Exercise During Pregnancy – FACT VS FICTION

May 15, 2018

In this day and age, it is easy to find information on exercise during pregnancy and sometimes there can be such a flood of information that the answer becomes blurred and confusing as to what is the best way to exercise during pregnancy, what should be avoided, and what should be continued. Hopefully this short blog provides a little clarity to those who are expecting along with myself. The current guidelines from the Australian Government for exercise during pregnancy recommend completing at least 30-minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week. If you were inactive prior to pregnancy, it is recommended to participate in activities such as walking and swimming to gradually build your exercises tolerance. For physically active individuals, activities such as walking, swimming, jogging, cycling, aquarobics, strengthening exercises yoga, stretching and Pilates are all considered safe to complete during pregnancy. It is recommended this level of activity is continued throughout pregnancy unless it becomes uncomfortable to do so.

As an Accredited Exercise Physiologist and a pregnant woman, I agree with these guidelines and would recommend them to most of my GENERAL clients I see in clinic during pregnancy. In my clinical opinion, I do think these guidelines are somewhat lenient and the target for overall activity completed should be higher, especially for individuals who are capable of achieving more or already very physically active. This is where the information becomes fuzzy for those of us that are moderately to highly active pre-pregnancy; The big question – “do I have to stop completing my normal exercise routine?” the simple answer is, no! Of course, there are some precautions that will need to be considered as you enter the later stages of your pregnancy but generally, if you have been consistently completing a certain activity and are considered ‘skilled’ in the activity, it is safe to continue to complete this until your doctor or midwife advises you otherwise or until it becomes uncomfortable to do so.

Some important things to take into consideration while exercising during pregnancy:

  • Don’t let your body temperature get too high and maintain your hydration – during pregnancy you are at a higher risk for dehydration and heat stroke.
  • You will experience more fatigue than normal, so try to keep your maximal intensity to approximately 75-80% of your age predicted maximal heart rate.
  • Your recovery rate will be slower than normal, so you may need to reduce your weights in the gym and taper back your sessions slightly.
  • Complete Pelvic Floor and Transverse Abdominus strengthening exercises over traditional abdominal strengthening exercises to reduce the risk/impact of abdominal separation.

Exercises considered ‘High-risk’:

  • Exercises exposing you to abdominal trauma or excessive intra-abdominal pressure (avoid these exercises in 2 nd and 3 rd trimester)
  • Contact sports or sports that have hard projectile objects or striking implements such as hockey, cricket, softball, martial arts and other contact sports (avoid these exercises in 2 nd and 3 rd trimester).
  • Extreme balance, coordination, plyometric and agility-based activities such as gymnastics (avoid these exercises in 2 nd and 3 rd trimester).
  • Activities such as SCUBA diving where you are exposed to changes in pressure, likewise, activities at high altitude.
  • Exercises lying on your back (in 2 nd and 3 rd trimester) can reduce blood flow and cause complications.

So, in summary for my fellow pregnant ladies, if you are currently active – keep doing what you’re doing! If you are not yet active, I would advise you to get moving!  If you are entering your 2 nd and 3 rd trimester and are unsure about what exercises are safe for you to continue completing, speak to your doctor or midwife, or pop in and see me at our Absolute Balance Clinic for assistance with a specific pregnancy programme. As always, before commencing any form of new exercises we recommend you seek medical clearance from your treating doctor to ensure you are healthy and ready to get started.

For more information, jump on the website www.absolutebalance.com.au or send us an email to info@absolutebalance.com.au.

Alixe Luckins (B.Sc. Exercise Physiology)

Senior Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Clinic Manager

 

 

 

Prehabilitation in Workers Compensation: Enhancing Function, Reducing Downtime

September 1, 2025
As the global population ages and the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions continues to rise, the demand for orthopaedic surgeries has surged dramatically. With this increase comes a growing emphasis on not just the surgical intervention itself, but also on the preoperative phase as a critical window of opportunity to enhance patient outcomes. One of the most promising strategies emerging in this space is prehabilitation—a proactive, personalized approach to preparing patients physically and mentally for surgery. Prehabilitation can be broadly defined as a personalized exercise program designed to improve physical function and optimize recovery outcomes for any upcoming surgical intervention. In the context of workers compensation, prehabilitation offers additional value. By maintaining or even improving a patient’s physical function prior to surgery, individuals are often able to remain engaged in modified or light-duty work roles. This not only supports their psychological well-being and financial stability but also contributes to faster and more sustainable return-to-work outcomes post-surgery. A recent meta-analysis by Punnoose et al. 2023, found that a targeted prehabilitation program increased muscle strength, improved joint function and led to a higher health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores. These findings were consistent with patients undergoing Total Knee Replacements (TKR), Total Hip Replacements (THR) and lumbar spine surgery. Some clinical applications are listed below: Targeted approach of 4-6 weeks, with 2 sessions per week. This aligns with physiological evidence suggesting that a minimum of 4–6 weeks of strength training is needed for neuromuscular adaptations. Mixture of supervised and unsupervised intervention Multimodal programs (e.g. combining exercise with education or psychological support) may enhance outcomes By improving outcomes and reducing recovery timeframes, prehabilitation stands out as a cost-effective, proactive approach to treatment.  James Chandler Workers Compensation Specialist ‑ Team Leader South (AEP, ESSAM) Exercise Rehabilitation Services – WA

How to Fit Exercise into Your Lifestyle

September 1, 2025
As Exercise Physiologists, a large part of our role is to empower an injured worker to integrate exercise into their lifestyle – something that is easier said than done for everyone! A common misconception about exercise, is that, for an effective workout, it must be a gruelling 1-hour session in a gym or a 10km stomach churning run, however this is not the case! Here are some alternatives and strategies to gradually make positive changes to your life: One easy way is to add movement to tasks you already do. Walking or biking instead of driving short distances, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, holding your newborn as you perform a few quick (and safe!) squats or completing short exercises during TV commercials are simple ways to stay active without setting aside extra time. Another is to schedule ‘mini’ workouts like any other appointment. Set aside just 20 to 30 minutes a few times a week—whether in the morning, during lunch, or in the evening. Utilising exercise equipment that we give you during our initial assessment and picking a handful of exercises that you may particularly enjoy, is a great shorter alternative. Treating these moments as important and ‘you’ time can help build a consistent habit. Exercising with others can make it more fun. Invite a friend for a walk, join a fitness class, or play a sport with family. When you combine social time with physical activity, it feels less like a task and more like enjoyment. The same goes for a sport or hobby that you may like, whether it’s swimming, yoga, hiking or dancing! Experimenting with the introduction of one of these strategies can be an easier first step to making a positive lifestyle change. With a little planning and creativity, exercise can become a natural part of your lifestyle, helping you stay healthy and energized without adding stress to your day. Alexander Gerry Workers Compensation Specialist (AEP, ESSAM) Exercise Rehabilitation Services – WA

The Beauty of a program: Couch to 5k

June 19, 2025
If you have doom scrolled through Instagram/Facebook or YouTube recently you may have been bombarded with advertisements for a slew of different exercise programs. These all usually have something to do with what you value and target you with a preamble on how to get it, how did I shrink my waist size, how do I build muscle or how I rehabbed my knee pain. As an exercise physiologist it's my job to write these programs! Now although I don’t always enjoy interruptions to my news feed of cat videos and rugby highlights, I do actually think a lot of these programmes have merit! I love anything with a bit of structure that can help you progress yourself towards what you care about so today I wanted to write about one of my favourite programs of all time and that is the “Couch to 5km Running Programme” Why Running? I love running as an exercise choice, it gets you outdoors, it has increasing social connections via run clubs/park runs and is completely free! However, it’s hard to jump in to, I see a lot of people getting tripped up by some of the barriers that come with it. A lot of the people I see starting running don’t know about the many choices that come with exercise and in the exercise physiology business we call this the FITT principle! - Frequency – How often are you doing your running? - Intensity – How fast or slow are you running? - Time – How long should I run for? - Type – Why run over biking or rowing? A dedicated programme takes care of these for you, and I think the Couch to 5k programme does a fantastic job of introducing you to all these different ideas. Language! The first thing I love about the “Couch to 5k” is its language. The use of simple and direct language leaves a bit of room for interpretation. You can see clear above on your first Tuesday run you will run for 1 minute and walk for 1 minute. In this small interval that speed is utterly and entirely up to you. Go as slow as you like or as fast as you like however I want you to run for the entire minute! Keeping things simple is so important and this guidance is exactly where I would want you to start off as a beginner runner, have some fun and run! Progression! From week to week the running times can be seen to get bigger and bigger! Slowly but surely these intervals only increase by 1 or 2 minutes at a time. Between each session you will be able to notice small increases, but your fitness catches up with that! The whole point of a programme is that it starts small and works up, no single day itself should feel like an insurmountable workout but by the end you’re able to run a whole 5k! Rest! This program builds in rest days and rest periods so well. Each day is spaced out giving some time for you two recovers but not so much so you can get some fitness in! Within the workouts as well these intervals leave you working for the right amount of time each workout. Goals Too often when working out our goals are too big and lofty. Being able to make big changes start with small actions and goals. You can’t change yourself image in one day so I like the time frame of 6 weeks (in some programmes 6-12 weeks) because by the end we have a set definable goal of what we want to achieve, and we can really feel thar progression of fitness! Mathew Walker Exercise Physiologist Exercise Rehabilitation Services ‑ WA
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