Research
Adherence
Social support from family and friends is a significant factor in maternal exercise adherence, but often acts as a barrier due to negative or uninformed advice.
Your family's advice might be wrong. Many people discourage pregnant women from exercising due to outdated beliefs. If you are active, proactively share reliable information with your family to turn their potential discouragement into support.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Women with a supportive network of family and friends are more inclined to exercise than those with less supportive networks... The majority of friends and family provide discouragement based on an inadequate knowledge of the facts on the subject, with 85% of pregnant women reporting that they were dissuaded from participating in LTPA by Week 34.
Why this rating
Multiple studies cited showing correlation between support and activity, and discouragement and inactivity.
Source
Overcoming psychosocial barriers to maternal exercise: intervention strategies to improve participation and adherence
Brad J. Schöenfeld et al. · Biomedical Human Kinetics · 2011
DOI 10.2478/v10101-011-0014-5
narrative_reviewCited 2×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Stage-matched behavioral counseling based on the Transtheoretical Model significantly increases maternal leisure-time physical activity participation and adherence compared to standard care.Good
- Previous exercise history is the strongest predictor of continued exercise during pregnancy, with pre-pregnancy exercisers being significantly more likely to maintain activity.Good
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →