Training for climbing during pregnancy
This article aims to educate and to direct you to further resources so that you feel informed and empowered when making decisions about training for climbing during pregnancy.
Written by Jemma Powell - Lattice Training Coach
Climbing training During Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a time of excitement, change, and sometimes anxiety, as your body adapts in incredible ways to facilitate the growth of your baby. For many, staying active is a priority, but it can also bring concerns about safety and you may experience some uncertainty in adjusting to your changing body.
Remember, it's always essential to consult your doctor before starting any new physical activity or making significant adjustments to the activities that you already do during pregnancy.
Benefits of Exercising During Pregnancy:
- Several benefits of exercise during pregnancy have been reported across various activities in multiple studies including:
- Regular pilates: Improved labour outcomes e.g. reduced risk of Caesarean Section, shorter labour times and reduced need for an epidural [1]. Suitable online pregnancy pilates and yoga sessions can be found here
- Moderate-vigorous intensity CrossFit/weightlifting: fewer reproductive complications. [2]
- Combined cardio and strength training (up to 80% intensity, if completed with good form and control): reduced risk of gestational diabetes [3]
- Regular moderate to vigorous intensity exercise (a 5 - 7/10 effort level): positive influence on the baby’s growth and development [4]
- Improved mental wellbeing, reduced anxiety and improved quality of life during pregnancy [5]
- Completing a physical activity programme prior to fertility treatment (IVF/ICSI) has been associated with increased levels of clinical pregnancy and live births. [6]
As you can see, the benefits of exercising during pregnancy are extensive, but for many people, there are still barriers. Often this may include the fear that their exercise choices could result in miscarriage.
Myth Busting – Miscarriage
Unfortunately, miscarriage is common - 1 in 8 women in the UK will experience a miscarriage. [7] Despite how common miscarriage is, talking openly about it can feel like a taboo subject. However, it’s essential for parents to feel safe to talk about miscarriage. This is often a helpful part of understanding the risks and processing the loss when a pregnancy ends in miscarriage.
Tommy’s is a fantastic charity that both offers guidance as well as actively researching an extensive list of topics in this area.
In fact, in a study of 92,671 pregnant women, miscarriage was no more likely for exercisers than for sedentary women. This has been supported by further studies in which no studies reported a miscarriage due to exercise. [8, 9]
Whilst the evidence suggests that exercise can be beneficial during pregnancy - it is extremely important that exercise is adapted to meet the experience of the individual and several important factors MUST be taken into account.
Considerations for exercise during pregnancy
Blunt trauma to the abdomen must be avoided as this poses a significant risk: It's essential to mitigate against uncontrolled falls and sudden ground falls. Therefore, you might want to consider hanging up your skis and mountain biking helmet for a while. However, heading to the climbing gym or out for a hike can be a great alternative - as long as you do everything you can to mitigate against uncontrolled falls and sudden ground falls.
Top tips for climbing during pregnancy: bouldering
All efforts MUST be made to mitigate against uncontrolled falls and sudden ground falls, as blunt trauma to the abdomen poses a significant risk to the baby.
If bouldering:
- It's important to choose climbs that you feel comfortable with and down-climb where possible. This may mean that you need to reduce the difficulty of the climbs that you choose.
- Ensure you are bouldering in areas of the wall/crag that are safe - where there is appropriate matting and where there is not a risk of other boulderers falling onto you or you onto them
- Remember that indoor holds can spin and outdoor holds can break which could lead to an unexpected, uncontrolled fall. Try to assess these risks before weighting holds if possible
Top tips for climbing during pregnancy: route climbing
If route climbing:
- Consider using a full-body harness. The shoulder straps and higher attachment point add increased comfort, security and reduce the chance of the climber inverting in a fall.
- Try using an assisted braking device such as the Edelrid Ohm when belaying to reduce the forces on your body from a partner fall. These may also benefit your belayer as your weight increases.
- Consider your experience and comfort levels as well as your belayer's ability when deciding whether to top rope or lead climb.
Climbing While Pregnant: Expert Q&A with Joy Black and Lattice Training
Exercise at a suitable level:
Your exercise level during/after pregnancy should be informed by your exercise history before pregnancy. Monitoring your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is a simple and effective way to gauge the intensity of your activity. RPE is a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being complete rest and 10 being maximal effort.
If you’re newer to exercise, a good starting point is to exercise at a 5/10 effort level and to take 10 minutes of rest after each 10-minute block of exercise. Your cardiovascular fitness can actually improve during pregnancy. After 4 weeks of exercising at this intensity, you can gradually increase the challenge level to a 7/10 effort level and increase the duration of bouts of exercise to 30-45 minutes.
If you are already a regular exerciser, you could start at a higher level of RPE (6-8). The general guidance is to aim for 150 minutes of exercise a week, but any exercise completed is going to be of benefit. Consistency trumps perfection! Find more info on RPE here.
Regulate your temperature and stay hydrated:
When exercise is completed more than 45 minutes and at a higher intensity, this can cause an increase in core body temperature, especially in hot conditions. Having persistent increased core body temperature can lead to increased fetal risk. [8] The best ways to prevent this from happening are by taking regular rest breaks, being mindful of your exercise intensity and by making sure that you stay hydrated.
Effects of Altitude:
Although research is currently limited, it's generally suggested that exercising at altitude is safe during pregnancy, although extra caution should be taken if the exercise intensity is high and the altitude is high. [10] Speak to your doctor if you plan to take any trips to high altitudes.
READ MORE: Mountaineering Safety Resources from BMC and UIAA
Increased Relaxin:
Relaxin is a hormone that helps the pelvis to widen and facilitate the delivery of your baby. Release of the hormone Relaxin peaks from around week 20 of pregnancy and levels can remain high if/whilst your baby is solely breastfeeding.
Because Relaxin can loosen the ligaments and muscles, this can mean that joints become less stable. Caution should be taken with certain exercises that load or stress the joints, especially if the movement is plyometric, dynamic or requires rapid change in direction movements.
Women who are already hypermobile may feel that their symptoms are exacerbated. For more guidance, it’s worth talking to your doctor or consulting with a personal trainer.
Top Tips for walking during pregnancy:
- Consider your route choice, paying particular attention to the location of toilet facilities, distance, possible exit points and access in case of an emergency.
- Consider using walking poles to redistribute weight and reduce the risk of a fall
- Wear appropriate footwear with adequate ankle support to support those less stable joints
- Adjust your backpack to redistribute weight in a more comfortable way as your body changes
What to Expect During the Three Trimesters
Regardless of your exercise experience before pregnancy, not all women will feel well enough to exercise during pregnancy and symptoms can vary greatly within the three different phases of pregnancy. Although you may feel unmotivated to exercise during the first months of pregnancy, stay positive because these symptoms often ease during the later phases.
Trimester 1
Common symptoms: fatigue, nausea, breathlessness and dizziness when standing. Due to the significant physiological changes that can occur from day one.
Try to develop a positive relationship with nutrition and your changing body. One study suggests that both consuming a Mediterranean diet and completing regular meditations with a focus on stress-relief were beneficial for the development of the baby’s brain. [11]
Learn how to master the basics of breathing, so that you can manage pressure in the abdomen well.
Maintain strength, but make sure that you are exercising with control and good form. Working with a personal trainer is advised, especially if you plan to introduce a new exercise.
- Be prepared to adapt your expectations. This is NOT a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength!
- Reduce the volume/intensity of training (shorter duration, fewer sets), take frequent rests and have fewer sessions in a week.
Trimester 2
Common symptoms: increased energy, and reduced nausea/fatigue. Increased levels of the hormone Relaxin, which can result in joint laxity. Growing belly and changing body shape.
Maintain breathing so that you can manage pressure well without straining or bearing down.
As your body changes, your muscles will change and it may become harder to maintain good form when exercising. Working with a personal trainer will help you to continue adapting exercise appropriately.
Adapt exercises. For example exercising on your front may become uncomfortable for your breasts and growing belly.
Seek guidance from your from your doctor or personal trainer regarding supine exercises (exercises on your back).
Consistently elevated blood pressure can be a sign of pre-eclampsia, which can result in early labour. Continue to attend regular appointments with your midwife so that this can be monitored.
Trimester 3
Common symptoms: loss of rib mobility, impaired breathing, postural adaptations, weight gain and widening of the pelvis, which can result in pelvic girdle pain and lower back pain.
Continue to work on breathing so that you can manage pressure well and avoid straining/bearing down. Poorly managed pressure can result in pelvic floor dysfunction (pelvic floor discomfort, bladder dysfunction/leaking, prolapse, hernias, etc.).
Constipation is a common risk factor for prolapse during pregnancy, so do not strain to poop! Elevating your feet on a stool can really help.
Continue to adapt exercises (consider completing exercises seated or transitioning from using weights to using a TheraBand).
Continue to check in with your expectations and moderate exercise volume.
Avoid overheating by staying hydrated and taking regular rests during exercise. A significant increase in core body temperature during pregnancy can result in complications but this can be easily prevented
Continue to monitor blood pressure
It’s important to note that all women and all pregnancies are different, so the information provided here is designed to inform and educate rather than provide specific guidance for any individual. If you’re motivated to continue exercising during pregnancy – excellent; however getting clearance to exercise from your midwife or doctor is advised, as there may be complications to the pregnancy that make exercising unsafe.
Similarly, if you’re interested in taking up a new form of exercise then it’s recommended that you seek advice from a personal trainer. They can provide additional support in terms of exercise choice, exercise volume and pregnancy-specific adaptations all of which can vary greatly during the three different stages of pregnancy.
Working in the Adventure Sector during pregnancy
Mountain Training have put together a fantastic resource for those working in the adventure sector during pregnancy.
[1]. Baradwan et al, 2024. The Effect of Pilates Exercise During Pregnancy on Delivery Outcomes: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
[2[. Prevett et al, 2023. Impacts of Heavy Resistance Training on Pregnancy and Postpartum Health Outcomes.
[3]. Sanabria-Matrínez & García Hermoso, 2015. Effectiveness of Physical Activity Intervention of Preventing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Excessive Maternal Weight Gain: a Meta-Analysis.
[4]. Clapp, 2006. Influence of Endurance Exercise and Diet on Human Placental Development and Fetal Growth.
[5]. Chenxi et al, 2022). Physical Activity Before and During Pregnancy and Maternal Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies
[6]. Rao et al, 2018. Maternal Physical Activity Before IVF/ICSI Cycles Improves Clinical Pregnancy Rate and Live Birth Rate: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
[7]. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/miscarriage
[8]. Newton & May, 2017. Adaptation of Maternal-Fetal Physiology to Exercise in Pregnancy: The Basis of Guidelines for Physical Activity in Pregnancy.
[9]. Pauldsen et al, 2023. The Effects of Exercise During Pregnancy on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Preeclampsia, and Spontaneous Abortion amongst Healthy Women - a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
[10]. Bø et al, 2016. Exercise and Pregnancy in Recreational and Elite Athletes: 2016 Evidence Summary from the IOC Expert Group Meeting.
[11]. Nakiki et al, 2023. Effect of Mediterranean Diet or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction During Pregnancy on Placental Volume and Perfusion: A Subanalysis of the IMPACT BCN Randomized Clinical Trial.
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