The benefits of exercising during your surrogacy are innumerable. It will help with your energy throughout the day and provide more restful sleep at night, plus it can help make delivery easier, and has been shown to speed up recovery after. As long as your surrogacy is uncomplicated, and you’re not in a high-risk group, your doctor will likely give you the green light to keep active. It’s always a good idea to run new workout routines by him just to be safe, but the following three exercises are definitely on the list of things to avoid while you’re pregnant.

  1. Contact Sports

This one is a little tricky because it’s doubtful any woman would try to take up wrestling or tackle football during surrogacy. However, there are many sports that have the potential to be contact sports, or that involve objects that could hit you. Basketball, tennis, and softball are three of the most common ones. Even if another player doesn’t collide with you, there’s always the chance that the ball will. As the baby grows, your center of balance will be off as well, which means trying to make fast movements could cause a nasty fall.

  1. Bikram Yoga

Most women have heard that yoga is excellent during surrogacy, but Bikram yoga is different. It’s often referred to as “hot yoga,” because it must be done in a room that’s at least 100 degrees. The general rule of thumb during surrogacy is to keep your temperature below 101 degrees though your doctor may have additional restrictions. As you can imagine, it’s impossible to do Bikram yoga and remain cool enough to be safe, so you’ll have to do a different style of yoga for the next nine months. To be clear, the temperature restriction applies across the board, so hot tubs, saunas, and any other source of excessive heat is out.

  1. Anything that Causes You to Lie on Your Back

The doctor will probably remind you that you need to start sleeping on your side, but it’s important to stay off your back as much as possible the rest of the time, too. Even though you might feel fine laying on your back for a while, can cause problems starting as early as the second trimester, when a singleton really starts growing. In surrogacy, multiples are common, so you may have to avoid your back much earlier than this. This is because the weight of the uterus compresses one of your largest veins, which means it can’t effectively pump blood back to your heart. Some women report mild symptoms, such as dizziness or nausea when this happens, but it may also be cutting off blood flow to the baby. The more often he’s cut off from nutrients and oxygen, the more likely complications are. Even if you feel ok on your back, it’s really important to avoid it.

Always defer to your physician if you have questions, and go forward tentatively when you begin to exercise. Most of the time, 30 minutes a day of low-impact exercise is recommended, and even something as basic as taking a walk can help you reach this goal.