Pregnancy shouldn’t stop you from maintaining your fitness, but can you play sports?
As an athlete, it is super important to maintain your fitness through exercise. It is also really important to participate in your favorite sports, for a myriad of reasons from keeping healthy hobbies, to maintaining interpersonal relationships with your team.
As anyone who has had one or more kids can tell you though, pregnancy has a way of disrupting your life. Especially for athletes, pregnancy can be a tough time because it feels like you just can’t do all of the things you used to, especially if you play a hard contact sport. That being said, the life growing inside you will most likely become more important to you than hitting the field with a lacrosse stick, so the question becomes, is it possible to have the best of both worlds? Can you play sports while pregnant?
The answer is a resounding ‘most likely’. When it comes to exercise, it is not only healthy for you to work out during pregnancy, but it is recommended as well. Exercising while pregnant can help decrease overall weight gains, improve your self-esteem, decrease the risk of lower back pain and gestational diabetes, and possibly even reduce the amount of time you spend in labor. Some sports work really well for this, like jogging, swimming, and yoga. In general, you want to avoid any sports where you are likely to collide with someone else, or fall. Water skiing, horseback riding, volleyball, baseball, football, rollerblading, rock climbing, and hockey are some examples of sports you should stay away from.
READ MORE: How to Exercise Safely During Pregnancy
Obviously, you should check with your doctor before attempting any of these, because they will know what is appropriate for each trimester of pregnancy.
I will say this however; I know firsthand how tough pregnancy can be, and how strongly you may be tempted to just let your body go and stay indoors for nine months. Exercising and staying active is super-important for not only your physical well-being during pregnancy, but your mental health, as well.
Even if you just make the commitment to take a long walk in the evenings, getting out and getting active will only benefit you and your new baby in the long run.