Pregnancy and Physical Activity – Guidelines, Contraindications and Advantages
Sophia Williams
2026-03-23
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Women in pregnancy should guarantee themselves regular movement activities. Not merely due to their positive impact on the health of mother and child – movement is also a natural and straightforward way to decrease the risk of some pregnancy-related complications. There is no doubt that physical activity is indispensable here – consistently executing workouts of suitable volume and intensity brings a range of health benefits.
Physical activity of pregnant women - current recommendations
The Polish Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians and Gynecologists, together with the Polish Association of Sports Medicine, have developed guidelines on physical activity for pregnant women. According to these guidelines, pregnant women without diagnosed complications should devote a minimum of 150 minutes per week to physical activity throughout their pregnancy. This time should be divided into at least 3 days per week. It is important that physical activity should be moderate. If a woman is unable to meet these requirements, she should take care of other forms of active leisure and avoid a sedentary lifestyle (Kwiatkowska et al. 2024). The level of physical activity before pregnancy is important. Inactive women with no experience in sports should start with a short training with low intensity, e.g. a walk of about 20 minutes. The duration and intensity of training should be gradually increased to reach the mentioned 150 minutes of physical activity per week with moderate intensity. In the case of women who were physically active before pregnancy or regularly performed high-intensity exercises, it is possible to continue this type of activity - provided that the exercises do not cause discomfort and there are no complications during pregnancy (Mottola et al. 2019).
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