possible and advised within certain limitations and best practices. So many benefits await an expecting mother and her baby if they exercise; The earlier the mother and child begin, the better and more extensive the benefits could be. This post will one in a mini-series of posts about exercising while pregnant.
Let's begin by defining women that are pregnant as a special population, since it should be clear that pregnancy is not a disease, not a syndrome, and not a clinical condition. We address special populations as people that their exercise prescription plan (workout plan) requires special considerations independent of a disease, syndrome, or clinical condition.
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Before we can address the exercise prescription aspects or FITTVP for women that are pregnant, let's survey the changes to a woman's body, and especially, what those changes mean (for better or for worse). One of the key principles while addressing a pregnant woman's body is the understanding of mechanical pressure, how it is created, increased, decreased, and the mechanical tendencies of fluids that have no where to escape to.
Mechanical pressure is the outcome of dividing a force by a surface area or volume. Combined with the knowledge that fluids cannot be condensed, we have most of what we need to continue. One more point before the knowledge party starts: when you try to condense fluids they react with an "ego" and push back. In this "battle" between you and the fluids, it is a sure bet that the fluids will win. Without any doubt at all. Seriously, you will lose, big time.
As the pregnancy advances, the womb and the fetus or fetuses within it demand more and more space, taking up an ever growing volume within the mother's body. As the pregnancy advances, more fluids accumulate within the abdomen area, and more body weight is naturally gained (partially due to the fluids; partially due to the weight of the fetus or fetuses; and partially due to the gain of adipose/fat tissue).
All these facts lead to the increase in mechanical pressure almost all over the woman's body. Since a person's center of gravity follows where mass/weight is added, and since a woman gains the most weight to the lower front of her abdomen area due to the pregnant. This means that a pregnant woman's center of gravity has moved forward and downwards, making her tend to bend forward and downward all the time.
The more advanced the pregnancy gets, and the more the belly protrudes outwards, the more the mother is pulled forward and downwards. In order to keep the mother upright, her lower back skeletal muscles must work extra hard and extra hours, causing consistent low back pain (LBP). In addition, the more the woman's breast grow larger, the more they pull the woman's trunk forward and downward, thus her shoulder muscles work extra hard to keep her upright, causing her to experience shoulder pain.
The more weight is gained (naturally) the more the expecting mother's hips, knees, and ankles need to carry in addition the her lower back and shoulders. This causes her to experience increasing joint pain, and foot pain. Every time she needs to push the ground in order to advance, she does so against greater body weight, making the skeletal muscles of the foot work more and more.
As the pregnancy advances, the womb pushes outwards in all directions (sphere like). As a result tissue and organs are constantly under increasing physical challenge (mechanical pressure), this pressure pushes downwards on her gallbladder causing her to want to pee more, it pushes backwards on the mother's spine causing her more pain, it pushes upwards pressing her lungs causing breathing to be more labored (harder) even to the point of shortness of breath upon the slightest exertion. The mother's skin keeps getting tighter, pushing inward on her internal organs, it makes movement more and more uncomfortable.
All this weight and mechanical pressure are applied to the mother's blood vessels, causing them to narrow and blood pressure to go up (independent of hormonal influences). Blood volume increases by about 40% from 1.35 gallons to about 1.89 gallons, further increases blood pressure. If not kept in check, blood pressure can increase to dangerous levels.
Elevated mechanical pressure on the heart as everything is pushed upwards, decreases the amount of blood pumped out per heart contraction, causing heart rate to go up be about 15 beats per minute. This means everything becomes more physiologically and physically intense (more challenging). The lungs also get pressed upward, limiting their ability to inflate and expand, causing breathing rate to increased, resulting in labored breathing.
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Higher blood pressure stimulates the kidneys to produce more urine, coupled with the mechanical pressure on the gallbladder, increases urination ever more. Without proper hydration, blood becomes more viscous and tends to flow less, causing blood pressure to increase even more, and improper oxygen and nutrients supply to the needy cells. The reduced oxygen supply compared to demand, causes fatigue, affecting the skeletal muscles the most, making movement more challenging to an increasing extent.
To "top" all these challenges, a pregnant women has to deal with an ever changing body. Especially if this is her first pregnancy, every week brings with it the need to learn her own body anew, challenging her perception of self. Psychological stress as to the well-being of the baby and herself, can lead to depression and/or anxiety, sadness, feeling down, or irritable for weeks perhaps months at a time.
In the next post related to exercising while pregnant, we will address the health benefits of beginning a pregnancy while exercising, beginning exercising during the pregnancy, and after for mother and child. Stayed tuned.
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