High-Intensity Interval Training Considered Safe for Pregnant Women

Engaging in physical activity and exercise during pregnancy is linked to a notable 40 percent decrease in the likelihood of experiencing significant pregnancy complications like gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and gestational hypertension (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Maternal and Fetal Cardiovascular Responses to Acute High-Intensity Interval and Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training Exercise During Pregnancy

Go to source). Importantly, these practices do not negatively affect the well-being of the baby, says researcher. The study, led by Jenna Wowdzia, a master’s student at the Program for Pregnancy and Postpartum Health, compared maternal and fetal cardiovascular responses to high intensity interval training as well as moderate-intensity continuous training.

“What was novel about this study is that we were looking at how the baby responded to high intensity exercise,” says senior-author Margie Davenport, a pregnancy researcher in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation. “We looked at responses in terms of the fetus’s heart rate and also the blood flow that was going to the fetus, so we can see if they were getting enough blood flow, oxygen and nutrients.”

High-Intensity Interval Training: A Prevailing Fitness Trend with Pregnancy Considerations

High-intensity interval training is a top fitness trend, Davenport notes, with a growing number of people interested in continuing this type of training during pregnancy. For the study, high-intensity exercise was done through 10 one-minute bouts of interval workouts above 90 percent of maximum effort with one minute of active recovery. Moderate-intensity exercise was measured with a 30-minute workout.

Davenport previously led the development of the 2019 Canadian Guideline for Physical Activity During Pregnancy for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada and Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. To develop the guideline, Davenport surveyed all available literature to look at whether exercise during pregnancy is safe and beneficial for both mother and baby.

“This (study) certainly opens up the area in terms of future research to be able to really look at this high-intensity exercise,” she notes. “Without that research, we really can’t change or evolve guidelines. This is the first key step to be able to re-envision what those physical activity guidelines look like.”

Reference:

1. Maternal and Fetal Cardiovascular Responses to Acute High-Intensity Interval and Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training Exercise During Pregnancy - (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-023-01858-5)

Source-Eurekalert