The number of questions that come with a baby are endless, who also realized much of it would start during the 9 months pre-baby.
Running while pregnant needs to be addressed to eliminate confusion, shaming and worry!
For awhile now I’ve been thinking there was a topic that needed to be touched on here at RTTF, but I was in no way shape or form qualified to talk about it from personal experience. I’ve read a lot and have a good understanding as a coach, but I feel like this one is far more useful from someone who has been there, which is why I’m excited to have running coach Amanda Shannon Verrengia here today.
The old school thinking about running (or exercising in general) while pregnant was that women should do very little or nothing at all.
Fortunately, that thinking has changed. WHEW.
Running while pregnant has not only been proven SAFE for mom and baby.
Benefits of running while pregnant:
- reduce stress
- ease back pain
- make labor faster/less difficult
- keeps mom healthy
- prevent excessive weight gain
- BUT (and this is a big BUT) it is not something you should “just do.”
If you want to run healthy, you’ve gotta run smart– pregnant or not.
Can running while pregnant hurt the baby?
Before I say anything else, I’ll say this: I’m not a doctor and I’m certainly not YOUR doctor. Please get your doctors approval and tell him or her ALL OF THE DETAILS as you run throughout your journey.
- Usually the answer is no, unless you are a high risk pregnancy or have other health issues
- As noted above improving mom’s health will improve the baby’s health
- NO STUDIES show that running can cause a miscarriage early in pregnancy
10 Tips for Running While Pregnant
Much of this is essential for non-pregnant running too, so don’t be surprised if you feel like you’ve heard these things before!
- Dynamic Warm Up
- Release fitness worries
- Listen to your body
- Appreciate all the movement you get
- Be extremely flexible with your workouts
- Stay well hydrated and well fueled
- Continue strength training
- Stretch a little bit more
- Pelvic Floor work
- Get the right gear
1) Always Do the Warm Up
I can’t stress this one enough. PLEASE get in some dynamic stretching.
I get it, you don’t always have time. If you can’t seem to fit it in before every run, make it a priority before hard effort and strength workouts.
Easy run? At least start that first mile out a bit slower. Ideally though, you would warm-up dynamically before every run. While pregnant, I walked 5 minutes before most runs and then got in dynamic movement.
Dynamic movement is not only good for your body/muscles, it helps your body get in the “oh, it’s time to run” mode.
2) Stop fretting about Fitness
PLEASE do yourself this one courtesy. YOU ARE GROWING A HUMAN.
