Delivery mode not altered by pregnancy exercise

Regular exercise during pregnancy offers overall health benefits, Dr. Ruben Barakat, at Universidad Politecnica de Madrid in Spain, and colleagues note in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. However, few investigations have focused on the effects of resistance-type exercise during pregnancy and whether this alters actual childbirth.

Therefore, they compared delivery outcomes after supervised toning and resistance exercises for shoulders, arms, pelvis, and legs, plus toning and mobilization of associated joints, in 80 women during mid to late pregnancy, compared with 80 non-exercising peers.