Show Notes
In this episode, exercise physiologist Dr Margie Davenport walks me through what the evidence actually shows about exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Margie chaired the 2019 Canadian Guideline for Physical Activity throughout Pregnancy, the 2025 Canadian postpartum guideline, and the upcoming International Olympic Committee consensus statement on athletes through pregnancy and postpartum.
We cover where the 140 bpm rule came from, the scale of the benefits at the population level, what direct fetal monitoring during HIIT and heavy lifting really shows, the new postpartum data, and why so many of the historical prohibitions do not survive contact with the data.
What we cover:
Where the 1985 "stay below 140 bpm" rule came from, and why it has long outlived its evidence
Around 40 percent fewer cases of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, and around 67 percent fewer cases of depression during pregnancy
HIIT, heavy resistance training, and what fetal monitoring shows
The 51 percent reduction in complications among women who kept lifting heavy
Postpartum: the six-week myth, breastfeeding and injury risk, and a 45 percent reduction in postpartum depression
The short list of actual "don'ts": scuba diving, and a few situational cautions
The paradigm shift from prohibition to shared decision-making
If this episode is useful, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share it with someone in your life who is trying to make sense of conflicting advice.
To connect with Dr Margie Davenport, visit exerciseandpregnancy.ca, follow her on Instagram at @DrMargieDavenport, or find her on LinkedIn and YouTube.
Intro (00:00)
Why Pregnancy Exercise Advice Feels So Confusing (01:15)
The Most Damaging Myth About Exercise In Pregnancy (03:08)
How Exercise Cuts Pregnancy Complications By 40% (05:05)
Why Pregnant Women Were Excluded From Research (07:46)
Can You Do High Intensity Workouts While Pregnant (12:49)
How Exercise Lowers Preeclampsia And Diabetes Risk (16:43)
How Much Exercise Is Safe During Pregnancy (27:03)
Is Heavy Lifting Safe During Pregnancy (32:10)
What You Should Never Do While Pregnant (40:41)
Pelvic Floor Exercises Every Pregnant Woman Needs (47:41)
How To Know If You're Overexerting While Pregnant (56:12)
Does Exercise Affect Fertility And Conception (1:00:42)
Why The 140 BPM Myth Still Exists (1:04:52)
How Exercise Improves Postpartum Mental Health And Sleep (1:09:28)
The Truth About The 6 Week Postpartum Rule (1:11:32)
Does Breastfeeding Increase Your Risk Of Injury (1:17:13)
Why Pregnant Athletes Need Better Policy Support (1:19:56)
What Future Pregnancy Exercise Research Will Reveal (1:24:50)
Want to support the show?
The best way to support the show is to use the products and services offered by our sponsors. To check them out and enjoy great savings, visit theproof.com/friends. You can also support the show by leaving a review on the Apple Podcast app and sharing your favourite episodes with friends and family.
This episode is brought to you by:
38TERA
Consider 38TERA's DMN prebiotic supplement a daily multivitamin for your gut. Formulated by yours truly and gastroenterologist Dr Will Bulsiewicz. Use code THEPROOF for a discount at checkout.
38TERA ships to the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.
Function Health
Take charge of your health with advanced blood testing and personalised insights. Function Health offers a practical way to track key health markers such as cholesterol, blood sugar, and more. Learn more and join at functionhealth.com/simonhill for a $25 credit toward your membership. Only available to those living in the United States.
Function Health ships to 48 U.S. states, excluding Rhode Island, Hawai‘i, and Puerto Rico.
Momentous
My go-to supplement brand for protein and creatine is Momentous. Use code THEPROOF for up to 35% off your first order at livemomentous.com.
Momentous ships to many coun
More from The Proof with Simon Hill
Practising registered dietitian and senior research fellow at the University of Oxford, Dr Nicola Guess, returns to the show to discuss a new study whose findings were interpreted in quite different ways the week it came out. Dr Samuel Klein’s group at Washington University assigned people with prediabetes to one of three diets, carefully controlled their weight loss, and found that the arm labelled ketogenic reduced liver fat by 67%.
This is Christopher Gardner's eighth appearance on the show. Christopher is a nutrition scientist at Stanford, director of the Stanford Nutrition Studies Research Group, and the author of a new book, Food Sense: What to Eat and Why. He has run more than 20 human diet trials over three decades.
A few weeks ago I published my own heart scans, and one number travelled further than the rest: a 48% drop in plaque over 16 and a half months. The question underneath that video was the obvious one. How? This episode is the answer, and it is also the part I could easily have left out.
Howard Luks is an orthopaedic surgeon with almost 30 years of experience, and a good deal of his week is spent telling people they do not need an operation. We work through the joints that bring most people into a clinic, knees, shoulders, Achilles tendons and ankles, and separate what a scan is actually telling you from what it is being used to justify.
This is part two of my conversation with Dr Federica Amati, Head Nutritionist at ZOE and author of the Sunday Times bestseller Every Body Should Know This. In part one we covered preconception, fertility, and pregnancy nutrition. Here we follow the first 1,000 days through to the end: birth, breastfeeding, weaning, and the environmental exposures behind all of it.