Lifting Weights While Pregnant: What the Science Actually Says

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:10 The traditional advice

00:42 Strength training safety and benefits during pregnancy

01:37 Health organizations recommendations

01:49 Intra-abdominal pressure

02:45 My Online PT Course

03:04 Conclusion

03:41 Outro

Transcript:

There are now dozens of controlled studies on resistance training during pregnancy. The findings are remarkably consistent and remarkably different from the advice that many women are still getting.

I know that when you’re pregnant, or you have a client that is pregnant, it can be very scary to set up a training program. You certainly don’t want to harm the baby. Unfortunately, the traditional advice is in fact very suboptimal for both the mother and the child. So let me walk you through what the evidence and expert consensus at this point say. For the record, my name is Menno Henselmans. I’m an exercise scientist, and I’ve been coaching people, including pregnant clients, and mentoring coaches with pregnant clients for over 15 years.

The traditional advice regarding weight training is that it should be avoided because it’s too intensive for a pregnant woman. However, a recent meta-analysis of 50 studies shows that this concern is wholly misplaced. Strength training during pregnancy lowered the odds of getting a C-section by 16%, the odds of gestational hypertension by 58%, gestational diabetes by 38%, and perinatal mood disorders by 52%.

Lifting weights not only improved the mother’s physical and mental health, it also reduced the odds that the baby was born with macrosomia, which is excess birth weight, by 33%. Strength training was deemed very safe. There were no adverse effects on any health or birth outcome. Another recent systematic review of the scientific evidence concluded: “Strength training during pregnancy offers unique benefits, including reduced excessive weight gain, alleviated pain, improved mood, and enhanced health related quality of life. These aspects include physical activity levels, muscular strength, flexibility, sleep quality, energy expenditure, and psychological well-being.”

The strength of the evidence is now so strong that almost all official health organizations, who are typically quite late to the party, now officially recommend strength training as part of a healthy exercise regime for pregnant women. Even activities that induce high intra abdominal pressure are generally safe. These include lying on your back and the Valsalva maneuver, which is a natural breath holding response that you typically encounter especially during exercises like squats and deadlifts. The traditional concern with high intra-abdominal pressure, and especially the Valsalva maneuver, is that it restricts blood flow to the fetus. However, this is not actually a concern. Throughout evolution women have become very well adapted to deliver a healthy baby under periods of considerable physical stress.

For example, one study looked at athletes, in particular Olympic weightlifters and powerlifters, and they concluded: “Individuals who engaged in heavy prenatal resistance training have typical perinatal and pelvic floor health outcomes that were not altered whether they engaged in, or avoided Olympic lifting, the Valsalva maneuver or supine weightlifting.” In fact, the women that maintained their pre-pregnancy exercise levels had lower rates of reproductive problems than women that lowered their exercise level.

In my own coaching experience as well, most pregnant women can continue lifting heavy weights all the way up into the third trimester with remarkably few program adjustments. Just be reasonable and listen to pain signals. Lying on your stomach, especially when it causes pain and things like combat sports are obviously a risk that is not worth it. Lifting weights in general is very safe, though, in contrast to popular belief. Lifting weights is a very controlled movement with low impact and has injury rates that are multifold lower than, for example, jogging. So don’t be afraid to keep lifting weights during your pregnancy. It results in healthier mothers and babies.

If you’re interested in unbiased, evidence-based fitness education to become a better lifter or improve your client results, then check out the Henselmans PT Course. The link is in the description. And if you want to see more of my videos check out one of the videos popping up on your screen right now.