Pregnant Outdoor

Pregnant Outdoor

Recommendations about exercise and pregnancy today are different than they were even a decade ago. Here's how to prioritize outdoor time during the prenatal period, according to the latest research.
Jenni Gritters is a nomadic freelance journalist. You can find her bylines in the New York Times, the Guardian, Wirecutter, Outside magazine, 538, mindbodygreen and more. When Jenni isn’t working with words, she’s likely hiking, camping and snowshoeing with her husband, son and puppy. She’s been an REI member since 2017.

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Editor’s note: Pregnancy experience varies from woman to woman; as a result, this story is not meant as medical or safety advice. Please consult your physician to talk about what is right for you.
I had just returned from a trail run with my husband and I was feeling funny. It was mid-May and I was excited for the months of good weather ahead. But I was also exhausted—so much so that I decided to take a rare midafternoon nap. Puzzled, I finally took a pregnancy test. It was positive.
After learning I’d be having a baby boy in January 2020, I happily made plans for an active pregnancy. I would continue running, I figured, at least until the middle of my pregnancy. I had friends who’d done it! And I’d keep hiking, too. For my 29th year, I’d planned to tackle 29 peaks and challenging hikes. That should still be possible, I thought. After all, hiking involved mostly walking. I wanted to make my way through the next nine months focused on feeling physically strong.
Then the nausea hit. From week six onward, I threw up multiple times per day. I’d never felt so exhausted, and I often slept 14 hours at night. A 7-mile hike with 1,000 feet of elevation gain during month four of my pregnancy put me on the couch for two days. As the months went by, even hiking on easy trails made my body shake with exhaustion.two se
Running, too, became a challenge. I jogged often at first, even clocking a respectable time in a local 5-mile race, but it wasn’t comfortable. I felt like I was sucking air from the moment I stepped out the door. The fetus bounced against my bladder and my joints felt bizarre, like they were coming apart. Eventually, after a few months, I abandoned that pastime, too.
I was able to maintain some activity like yoga, despite the nausea, exhaustion and joint pain. Still, I struggled mentally with losing the hardcore outdoor routine, which felt like a part of my identity. My physical therapist reminded me, month after month, that my body was doing something much harder than usual. I needed to cut it some slack. But the immediate shift away from my norm felt like the end of something I had once loved.
As I started to research the topic of the outdoors and pregnancy, I discovered a few things: First, I wasn’t alone. Maintaining a high-intensity workout routine while pregnant isn’t possible for many women, despite our expectations. Second, many women experience anxiety when they can’t do their usual activities, especially athletes. And third, it’s still a good idea to try to get outdoors, even if the activity doesn’t look quite like it used to.
Recommendations about exercising during pregnancy have shifted dramatically in the past 10 years. After it had been recommending for years that pregnant women engage in limited exercise, in 2015, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a groundbreaking report revealing the benefits of exercise during pregnancy. Study author Dr. Raul Artal wrote : “Pregnancy should not be looked at as a state of confinement. In fact, it is an ideal time for lifestyle modification. That is because more than any other time in her life, a pregnant woman has the most available access to medical care and supervision.”
This year, ACOG took things a step further when it released a new set of recommendations suggesting that women can even begin an exercise routine while pregnant. “Physical activity does not increase your risk of miscarriage, low birth weight, or early delivery,” the report said, noting that every woman should discuss exercise with her care provider prior to getting started. Some conditions, such as heart and lung disease, placenta previa, being pregnant with multiples, anemia and preeclampsia might make exercise more dangerous. Your health care provider should be able to help you make decisions about what’s best for you and your baby.
Experts are coming around to the idea that exercise can be helpful for pregnant women, especially when it comes to combating uncomfortable or risky pregnancy symptoms like back pain , constipation , gestational diabetes , excessive or limited weight gain and more.
“If you think about blood flow and oxygenation in general, more exercise helps you get more blood flow to the baby,” Heather Ranney, a certified nurse midwife at the University of Washington, says. “Exercising is not drawing support away from the baby. Actually, a strong and healthy body has more endurance and is better prepared for pregnancy.”
A 2019 report from the British Journal of Sports Medicine even noted that “prenatal physical activity should be considered a front-line therapy for reducing the risk of pregnancy complications and enhancing maternal physical and mental health.”
According to ACOG, pregnant women should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week. That means you’re moving the large muscles of your body just enough to get your heart rate up. Women who exercised before pregnancy are generally encouraged to continue their routines if they feel good; women who didn’t exercise before pregnancy should start slow.
“In general, most of the time, we say that what you have done prior to pregnancy, you can do during pregnancy,” Ranney says. “But you do need to increase water … You also have to be really aware of snacks, especially eating protein-based snacks, because your blood sugar is more sensitive and you’ll get dips where you haven’t before.”
As for more intense exercise like high-altitude hiking or competitive running, the research remains inconclusive. A few studies have shown that traveling to high elevations and staying active in outdoor sports won’t necessarily put women at greater risk, however, the findings acknowledge that further research is necessary. Ranney says it really depends on the individual person and what her body can tolerate.
Some activities are truly off limits for most pregnant women—especially those that could cause impact trauma. According to ACOG, that list includes:
Have an initial conversation with your doctor about what’s right for you, and then check in with your body week to week, Ranney says. “There are women who do Crossfit and hot yoga, and I think it works for them and their bodies adjust,” she adds, “but it may also be that when you get to 20 weeks, you don’t feel quite as proficient and you decide to shift to another activity.”
Hike It Baby founder Shanti Hodges remembers feeling completely uncomfortable while trying to casually ride a bike around town while she was pregnant. “I remember saying to my husband: Something is wrong down there!” she says. “That’s the thing: Just because your best friend can run a 50K while pregnant, doesn’t mean you can. Your body will react how it reacts. You can be incredibly fit, but your body might not like certain activities.”
When you need modifications, Ranney suggests looking for an activity that you can do proficiently but with less impact. For outdoor enthusiast and small-business owner Cassie Abel , that meant walking her dog instead of running or mountain biking. For me, it meant turning to activities like yoga and swimming, where I still felt strong.
Ranney suggests cyclists consider riding the stationary bike. Yogis need to avoid upside-down postures and should stay away from deep twists after 20 weeks.
Then there’s hiking, which Ranney says is a solid way to stay moving during pregnancy. Though you might not be able to do trails of the same difficulty level or altitude increases as you used to, there are still many benefits to tackling shorter hikes or walking in a nearby park.
“We know that being outside is very settling for us,” Ranney says. “It’s healing, it’s distracting and it smells good. For pregnant women, being outdoors is phenomenal.”
To keep hiking comfortable, Ranney recommends using trekking poles (as your balance can shift drastically during the second and third trimesters) and a waist belt, which supports and holds up your belly.
The most important—and sometimes the hardest—advice I received about staying active during pregnancy was about adjusting my expectations. “You have to understand that things are changing,” Swedish Medical Center perinatal psychiatrist Catherine Davies told me. She counsels her patients to approach their new, modified routines with a curious mindset. “Say: I’ll see how this goes and look for support as things develop. [Pregnancy] is a profound experience and I think we forget that.”
Hodges has a version of the same: “I encourage women to not be hard on themselves,” she says. “The thing you used to be able to do might not be easy anymore, but you’ll get back to it. The way pregnancy progresses, your body can be unpredictable. There’s no training yourself out of it.”
Give yourself grace when you can’t do what you’re used to doing, and be patient. Once your baby is born, you’ll benefit from that mindset as it can take a while to get back to the routine you once had—and that’s OK.
As for me, I’ll be practicing prenatal yoga, taking long walks, swimming and sleeping as much as possible. All the while, I’ll remind myself that this, too, shall pass, and soon I’ll be back outdoors—with my son. That adventure is more exciting than anything else I can imagine.
I love this!!! As someone who did CrossFit with modifications, hiked in Grand Teton, went camping, and more, I found that I needed to modify as I progressed in my pregnancy. I also found that so many people would give “advice” or judge me for those choices, but I knew that I was putting myself and my baby first and that my activity was good for both of us. While I’m not saying the two are related, while I had contractions for about 2 days before active labor, I only had to push for 5 contractions before my beautiful daughter arrived at 6lbs, 5 oz, at 40 weeks and 1 day and I was mentally and physically prepared because I kept moving!
Thrilled to have more pieces about safe activity during pregnancy! It’s difficult to convince my patients about the safety and benefits of exercise during pregnancy, especially as many of my ladies are high risk obstetric patients. There are additional ways for other doctors, midwives, mid level providers, or nutritionists to get the awareness out there- speak to your local authors, go on a podcast, write a blog. Until we start specifically unraveling ideas about what is and isn’t safe or expected in pregnancy, we won’t make progress in helping people be as healthy as they can be during this stage of life.
I wish I had taken more pictures when I was pregnant. I did not feel attractive at the time, but now I wish I had more pictures. Take pictures this month. It was hard scaling back activities, but you’re right about sharing with the baby. Just don’t push that to hard at first. Let yourself enjoy. I like to run but was told not to while pregnant (my youngest are 11). I used to have dreams during the pregnancy that I was running; then I would wake up and remember and it was hard. But the babies bring joy ( and hard work and exhaustion); I felt so happy and strong loading them in the baby jogger for a run or the backpack for a hike. I hope you are considering nursing the baby; mine were all so robust and happy that first year. And I still enjoy sharing runs and hikes with them as they grow!
Love you REI but yikes on this article. Giving pregnant woman the ok to start a workout routine via an REI blog post? Telling them they should be drinking at least a gallon of water a day (which is not the recommendation)? Suggesting gestational diabetes can be avoided by exercising? Yikes yikes yikes.
Thanks for your comment! The information in the article comes from both health care providers and researchers at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. That said, every woman should check with her health care provider before beginning a workout routine while pregnant. Pregnancy should never be treated with a one-size-fits-all approach.
Jess Bernhard
News & Features Editor
I ran a mile yesterday and ended it in tears wondering how I’d gotten so far from my expectation of what pregnancy would look like (based on how it looked for other athletic women and what I was capable of pre-pregnancy). After reading this piece, I feel so validated that I am not alone in this new territory as an athlete, inspired to be a bit kinder to my changing body, and curious to get back in the pool for some lap swimming. Can’t thank you enough for this article
Thank you for this! It was so hard to give up my favorite workout, PureBarre, while pregnant due to nausea, then pelvic pain towards the end. So many women I know did PureBarre their entire pregnancy and I felt like such a lazy failure. Pregnancy is so different for each woman.
Loved this article! I was also highly active pre-pregnancy & now I just go for walks which hasn’t been easy but I know it’s temporary.The reality is very different than what I had expected & it took some adjusting….this article definitely validates my experience! Thank you!
On a separate note, has anyone had any luck finding maternity hiking pants? Unfortunately I didn’t see any at REI.
Senita has maternity active pants and so does Old Navy online.
Pregnant women should drink a gallon a day??? Please provide your sources! The general rule is 8-10 8oz glasses, which is a little over 1/2 gallon.
In fact, 3 liters is the advised maximum fluid intake for pregnant women, as drinking too much water can lead to over-hydration and electrolyte imbalance, which is dangerous in pregnancy.
Please check your sources and don’t provide incorrect, dangerous information to pregnant women!
The source below is linked by CDC as the most up to date guideline for water intake:
http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Nutrition/DRI-Tables/9_Electrolytes_Water%20Summary.pdf
Thank you for the note! You’re correct that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that women consume 8–10 eight-ounce glasses of water per day while pregnant. Heather Ranney’s recommendation was for women who are exercising and sweating then they do so. Women in this situation may need to increase their fluid intake to replace essential electrolytes. That said, every woman should check with her doctor to learn what level of fluid intake is right for her when pregnant. Given the confusion, we’ve removed the recommendation so as not to mislead women! I hope this is helpful.
Jess Bernhard
News & Features Editor
Honestly one of my biggest challenges to staying active while pregnant has been finding comfortable clothing. I wish there were more options for outdoor/swimming/hiking wear for pregnancy than just yoga wear! When I finally found a maternity tank swimsuit that seemed like it would last more than a few weeks it was a game-changer.
This is exactly what I am going through now. I do a mix of trail running, Crossfit, and Pilates. I am 27 weeks pregnant with my second, and it is crazy how different each pregnancy is (May be harder because I am chasing a toddler around). Some days I feel like a super star, and others days I am a whale trying to run on land. I’m feeling more whale like as my pregnancy progresses, but I am grateful to get any kind of workout. Well done article!!!
My first pregnancy I was able to run throughout the entire time (although much slower and less miles). I’m currently 37 weeks pregnant with my 2nd, and I had to stop running at 26 weeka due to low blood pressure and major back pain and fatigue/dizziness. I’m just doing modified workout videos as much as my body can handle and that is ok! I totally felt guilty for stopping running, but I had to give myself slack and understand thay every pregnancy is different. Thank you for this article because it is absolutely true! Listen to your body, be patient with yourself, and be as active (and restful) as you can, and you will bounce back after baby over time!

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