What you’ll learn
Pregnancy started noticeably affecting my climbing and exercise in the 2nd trimester. As much as I researched, there’s very little information about exercise during pregnancy for women who were at a high level of fitness before their pregnancy started.
In this article, I address the research I did about exercise during pregnancy, physiological changes during pregnancy, and give a rundown of how I tailored my exercise.
Where do your organs go?
By month 4, I was doing the “old person” shoe technique: cross my ankle up on my other knee to put a shoe on, since I couldn’t scrunch down without feeling like my stomach was being pushed out my esophagus. Which got me thinking: what happens to your internal organs when you’re pregnant?
Pretty crazy, but explains many gastrointestinal issues like acid reflux, gas, constipation, and the upper chest pressure when climbing!
The 2nd Trimester: Weight Gain
The standard US recommendation for weight gain is 25-35lb, and if you’re on the smaller BMI side, they recommend you gain on the 35lb end. I’ve got 2 big disagreements with this generalized, though large, weight range:
- BMI is a terrible indicator for fit individuals. It’s calculated by: (weight in kg) / (height in m)^2. If you’re a dense person with muscle, your BMI will be greater than someone of your same height who’s skinny-not fit.
- 35lb on a 5’4″ frame is a ton! I was eating till I was full, eating if I was hungry, never lost weight, and felt balanced. I gained <25lb the entire pregnancy and it was very healthy.
So where does all that weight go? It’s not just baby and body fat! Blood volume increases by 50% starting in the 1st trimester! Boobs also increase in size almost immediately. Knowing when and where you gain weight will help explain why you feel so off-balance on the wall so early.
The 2nd Trimester: Common Symptoms
- Tiredness
- Headaches
- Difficulty eating large meals & constipation. Your stomach and intestines are being squished. I tried full bowls of fiber cereal and full heads of kale. Docusate, an OTC stool softener, worked best at the max recommended level.
- Burping, heartburn, gas. Also due to compressed organs.
- Harder to sleep. ‘Cause the belly bigger.
- Itchy belly skin. Stretch marks are genetic, but eating collagen (powdered or bone broth) will help. Creams like Palmer’s Belly Butter will alleviate the symptoms.
- Acne. Throwback to teenage years, as if you don’t feel sexy enough.
The 2nd Trimester: Climbing and Working Out
Climbing is one of the best pregnancy exercises, assuming you already climb and take reasonable precautions like transitioning to toproping when needed. It’s a bodyweight exercise, it’s low-impact, it’s social.
My husband and I did a 2 month, 7100mi road trip during my 2nd trimester. I was up and active 4-5 days a week, 5-6 hours a day. I followed 5.8-5.9 multipitch on toprope, I bouldered up to 5ft off the ground with a spotter, I lugged 25lb gear, I hiked up to 10mi days at 2300ft elevation.
I never pushed any exercise past moderate or into the anaerobic territory. I had a very healthy pregnancy and delivery.
You do you. If you feel physically and emotionally healthy, you’re making gains toward a healthy pregnancy.
On climbing safety while pregnant
- Overhanging boulders where you backslap seem safer, but are quite dangerous: falling flat on your back results in a larger sheer force through your body (can disrupt the placenta) than absorbing a fall on your feet.
- If you do boulder, ensure your partner gives an excellent butt spot cushion (see video below on how to spot a pregnant woman). I didn’t go much higher than feet at 5ft high.
- I didn’t lead climb from the start of the 2nd trimester; I lead belayed through my 3rd trimester; I pushed as hard as I could on toprope; I didn’t need a maternity harness until month 6.
It’s not “just like training weight”
You’ve got something distending your abs from the inside out, hormones are different, your lungs run out of room to expand, you’re growing a human being…so no, it’s not like climbing with a weight vest. And yes, there will be [male] climbers who make jokes about it and who will never know what it’s like to be a pregnant athlete.
If exercise feels good, you feel safe, and you’re trying hard, you’re making gains toward a healthy pregnancy.
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