Adopting a supervised, low-to-moderate intensity weight-lifting exercise program can be safe for women with a low-risk pregnancy, according to a University of Georgia media release. Despite decades of doctors’ reluctance to recommend weight training to pregnant women, a new University of Georgia study has found that a supervised, low-to-moderate intensity program is safe and beneficial. The research, published in the current edition of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, measured progression in the amount of weight used, changes in resting blood pressure and potential adverse side effects in 32 pregnant women over a 12-week period. The group increased the amount of weight lifted in all of the exercises by an average of 36 percent over the 12-week period. After a total of 618 exercise sessions, none of the pregnant women in the study experienced a musculoskeletal injury. Thirteen incidents of potentially problematic symptoms were reported, all of which involved headache, pelvic pain and dizziness. Some pelvic pain can be expected in pregnant women with back pain, said researcher Patrick O’Connor. “The one thing you have to be a little careful about is dizziness,” he added. Rates of dizziness went down after the first few workouts, as the women learned to lift weights while maintaining proper breathing techniques for exercise, he said. One reason physicians have been reluctant to prescribe weight lifting to pregnant women is that they produce high amounts of a hormone called relaxin, which promotes connective tissue laxity, explained O’Connor. Increased laxity could be associated with orthopedic injury. O’Connor stated “I think that the appropriate conclusion of this study is that the adoption of a supervised, low-to-moderate intensity weight-lifting exercise program can be safe for women with a low-risk pregnancy.”
