Swimming After Giving Birth

Susan Williams won the bronze this summer in Athens in women's triathlon. I don't know how many children she has, but I know she's a mother. I think the barrier for women competing again on an elite level is more due to time and energy restrictions on training than any physiological barrier. From reading articles on Susan, I understand that she had to spend significant amounts of time away from family for training...for example, months of training camp time in the year leading up to the Olympics. Most women can't or aren't willing to do this for an extended period of time, except perhaps for a one-time special opportunity like Susan had to go to the Olympics.

I did not learn to swim until my youngest was 7, so did not have the experience of swimming while pregnant. Did weight lifting and cardio machine though, and you do have to watch your balance on everything late term. It would seem swimming would be gentler, although the shift in weight would throw off some of the strokes. As far as whether someone can compete at a high level after having children. I suppose you can, but the issue is not just what the pregnancy does to your body(you can get that back with time), but what having a family does with your time. Priorities shift and the "me" stuff just is not as important. I think that is why the 40-50 age range is so fast. The children are starting to grow up and be on their own, so the women come back, because they have more time.

Seems to me that swimming would be one of the best exercise routines for a pregnant woman -- especially late term. Wouldn't jogging or land aerobics cause a lot of uterine jarring and all? And wouldn't that belly get in the way of a pregnant woman's thighs if she were biking? But with the buoyancy of swimming, it's like having someone hold your belly for you while you work out. :) I wonder if the baby would get dizzy from flip turns... Actually I could imagine the in utero baby would find that all-around uniform pressure from the water rather comfortable. Butterfly while pregnant? That's impressive! For most people it's hard enough to do it right with their everyday bodies. But to be able to do it with the added imbalance/weight so low on your torso, well, I just think that's impressive.

This may be strang-coming from a man. I swam the whole time my roommate was pregnant. It was one of the great ways to get rid of the stress & worry tht was almost constant. Also, I swim currently with a woman who just had a bady. She swam slowly but really concentrted on technique.

Originally posted by lapswimmr aquageek.. I took the thread to be serious racing swimming training like Olympics teams. 4 or more hours a day.. . Not USMS ...I have swam with lots of lots of masters swimmers.. Its exercise and fun.. No problem with that after the babys born and things are settled down. Of course a mother can swim with USMS , its the best exercise there is. Just because we are USMS swimmers doesn't mean we aren't serious racers or take our sport seriously.

was a recreational swimmer. She did alot of breaststroke and was swimming up to about 2 days before her first child. She had an emergency c-section (unrelated to the swimming). Her child was born in early September. The following summer, when she took the little boy into the water and swished him back and forth in the water (while holding on tight under his arms)---the look on the baby's face was pure bliss--like he was remembering something from the previous summer! She also swam up to about 10-12 hours before her second child was born. She swam from 9-10 at night, took a shower and went home. Her water broke around 10:30 that night and by 7:45 the next morning she was calling people about the birth of her daughter!

Originally posted by Guvnah I wonder if the baby would get dizzy from flip turns... Every baby is an Olympic swimmer in utero! My kid would do flip turns inside as I was trying to rest or sleep. The constant rocking motion of Mom's movements is thought to be very relaxing... Maybe that is why we enjoy swimming so much, it was a great experience for us in the womb!

I swam the whole time I was pregant with my second child. I even swam up to two days before my scheduled c-section. Some thought I was crazy and some couldn't get over the fact that I could swim so much so close to giving birth. The only thing is that some strokes such as the butterfly got a little diffcult to do. Flip turns became a little hard to do, too. The benifits is that I stayed in fairly good shape and I didn't even gain half the weight that I did with my first daughter. Because I had a c-section I was not able to get back in the pool for several weeks after giving birth. I think a woman can stay in fairly good shape with swimming while pregnant but it can get diffcult later in pregnancy to keep up the pace.

Originally posted by Guvnah Seems to me that swimming would be one of the best exercise routines for a pregnant woman -- especially late term. Wouldn't jogging or land aerobics cause a lot of uterine jarring and all? And wouldn't that belly get in the way of a pregnant woman's thighs if she were biking? But with the buoyancy of swimming, it's like having someone hold your belly for you while you work out. :) Butterfly while pregnant? That's impressive! For most people it's hard enough to do it right with their everyday bodies. But to be able to do it with the added imbalance/weight so low on your torso, well, I just think that's impressive. Biking is not recommened for pregnant woman because you might loose your balance and fall. Unless it is a stationary bike. Actually the Buttrfly wasn't really that tough. I thought it would be but I was still doing it when I was 7 months pregnant. I only did 50's and 100's. I did not try the 200 because I thought it would be to much stress on the body.