Fit Mom Friday 8/20

fameonmain2

Fit Mom Friday is a fun way to help us on our healthy pregnancy goals. Fit is whatever it means to you!

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share):

Week's Successes:

Week's Challenges:

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share:

miss_lynn9

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): My goal is to maintain regular exercise throughout this pregnancy. Continue to strengthen my body so I am prepared for carrying another baby. 

Week's Successes: i got a couple strength training sessions and a long walk in. 

Week's Challenges: I'm so damn busy. I normally exercise during DD's nap but I've been having to do something else. My goal to to start working out in the morning instead. 

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share: does anyone have any programs they recommend? 

monstera13

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): to maintain my strength, avoiding gaining too much weight during pregnancy, and help my body feel prepared for labor. 

Week's Successes: I’ve ran twice during the week and will do some longer runs on the weekend. I did a 5K virtual race last weekend. 

Week's Challenges: finding time between work and mom responsibilities! 

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share: what are the chances of being able to run a half marathon in mid December? I signed up before knowing I was pregnant lol

minnie_yoga_mama

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): Continue my daily yoga practice throughout my pregnancy, modifying as needed of course! (I’m a yoga instructor and have kept up a regular practice for a while now.)

Week's Successes: I’ve been doing Bettina Rae’s videos on YouTube after work— if anyone is looking for a gentle prenatal yoga I highly recommend! She specialized in yoga for fertility and pregnancy, and her voice and meditations are so calming. 🧘🏻‍♀️✨ Since I’ve been practicing for a while, I’ll usually put on the video to motivate me to start and then add on my own extra sequences and challenges as tolerated to the end.

Week's Challenges: These past two days I’ve come home from work so nauseous and exhausted I literally just flopped on the couch, tried to stomach some white toast, and went to sleep. I definitely need to find a way to keep up my exercise even when I feel like this.

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share: Any tips or suggestions for keeping up with yoga and exercising when experiencing such severe nausea?

maggiemadeit

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): I suffer from anxiety and exercise is my medicine. I am not fun to be around if I don’t work out. My goal is always 30+ mins every day. I don’t always reach the goal, but I always try. 

Week's Successes: I made my goal 5 out of the last 7 days 🌟 

Week's Challenges: My usual running route (the cranberry bog next to my house) is under heavy construction right now, so I had to ride the bike instead. Also I had to quit a workout halfway through this week just because of exhaustion. I could not hang. 

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share: @monstera13 I think it depends on what your fitness is now. During my first pregnancy that would have been a hard no, my longest run was 5k. During my second pregnancy I ran a half marathon at 18 weeks, but I was routinely doing a 10 miler on the weekend, so I was already in shape for it. 

@minniecat My personal approach is to always start the workout, even if I don’t feel great, but with no pressure or expectation. I stop if it doesn’t feel right, or if I puke, but often it helps with nausea and my appetite to move my body. 

Boobopgirl

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): strengthen and nourish my body for a healthy pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. My BEST (out of 4) pregnancy/labor/recovery was when I was doing daily yoga, walking a lot, and eating well.

Week's Successes:
I made my nutrition goals 4/7 days and did 2x yoga and 4x walking

Week's Challenges:
 Our apartment is stupidly small so I have to do yoga on the deck or in the yard and there was road work on our street. Doing yoga in front of construction workers = no thank you, lol. And like everyone else, morning sickness and fatigue are getting in the way a bit.

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share:
I love the daily activities from Spinning Babies.  In the purchased video, there is a yoga flow that puts them all together and ends with relaxation. I fell asleep on my yoga mat a couple times...while pregnant! And because I was so nice and stretchy from the exercises I had no trouble getting up afterward either.

aloha_mama

@monstera13 It definitely depends on your pre-pregnancy fitness level! I have friends who have done half and full marathons while pregnant. One girl did a half the day before she delivered. A little too ambitious for me lol but it was what she loved to do! 

@minniecat I’ve found it helps to eat a very small snack before my workout. I think having an empty stomach makes nausea so much worse. And just listen to your body! 

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): I’m hoping to continue exercising at least 5 days a week. I’m a big fan of HIIT/tabata style workouts and I heard they help with labor because it trains your body and heart to work hard for short bursts of time (like contractions). I was able to stay pretty active my last pregnancy and I think it helped a lot with my labor, delivery, and recovery. 

Week's Successes: Four workouts and a walking day! But I may have gone too hard on my workout on Wednesday and strained my back

Week's Challenges: It is hot as all get out and I usually do my workouts in my garage. I also have the tendency to push myself really hard so I need to tune into my body more and pay more attention to drinking water more consistently and not getting overheated.

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share: I love Daily Burn! I’ve been using them for seven years and they have a ton of workouts available. There’s a prenatal yoga series I loved last time. I also just found Sweaty as a Mother, which has great workouts and guidance on the do’s and dont’s of working out while pregnant.

jennykatedvm

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): Get over my fear of exercising while pregnant again.

Week's Successes: None. All I've been comfortable doing is a little walking and working in the yard. 

Week's Challenges: Terrified of overdoing it and causing a problem, though I know it's a mostly unfounded fear.

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share: My first pregnancy I did significant exercise pretty regularly. Running 3+mi at least twice a week and strength training with a trainer twice a week up until about 32 weeks when I developed preeclampsia and had to cut way back. Last pregnancy I did a 5k (didn't push it, just jogged) the same week we found out I had a MMC at 9wks. Logically I know the two probably had nothing to do with each other, but now I'm really scared to do much. Took us so much to get pregnant again. Have really been taking it easy since the FET. Know I need to get going again, but part of me just wants to wait until things are looking good on a couple ultrasounds...😣

aloha_mama

@jennykatedvm Oh, that is so hard, I’m sorry you have these worries and anxieties. I’m the same way, even if something is probably completely unrelated I have a hard time disassociating it in my mind. Just give yourself grace and go slowly as it feels right to you! And we’re all here to listen if you need someone to talk to.

aloha_mama

@minniecat You’re a yoga instructor?!  I need to pick your brain! What poses should I not be doing as I progress? No deep backbends or twisting poses, right? Anything else? I had horrible sciatica with my first pregnancy so any and all poses you can recommend for back relief would be amazing!

maggiemadeit

@jennykatedvm I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope you can meet your goal and find some form of movement that feels good for you this pregnancy.  

monstera13

@maggiemadeit and @aloha_mama That’s a good point. I’m only at 5K/10K shape right now, so it probably wouldn’t be good to try doubling that during pregnancy. I’ll see how my body’s feeling in another month or two. 

@jennykatedvm Ahhh that’s scary. I’d have a hard time separating them as well, even knowing they weren’t related. I hope you start feeling more relaxed and comfortable with exercising soon ❤️

minnie_yoga_mama

@aloha_mama Absolutely! You are correct, no backbends or any poses that compress or put pressure on your uterus. That includes anything from upward facing dog to any prone poses such as sphinx or even just laying on your belly, even very early in pregnancy (pigeon pose should be fine because it still leaves plenty of room). Twists you just want to make sure are open and not too deep of a twist; for example, if you are in high lunge, twist in the opposite direction of your forward facing foot (twist left is your right foot is forward), and you’ll notice this is an “open twist” because your abdomen won’t compress in any way. Those are the main points for how far along we are now, but looking forward we also want to be sure not to work the ab muscles in a way that could contribute to diastasis recti, including core strengthening (be sure to go from supine to sitting by rolling to the side and pushing yourself up instead of doing a sit-up). You will also want to avoid savasana in supine, or any yoga poses in that spend some time in supine because as our uterus grows in the coming months, it’ll put pressure on an important blood vessel that carries blood and oxygen to baby.

minnie_yoga_mama

@aloha_mama Sciatica pain is awful! Prior to this pregnancy I actually struggled quite a bit with horrible debilitating SI joint dysfunction, but I was eventually able to get it under control with help from my chiropractor and by doing a set of exercises 2-3x/day. Exercises I would recommend for SI joint and pelvic stability (very important during pregnancy!) include any exercises that’ll strengthen your adductors and abductors of your thighs. Specific exercises I would recommend include simple glute squeezes, rolling bridge pose/and slight pelvic tilts in supine with a block between your knees, side-lying hip abduction (leg lifts with your hip internally rotated and foot in dorsiflexion), and ball squeezes/outward knee pushes with the ball between your knees. Very specifically for sciatica, I recommend performing reclined pigeon pose daily, including grasping the bottom thigh with your hands and gently pulling the leg toward you and releasing as your other ankle is crossed over your thigh. I’m both a yoga instructor and orthopedic hand therapist so I LOVE anatomy and exercises, so please let me know if you have any other yoga or workout related questions!! 🙂

doxiemoxie212

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): trying to gain significant strength ideally while gaining weight. I have hypermobility (suspected EDS) that gets significantly worse in pregnancy, and I basically need my muscles to be able to compensate for my loose ligaments, but it's very difficult for me to put on any strength.

Week's Successes: I don't know, it's like any other week. I went to an indoor tower pilates class (everyone has to show proof of vaccination and wear masks), and it was really challenging in a good way.

Week's Challenges: the challenge for me with working out is being full enough that I don't feel lightheaded but not so full that I feel nauseas. There's an outdoor Pilates reformer class here that I do 2-3x/week, and I bought the @mamastefit pelvic stability course that I'm trying to integrate on off days. I also have some exercises from my physical therapist that I try to do, and it's all just that much harder to do with first trimester exhaustion. 

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share: nope, not really. 

aloha_mama

@minnie_yoga_mama OMG! Thank you so much! I’m screenshotting this for later. You are amazing. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent googling this stuff, and you just provided it all in one spot for me. You’re the best!

miss_lynn9

@Boobopgirl oh I remember spinning babies from my last pregnancy. I didn't pay for a program but they used it in the yoga class I took. It was very helpful info! 

ccc1211

Love this thread! Great way to pick up new ideas, too. I’ll try not to be so tardy next week, I feel like I’m behind on everything in life lately lol 😂 

Health/Fitness Goal (and why, if you want to share): if healthy and within limits in first trimester it would be great to lose a few naturally by eating healthier and staying active. More importantly, I’d like to keep my energy levels up, keep stress levels down, and maintain a healthy pregnancy for a better delivery.

Week's Successes: I’m pretty boring and routine with gym stuff, but made the usual 3 strength training sessions followed by the elliptical. Swam 30 lengths post cardio 2 of the 3 days.

Week's Challenges: I’m trying to find the balance with everything I’ve been researching on strength training—I’m used to heavier weights, less reps, but am now switching it. I was working on weight loss before we found out and had paused on running due to a history of back injuries that were causing a flare-up. Getting back into swimming has been a great substitute; I’m so at peace after swimming at the end of a long day : )

Questions/Anything Else You Want to Share: thankful for the awesome tips and programs everyone is sharing!

miss_lynn9

@ccc1211 swimming sounds amazing! I tried running a couple of times but it hurts my shins so much. I loved swimming and would love to get back into it. 

I got some motivation this morning and did a workout! I do weight training and man am I already exhausted haha. It was a lot more challenging.

ccc1211

@miss_lynn9 ahh shin splints are the worst, I get them every time I try to ease back into it. Awesome on the weight training! Did you wind-up switching to morning workouts?

miss_lynn9

@ccc1211 any advice on how to stop the shin splints or keep going and it may stop? 

Today was my first morning workout so hoping to continue it. 

jennykatedvm

@miss_lynn9 Shoes make a huge difference for me with shin splints. When I finally realized I needed good quality runners with good support/cushion and not the minimalist shoes I thought were cool I stopped getting them. Everyone is different though. (Getting them fitted at a running store where they can look at your gait and recommend the right ones can make a big difference.)

miss_lynn9

@jennykatedvm I have small feet so I also bought kids runners that never fit properly. I invested in some good quality ones with custom insoles from my chiropractor this spring. Maybe I should go for a run.... 

jennykatedvm

@miss_lynn9 Nice!! Can't hurt to take a test drive and see if it helped!

taylorz8912

@miss_lynn9 Try warm-ups for your shins before you go running. I used to get them really bad and I looked up warm ups that help . So I do that for about 5 min before I run and they never came back 🙏🏼 I also work out in the Adidas NDM shoes

taylorz8912

I love this thread. My husband and I are big time gym rats LOL we work out 5 to 6 days a week . I start off with the stairmaster at level 20 for about 15 minutes. After I’m done with my cardio I weight train. I do glutes/legs three times a week and upper body 2 to 3 times . I also do the intermittent fasting.  I’m still able to do it this early on in pregnancy but not sure how long that will last for lol

miss_lynn9

@taylorz8912 I'll give warm ups a try thanks!!

miss_lynn9

I decided to hire a prenatal personal trainer. I just had a zoom call with her and I'm so excited! She puts together a month worth of exercises for you to do and loads them on an app. I can go on, watch videos and upload videos of myself to check form. She can message back comments or send video comments. And we will do 1-2 zoom meetings month.

I'm at a loss on what is safe to do during pregnancy and I like having the accountability. I should be starting the program on Monday. 

taylorz8912

@miss_lynn9 that sounds amazing!!! I wonder if we can go in the steam room while pregnant just for like 5-10 min ?

miss_lynn9

@taylorz8912 I would love to know the answer to that too. I miss sitting in the sauna.

jennykatedvm

@miss_lynn9 I worked with a trainer when I was pregnant with my son and it was great. Took the pressure off trying to figure out what was ok and what wasn't and  helped knowing I was doing the modifications right. Also kept me accountable. Was so bummed that COVID was getting bad enough in our area again that I don't feel comfortable going into a gym to see a trainer in person again, but maybe a setup like yours would be a good compromise!

miss_lynn9

@jennykatedvm this is who I am using. I really like her so far. I will update on Monday when I start the program! 

https://liftwithemily.com/

jennykatedvm

@miss_lynn9 Awesome, thanks! If you like her I definitely might give it a try!