General Cycling Discussion - I'm Pregnant

Hello everyone I just wanted to know if it was still alright to ride and how much. I was riding 15 miles every day and 40 miles on Tuesdays and Saturdays. And on Mondays and wednesdays I would ride an extra 10 miles with the bike club. So that comes out to 275 miles a week.

Sounds like a good question for your doctor.

But take this with a grain of salt, since I am not a medical professional, and have never been pregnant since I am a man... I can only say that early in the pregnancy shouldn't be a problem.

Perfect question to ask a doctor.

Exercise and pregnancy seems to be a very individual sort of issue.

In facts, just general well being and pregnancy seems to be a very individual sort of thing.

I have heard tell of women who were physically prostrated by pregnancy and always felt terrible. My mother tells me that she felt great whilst pregnant and had all sorts of energy. My mother did not, from all accounts, curtail her activities one little bit during pregnancy and she never had any adverse effects that I have heard of. Of course, that is anecdotal and needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I knew a lady who was a competitive triathelete and when she was pregant, she exercised. She just kept her heart rate down in the aerobic zones. We have a lady in the spin class I go to who is a bit along. She is back in spin because she wants to keep from gaining more weight. She also claims to be keeping the intensity moderate.

The thing about all this is that medicine is still not well understood. I recall reading an account that the recommended weight gain during pregnancy tended to go up and down over the years. The physicians can never seem to settle on a number.

Also another confounding variable is that many physicians know very little about sports medicine and see very few fit people. So it would be a good thing to go to a physician who has handled some pregenant atheletic people but that may be a little hard.

Good fortune to you and I hope things turn out well.

Congradulations !!
:)

^^^ spelled congratulations :)

ANyway, everythign I have ever read says it is ok... but check with a real doctor. Im just an internet doctor, schooled by WebMD.

Congratulations!

Check with your doctor, by all means. From what I understand, the biggest problem will be heat stress, so have a care there, particularly in the third trimester. Core body temperature is often higher than your head temperature.

AS said before check with your doctor. He is the expert in a couple of ways. He knows the medicine and he knows the details of your condition.

BUT Make sure he also knows the details of your cycling. He needs to know just how much you have been cycling. Otherwise he could error in either direction. E.g. if you just asked if a 15 mile ride was OK and did not let him know what you had been doing he could well say no, as 15 for someone who had not been cycling might be a bad idea.

General rule is to just be careful and cut down SOME as things progress. For cycling I would say also be almost prigish about hydration and food intake. Avoid hills that you hate.

You may want to adjust the bars to give a more upright riding position, and fit shorter cranks to reduced the interference between the top of your thighs and the underside of your belly. If you want to keep up the amount of exercise you do, try swimming.

I didn't do it!:D

There's nothing inherently bad about cycling while pregnant, as long as you're not having any complications. One woman in our club not only rode until she was within a week of delivering, she took her turn pulling the 20+ mph group on our weekly 30 mile rides. It would probably be good to avoid close pacelines (or other risky situations,) and allow for lots of bladder stops on longer rides.

Step it up! Remember you are cycling for two now!

Hello everyone I just wanted to know if it was still alright to ride and how much. I was riding 15 miles every day and 40 miles on Tuesdays and Saturdays. And on Mondays and wednesdays I would ride an extra 10 miles with the bike club. So that comes out to 275 miles a week.


Congratulations on the good news.

Is this your first pregnancy? How old are you?

In most cases it is very important to keep active when pregnant, it is also very important to have prenatal care as long as you are pregnant. In most cases if you are not a high-risk pregnancy you should continue as you usual, as long as you are comfortable. As well cycling is good because it does not put stress on your joints as higher impact exercises do, since your bones and joints will become softer during pregnancy this can be an issue. As well this promotes venous return from the legs that will help to avoid varicosities in your legs. As you uterus expands you may find it getting in the way, as well there may be balance issues that you have to watch for because of your altered centre of gravity. Many women also seem to become more self centred when they are pregnant because they are very concisus of the foetus growing inside of them and the need to safe guard themselves, which in turn safeguards their baby. As your uterus rises your lung capacity changes because of the uterus pushing up on it. This means that you will have a greater lung volume but chest expansion and contraction are not as effective so you may become short of breath easier. As well your blood volume will drastically increase which puts a further strain on your heart, which if you are healthy you will be able to adjust too.

If you are healthy and are not trying to push yourself too hard you should be safe, but remember when you are gasping for air because you pushed yourself too hard, so is the foetus, so if you decide to continue exercising do not go to complete exhaustion. As well if you ever become light-headed it is time to stop what you are doing and if possible lie on your left side, and not on your back

Of course after an assessments by your doctor he will be able to tell you if you can keep your same activity level safely and not be a risk to you or the foetus.

Hello everyone I just wanted to know if it was still alright to ride and how much. I was riding 15 miles every day and 40 miles on Tuesdays and Saturdays. And on Mondays and wednesdays I would ride an extra 10 miles with the bike club. So that comes out to 275 miles a week.I calculated 175 miles/week. Is my math incorrect or did you miscalculate?

I would PM stacey for access to the woman's forum. In most sections of BF you are mostly going to recieve advice from us men. :)

Why are you asking people who aren't doctors?

I'm Pregnant
I understand modern medicine has discovered what causes that.;)

Congratulations.:)

As to how long you can ride while pregnant, I would say as long as you are comfortable doing the activity, go for it. However, I'm not a Doc, just a stranger on the 'net.

See your Doc and stay up on the pre-natal care.:)

Be sure and stay hydrated for 2.

Congratulations.

Riding a bike while being pregnant depends on a lot of things. Generally speaking, if the pregnancy has been a low-risk one so far, then cycling is probably pretty safe insofar as how it would affect the fetus. Presence of high blood pressure, signs or symptoms of pre-eclampsia, or any vaginal bleeding would obviously be warning signs that would preclude cycling.

Riding while pregnant should also not be a 'hard-core' experience, especially if you're riding well into your third trimester. While it IS recommended that pregnant women get plenty of exercize at this point, it's not necessarily a good thing to really tax the system with extremely prolonged and hard riding.

Nutritition is also an important aspect of exercise while pregnant, that's obvious. Having said that, it's critically important that a balanced intake of carbs, proteins, and fresh veggies and fruit be devoured every day. Most pediatricians recommend the use of a daily multivitamin that's specifically formulated for pregnancy. Take it.