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Health & Exercise
hilsy85
member
Heart rate during pregnancy
hilsy85
member
I've heard that you should keep your heart rate below 140 while working out during pregnancy. Is this true? How firm a rule is that? I was at the gym this weekend and ran a mile at a much slower pace than I usually do, and based on the machine heart rate monitor, my heart rate was up near 170...I feel like if I keep it to 140 I'll barely be breaking a sweat! Or are the machine heart rate monitors (the bars that you hold on to) not that accurate?
TTC #2 since July 2014
BFP 9/27/14
MMC discovered 10/27/14, D&C 11/4/14
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Heart rate during pregnancy
I just had my first Dr. visit today. My D.O. said she's glad to hear that I'm a runner, and that I should certainly be able to keep running for awhile into my pregnancy. Then she said to just check my heart rate once or twice a week and make sure I'm not going over 140. She said that probably won't happen unless I'm sprinting, and that that if it does, just slow down to an easy jog.
Hope that helps, but ask your doctor for sure. I'm guessing those machines are out of whack... you might just try calculating on your own.
That makes me laugh because my OB said the opposite....that most folks can't run for 10 seconds without their heart rate jumping over 140! Which is probably true. Most people don't run much.
But if you are already a runner and have the endurance, I'd think you would be find continuing running.
I thought my OB said to keep it below 145, if I remember correctly. I did an indoor triathlon on Sunday, took the run really easy and my heart rate was somewhere between 145-155 the entire time. But, I could still talk the entire time and felt great when I was done (rather than totally drained like I usually feel after a good, hard run).
Every OB is going to be different in the advice they give or the practice they follow, but a lot are leaning towards telling women to just go off of how they feel. If you feel like you're working hard and its exhausting then slow down, if you feel good then keep going. Just listen to your body it knows what it needs to do.
I never followed the 140bpm because I work out a lot and am a runner but when I got pregnant the first time it was like my resting heart rate just jumped 20bpm with out anything. Non-pregnant it takes a tremendous amount of work just for me to get to 140bpm, but pregnant it happend after 3 minutes on the elliptical, so I wasn't going to get sidelined by some outdated rule.
I didn't follow that with my second. I work out a lot and my HR rarely stays below 140. I tried to keep it down but often approached 170-175. If you go over, make sure you are not overheated, winded or dizzy, and watch for bleeding/leaking.
ETA: If you can swing it, you might also want to invest in a personal heart rate monitor. The machine reading can be off by a fair amount. I have a Polar that I got on Amazon for $100-ish.
Holy crap, how do you work out? That'd be nearly impossible for me to do double my resting HR is only 90bpm. Eek!
My midwife said that as long as I was able to maintain a conversation while running (or a pace at which one would be comfortable) then that's fine. From some research I've done and what others have said, the 140bpm rule is dated and most people now go with what feels comfortable and not getting winded.
I ran a half marathon this weekend and my HR was anywhere from 150-175. I felt fine afterwards and no bleeding/cramping during or after.
My OB said to keep it around 150. She said if it goes over but I can still comfortably talk and breathe, then I am fine to stay working out at that level.
Also-I would NOT trust the heart rate monitors on the machines. I have a personal heart rate monitor and have compared it to the machines and the machines are always wrong.