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Health & Exercise
CrossFit1977
member
Pregnant Crossfitters
CrossFit1977
member
Hi- I?m newly pregnant and an avid crossfitter. I have been crossfitting for just over two years and intend to continue for the duration of my pregnancy (with appropriate modifications of course!). If you crossfitted through your pregnancy I would love to hear about your experiences? when did you lower your weights? When did you stop doing ab work, GHD and traditional sit ups and V ups? Did you make it all the way through your pregnancy or did you need to stop in the 3 tri? When did you tell your trainer you were pregnant (I had a miscarriage in October and am hoping to wait a bit to make sure everything works out)? Was it easy to get back into training after the baby arrived? Did you fear you were ?hurting? your baby in any way while crossfitting (I know this is crazy pregnant lady anxiety but last night we did a WOD which included 400 double unders and 100 28? box jumps. I completed the WOD but was a bit worried, same with a WOD I did at the beginning of the week with 95# clean and jerk among other movements). I have discussed my workouts with my doctor who doesn?t seem concerned but I just wanted to hear your experiences. I have also checked out the crossfitmom site? I have mixed feelings.
Also we eat fairly strict Paleo. Anyone keep this up during pregnancy? Thoughts?
Thanks for your input! I love the CF community and would love to tap in to the special pregnant CF subset!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Pregnant Crossfitters
Check out Cassandra Forsythe's blog. She's not a cross-fitter, but she did continue heavy lifting and intense workouts (kettle bells, teaching boot camp) all the way through her pg. She's running a "fit pregnancy" series right now.
Then get the book Exercising Through Your Pregnancy. It's research and science based and will reassure you that it's a good thing to be fit in pregnancy. There are so many benefits to both you and the baby.
I'm not nearly as fit as you are (I'm just trying to keep up some stamina and strength), but I can speak to my experience so far. I have not stopped and do not plan to stop doing ab work unless my doctor tells me to. If my abs separate, I will have to drastically change what I'm doing. I'm still doing crunches, various ab-centered yoga moves, side bends, planks, etc. I lowered my weights fairly early - around 7 or 8 weeks - because I was exhausted. Now, I'm focused on maintenance not gaining strength. Try to mentally make that shift and be okay with not upping the weights while pg. I didn't drop back to barbie weights, but dropped back by 5-10 lb just to stay comfortable.
I definitely don't feel I'm hurting my baby. Exercising through pregnancy - even exercising hard - leads to good things like stronger placentas, lower birthweight with full-term high AGPAR babies, and slightly shorter pregnancy (lord knows I'd be happy to give birth at 39 or 40 weeks rather than 42).
(And the usual disclaimer: I'm just a pregnant woman with an interest in exercise. I'm not a trainer, nor do I even have one.)
Oh and the other awesome place to read: https://www.stumptuous.com/weight-training-during-pregnancy Cassandra's blog and stumptuous both reassured me a lot.
Natural Birth Board FAQs
Cloth Diaper Review Sheet
There's also https://www.crossfitmom.com/
They have WOD's as well.
Hi there.
I am still pregnant, so I can't answer some of your questions, but I have been Crossfitting throughout my entire pregnancy. Prior to getting pregnant, I had been Crossfitting for a little over a year and would say I was an advanced athlete. The week I found out I was pregnant was the week before a local competition that I had been training for, doing 2-a-days 3-4 times a week. When I got pregnant, I went into shock mode and followed the Crossfit mom site to a T. Looking back, I see that I could have waited to lighten my weights. I found out early on, like you at 4 weeks. I kept up with the WODs, but immediately dropped the weight to 65lbs for all lifts. I told my trainers right away because A.) my husband is the head trainer, and B.) I am very close with the other trainer/owner, and I work out with him predominantly. It wasn't until the 2nd tri that I stopped doing Ab-mat situps and box jumps (switched to step ups). We don't have a GHD so I didnt worry about that part. I am still doing all other movements, except for Toes to bar (it gives me a cramp) and my burpees are much slower. And, this week my doctor told me to stop running because every time I run I get an intense pain in my pelvic area, so I switched to rowing.
Yes, there have been a couple times where I thought maybe I had pushed it too hard on the intensity front. I know it's cliche, but I'll say it, "just listen to your body". Eventually, you will be able to tell when your body is busy doing other things (like growing a person!) and the WOD just won't be as do-able as it usually is. During a WOD, I will usually just do some reps, then rest and catch my breath, maybe take a drink of water, and then continue.
As for Paleo, I wish I had the strength to stay Paleo, but it was hard. In the beginning, all I wanted was cheese and crackers! and I had a strong aversion to chicken, which is what I used to eat like everyday. I say, keep up with the Paleo as long as you can!
I hope I've helped you out, if you have any other questions, let me know. I wish there was more out there for us Crossfitters, but I think it's just an experience that we'll have to figure out for the most part on our own.
Good luck! (Sorry for the novel of a post)
Thanks for the responses.
Mrs. Salt&Pepper: Thanks for sharing your experiences. So far I?m the first pregnant crossfitter at our box, so I?m not sure where to turn! My husband, who is also a CFer and who has always been very encouraging about lifting heavy and pushing has become supper anxious about my work outs and I think it?s also making me anxious. We both obviously want the same outcome? healthy baby!
I agree with you about the crossfitmom website, they showed a ?baby Fran? WOD the other day with 45# thrusters? what?s that?? At 4w pregnant I know I can still RX it. I?m hoping at 30w pregnant I can still RX it!
I think the hardest part for me will be not RXing the workout or needing to take a break when I would normally just push through. That whole ?listening to your body? thing will need to kick in!
So far so good with the eating. I know I?m very early but I?m still hoping to maintain my Paleo eating as much as possible.
Thanks again. It?s great to talk to another pregnant crossfitter! Good luck with your pregnancy!
Hey nerdsbride,
The best thing I can tell you is what I used to tell myself about pushing through, and it may sound weird, but I used to say to myself,
"Just keep going, you ARE NOT going to die" and, it turned out to be true, because when I did keep going, I didn't die, haha. But, if you feel dizzy or see spots or something, then definitely take a little break. I didn't really learn how to push through mentally until my first competition. After that, I learned of a new fire inside of me and it sort of gives me an adrenaline rush. Now more than ever I'd like to push myself to the max, but that is only because I know I can't for the health of this baby.
I'm not sure if this helped you or not, but I hope it did. Good luck, and keep Crossfitting! It is seriously the best way of life in my eyes!
Thank you for your post. I just started CrossFit two weeks ago, and I am in love. I have already started to see positive results, and it's improved my running speed.
Like the pp, I find myself holding back. For Monday's workout, I'm definitely going to take your advice about talking yourself through it.
HI All,
I just wanted to chime in cause I don't know many pregnant crossfitters. I was fit and have always been active but nowhere near being in perfect shape before begining crossfit. In fact one of the reasons that I joined was to get in better shape for pregnancy. Turns out I got pregnant relatively fast and have been crossfitting the whole time. I get lots of support at my box which is great and it does wonders for mental stamina I think. When I am sure that I can't finish the WOD I just think of labor and how this is going to help cause I really think that it will. I have been working out less the past few weeks mainly because my recovery time is taking longer. I just find that I can't bounce back as quick even though I am taking breaks and mega scaling back. ( I was never RX'ing everything pre pregnancy yet though)
I was never 100% paleo ( i ate dairy) but was ok up until about week 7 and then that went out the window nad I had terrible morning sickness (all day long!) So it was toast alot of the time. Now at this point I am trying to eat healthy but I'm not paleo cause I have an aversion to meat and am forcing myself to eat it at least 1x per day. I eat lots of eggs. I will get back on the wagon after the birth. The CFmom site is really on the easy side as far as WOD's I find and I tend to just scale back the WOD's at my box and mixed in bike riding (until about a week ago), lots of walking my dog and zumba. I think it has helped to keep the weight gain down too. At 27 weeks I have gained 13lbs which my midwife is ok with. Trust me I have been EATING since the MS went away.
The whole "listen to your body" business is true. You'll know when to take a break but also I did no more abmat stuff after about 15 wks and instead hang from bar to do ab work or planks. You can still work your abs just in modified ways. I will say it feels funky at this point. I also felt ok doing handstands until about a month ago (against a wall for stability in case i got dizzy). I stopped cause my trainer told me too and well now I definately have a belly so it just changes things. Still doing lifts but not doing more than 50% of a 1RM. It's hard at first cause i felt that I wasn't getting a workout but I will either do more reps/ or find that I am out of breath now at this point anyway.
I'm blabbing. Keep crossfitting. I think my baby likes it. She's always really active after I work out which is fun.