So why exercise?

So, let’s start with some fairly conventional facts. No surprises here really, just lots of reasons to stay fit and healthy through pregnancy.

Benefits to you of exercising during pregnancy;

·         More energy

·         Fewer problems with backache, bloating and constipation

·         Reduced risk of gestational diabetes

·         Better sleep

·         Easier labour and childbirth

·         Quicker recovery

·         Boosts your mood

·         Reduced birth weight for baby, which may reduce his or her risk of obesity later in life

·         Tend to have easier and less complicated labours

·         Have less need for pain relief during labour (hmmm we’ll see about that)

·         Increase their aerobic capacity

·         Have more stamina during labour

·         Report a more rapid physical and emotional recovery from delivery

Benefits to the baby of exercising mums;

·         Have significantly lower heart rates than babies of non exercising mums

·         Are better able to cope with the stress of birth

·         Have a greater ability to adapt to life outside the uterus

·         Are more healthy at birth

·         Are leaner at birth and tend to stay lean as they grow

·         Sleep through the night sooner (yes please!)

·         Are better able to self calm

·         Score higher on tests of general intelligence and oral language skills

·         Have decreased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases later in life

Why wouldn’t you keep up the training!

So I’ll try to do a bit of back tracking and highlight any key issues I experienced throughout the different trimesters. Forgive me if I jump all over the place with this blog. There's a bit of catching up to do.

1st trimester 1-13 weeks

Ok so back to my research on the internet… I was curious to see what the experts said I could and couldn’t do during my pregnancy — and I really didn’t like what I found! Here are some examples of conventional pregnancy diet and fitness recommendations:

- Increase your carbohydrate intake
- Don’t bench press more than 20kgs
- Don’t squat below parallel
- Don’t let your heart rate get beyond 140 beats per minute
- Don’t lie on your back after the first trimester
- Eat lots of grains
- Eat constantly throughout the day to make sure the baby is always supplied with nutrients

Now to anyone that hasn’t experienced the full benefits of primal nutrition along with optimal training this might all sound very logical. Over the next few months I will talk about some of the common pregnancy guidelines I have encountered and why I have chosen an alternate path. I’m not suggesting that my pregnancy will be a perfect one, far from it I’m sure, but I want to be able to make educated decisions not just follow the masses especially when something doesn’t ‘seem right’ to me.