A study released in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that women who exercised before they were pregnant may continue to do so during the pregnancies without negative effects.
Kristin R. Kardel and Dr. Trygve Kase of the University of Oslo in Norway reported, “Our results indicate that healthy and well-conditioned women may take part in exercise during pregnancy without compromising fetal growth and development as judged by birth weight or complicating the course of pregnancy or labor.”
Researchers studied 42 women who exercised prior to pregnancy and continued to do so until 6 weeks after delivery. The women exercised six times a week, wore heart monitors and kept diaries of their training.
There was no significant affect on labor, fetal birth weight or the health of the baby, although women who exercised more did gain more weight and went into labor earlier if they were having a girl.
