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Moderate, intense exercise deemed safe. (20 Minutes Per Day, 3-4 Days Per Week).
ST. Louis -- Forty minutes per clay of moderately intense exercise seems safe for pregnant women, but they probably should limit exercise to 3-4 days per week and avoid sports drinks, Michelle F. Mottola, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine.
Pregnant exercisers who use "target heart rates" to gauge the strenuousness of aerobic exercise should use modified target heart rate zones that are slightly lower than the zones for nonpregnant exercisers, Larry A. Wolfe, Ph.D., said in a separate presentation at the same symposium.
Traditional advice for women to rest during pregnancy has given way to widespread agreement that a moderate amount of exercise--20 minutes per day, 3 days per week--is a good thing during pregnancy. With more women becoming elite athletes or getting physically demanding jobs (as firefighters or fitness instructors, for example) researchers have been asking whether frequent, prolonged, or strenuous exercise is safe during pregnancy.
In a case-control study of 529 women who were surveyed 2 weeks post partum, those who engaged in structured exercise at least 5 days per week were nearly five times more likely to have low-birth-weight babies than were less frequent exercisers (Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 184[3]:403-08, 2001). A woman's prepregnancy fitness level did not influence the results, said Dr. Mottola, director of the exercise and pregnancy laboratory at the University of Western Ontario, London.
At the low end of the activity range, women who exercised no more than 2 days per week in the study were nearly three times more likely to deliver low-birth-weight babies than were women who exercised 3-4 days per week.
Thus 3-4 days per week seems to be the optimal frequency during pregnancy. "I feel like 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears': too much, too little, or just right," she said.
Elite athletes may be advised to alternate their exercise schedule weekly, exercising 3-4 days the first and 4-5 days the next week.
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Source: HighBeam Research, Moderate, intense exercise deemed safe. (20 Minutes Per Day, 3-4 Days...