Weight lifting during pregnancy?

[Anonymous]

I just found out I'm pregnant (and I had a miscarriage before) so I'm wondering what I can do for exercise. I'm doing yoga and will certainly try and keep that up.

Can I add weigh lifting safely to my routine? My arms and shoulders are not very strong, but I am worried about carrying a baby around eventually so I'm hoping I can add some light weight exercises to my routine. HOWEVER, is there any increased risk associated with that?

Thoughts, exercise suggestions?

[Anonymous]

I weight lifted through most of my first pregnancy, no problem at all. OB said it was no problem. But I had a miscarriage recently and decided that I won't do it the next time, just in case. At least for the first 12 weeks. When I had a sono before the miscarriage, the OB said there was some internal bleeding in my uterus. She said it wasn't a big deal and wouldn't harm a healthy pregnancy, but I should take it easy. She said it was likely due to me carrying my toddler. But I was also weight-lifting at the time. So I'm sure it was due to both. I immediately stopped weight-lifting. The weight-lifting and toddler-lifting had nothing to do with my miscarriage, but in light of the internal bleeding it seems to have caused, I wouldn't do it again during the first trimester.

Congratulations and good luck!

[Anonymous]

It is fine as long as you don't have any complications - I did weights up until the day before I went into labor! You do have to be more careful, and probably cut down on the amount of the weights or move to machines, as your ligaments are much more prone to injury due to the pregnancy hormones. So no sudden movements, no holding your breath, stop if you become lightheaded or dizzy, etc.

Some docs are extra cautious during your first trimester if you had a previous miscarriage - mine docs were fine with my continuing with my same workouts even though I'd had a miscarriage. It depends in part on the cause of the miscarriage.

There are some good books out there on exercising during pregnancy, if you want some more guidance.

[Anonymous]

This is the pp again. I just re-read your original post and realized you're referring to light weights. Just to clarify, I was lifting heavier weights. So if you're talking about just a couple of pounds to a workout routine, I'm sure that's probably fine. I don't want to be alarmist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the pp again. I just re-read your original post and realized you're referring to light weights. Just to clarify, I was lifting heavier weights. So if you're talking about just a couple of pounds to a workout routine, I'm sure that's probably fine. I don't want to be alarmist.

Sorry. Should have said which PP. I'm the 10:12 pp.

[Anonymous]

I had a friend who went into labor 8 weeks early - her water broke. Since I was pregnant at the time, I was very concerned about this and researched some of the resaons your water may break early. One of the things I came across was lifting weights. My friend had been working out throughout her pregnancy including weight training.

I am not sure if this contributed to her early labor - or other reasons.

Bottom line - I would talk to your dr about this as opposed to looking for guidance from this board.

Best of luck with your pregnancy.

[Anonymous]

If you haven't already been lifting weights, I'd definitely check with your doctor.

If you get an okay there, I bet there are trainers who have special certification/training for working with pregnant women.

[Anonymous]

you have not been doing weights before pregnancy, why start now. Your baby isn't going to come out weighing 20lbs, ( I hope), you grow used to carrying them as they grow. I would hold off until after baby. Congrats on pregnancy.