What type of exercise should I do when trying to get pregnant?

It’s a good question and one that is surrounded by a lot of misguided information.

When trying to get pregnant or maintain a healthy pregnancy, it’s important to engage in low-intensity activities or exercise. We recommend

• Walking: Walking has continuously been shown to be the best exercise as it increases blood flow throughout your body, stimulates growth hormones, increases feel-good hormones like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, and promotes neuronal growth (your brain controls your hormones so having a healthy brain means a healthy endocrine system and a healthy reproductive system) while avoiding any acute microtraumas associated with more intense exercises.
• Yoga: Yoga has been shown to increase blood flow throughout your body and particularly to reproductive organs when practicing specific “fertility” poses, as well as foster a calm and peaceful state of mind.
• Other low impact exercises like swimming and tai chi.

What types of exercise should I avoid when trying to get pregnant?

While trying to get pregnant, it is important to avoid all high intensity and high impact exercise including but not limited to sprinting, jumping, cross-fit, heavy lifting, and any contact sport including basketball, soccer, and volleyball.

Why should you avoid high-intensity exercise when trying to get pregnant?

While it’s important to stay active, it’s also important to remember that our biology was formed over millions of years when predators and famine were common.  High-intensity exercise signals to our body that our environment is unsafe and that we are under immense physical stress and threat of harm.  In other words, high-intensity exercise is telling your body that now is not a safe time to bring a child into the world.