The Effect of Aerobic, Resistance and Combination Exercises During Pregnancy on the Development of Fine and Gross Motor Skills of 12 Months Old Children

Physical activity during pregnancy has many positive effects for the mother, fetus and the baby. But there are some uncertainties about the consequences for children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic, resistance and combination exercises during maternal pregnancy on the development of fine and gross motor skills in 12-month-old children. The research method was quasi-experimental with post-test design with control group. Purposeful sampling was performed on 60 healthy pregnant women in the second trimester who volunteered to participate in the study. Samples were randomly divided into four groups of 15 individuals: 1) aerobic exercise, 2) resistance training, 3) combined exercise and 4) control. The training groups were trained for eight weeks in 24 sessions for 60 minutes according to the program. After childbirth, children were assessed at 12 months of age using the PB-2 test. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, LSD and SPSS 22 software. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the motor skills of 12-month-old children whose mothers had physical training and the control group, so that the aerobic training group performed the best.