Featuring Tamarah Calyniuk, MPT, CAFC

Video Title: Pregnancy and Cardio Workouts Duration: 1 minute, 31 seconds

When a woman is pregnant, your blood volume increases about 50 percent, so you have more blood flow through your body, and this increases your heart rate and also your stroke volume.

So you want to make sure that you're engaging in exercises that are not going to overexert yourself. The importance is maintaining a rate of perceived exertion in which you can talk properly and still exercise.

So first trimester, you probably may find that you may be able to maintain your running routine, you could get into some swimming or walking on the treadmill, elliptical, stair climbing.

However, in the second trimester, if you're playing sports, you want make sure that you refrain from any sports that are, involving any type of hitting, or potential to fall, or trauma to your abdominal area or pelvic region because the baby is now out of the protection of the pelvis.

Some exercises that women do find beneficial as it allows them to get off their feet is swimming, stationary bike, even a little bit of prenatal yoga.

Again, if you do want to engage in a cardiovascular program and you're not sure what to do, it is best to consult a personal trainer or exercise specialist who may be involved in the pre and postnatal periods.

Presenter: Tamarah Nerreter, Physiotherapist, Surrey, BC

Local Practitioners: Physiotherapist