Pregnancy is a time of immense changes for women, physically, mentally, and emotionally. It comes with bodily changes unlike any other phase in life, some of which are good and others many women do not recall fondly. Women may experience fatigue, nausea, headaches, and back pain, just to name a few. They may also be particularly susceptible to gestational diabetes, obesity, and poor mental health due to body image and self-esteem. A woman’s body also has altered nutrition demands during pregnancy. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends an extra 300 calories a day, packed with nutrients from protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates like grains, fruits, and vegetables. We will be focusing on resistance training as a remedy for physical symptoms rather than diving into the altered nutritional demands of pregnancy.
In the past, pregnancy has been viewed as a fragile time for women, with extreme restrictions on physical activity out of fear of harming the fetus. Lately, however, that sentiment seems to have shifted with the simultaneous rise of social media and the fitness industry. Women are taking back the narrative surrounding pregnancy and are rebranding it as a time for renewed focus on health and fitness. It must be noted that these are women who have healthy, low-risk pregnancies. Women undergoing a high-risk pregnancy must first get the approval of their Obstetrician.
Some women are calling pregnancy a “natural bulking” season. This is a subtle nod to the bodybuilding community, where “bulking” and “cutting” refer to muscle-building and leaning-out phases, respectively. In fact, there are many benefits to resistance training during pregnancy, in addition to building muscle. Resistance training can help pregnant mothers maintain their energy levels. Weight-bearing exercise can help women adjust to the increased demands on their joints due to increased weight gain during pregnancy. Resistance training has also been shown to improve nausea and headaches for these women. Pregnancy also changes the center of gravity of a woman, causing back pain. However, strengthening the back and core muscles during resistance training may help women combat pain. It can improve mood and improve self-esteem. Resistance training, especially when included with aerobic exercise, may drastically reduce the risk of gestational diabetes and obesity and improve overall fetal health. Indeed, studies have shown that infants whose mothers performed resistance training with aerobic exercise were more alert, better at self-quieting, and less agitated.
I am passionate about empowering women to become advocates for their own health, so I am very excited to see this wave of strong mothers!
Aoyama, T., Li, D., & Bay, J. L. (2022). Weight Gain and Nutrition during Pregnancy: An Analysis of Clinical Practice Guidelines in the Asia-Pacific Region. Nutrients, 14(6), 1288. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14061288
Duchette, C., Perera, M., Arnett, S., White, E., Belcher, E., & Tinius, R. (2024). Benefits of Resistance Training During Pregnancy for Maternal and Fetal Health: A Brief Overview. International journal of women's health, 16, 1137–1147. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S462591
The more I learn about physiological changes that women undergo during pregnancy, the more impressed and shocked I become. The negative symptoms during pregnancy (such as fatigue and nausea) have always intimidated me. I wasn't even aware of symptoms such as increased risk for diabetes, or risk for mental health challenges. I had no idea that maintaining physical activity during pregnancy could help with their bodies ability to handle a pregnancy, but this makes sense. It makes sense that such massive physiological changes, and an added amount of caloric intake and weight would make increased physical strength more useful during pregnancy. It also follows that exercise would result in decreased risk for gestational diabetes and negative mental side effects. Overall, I think this is a very interesting trend to watch in our culture, so we can increase the health and wellness during pregnancies!
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see that women can exercise during pregnancy. I used to think that pregnant women were much more fragile than the literature indicates, and I didn't realize all of the benefits exercise can have during a pregnancy. I found a PubMed article (link at the bottom of this post) that said exercise can even reduce the risk of having complications during birth, and decrease a woman's post-birth recovery time. Hopefully, as it becomes clear that there are various benefits to exercise, more women will be advised to maintain a healthy exercise routine during pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link to the article I found and its citation.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32217980/
Physical Activity and Exercise During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: ACOG Committee Opinion, Number 804. (2020). Obstetrics and gynecology, 135(4), e178–e188. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000003772
I really enjoyed this article because it puts the old age stigma about women needing to be demure and lean towards a fragile state during pregnancy to rest. I'm interested to see how much endorphins a mother produces during physical activity like weightlifting can affect the fetus in a good way.
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