The Upper Body Move You Don’t Want to Miss

If I could pick one upper body move that works your entire upper body and can be done almost anywhere it would have to be the push-up. The great thing about this exercise is that it requires no equipment and can be regressed (on knees or an elevated surface) and progressed as your strength increases. Here are some push-up variations that I like…

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1. Triceps Push-up: Hands right below shoulders, keeping arms tucked on the way down to the floor and then push back up

2. T-Push-up: Perform a regular push-up and then as you come up, roll onto your side in a side plank position with upper arm in the air (your body will be forming a “T”.) Perform another push-up and then do a side plank on the opposite side.

3. Spiderman Push-up: As you come down into the push-up, bring knee to same elbow then push back up and repeat on opposite side.

4. Negative Push-up: Start in push-up position and lower yourself slowly to the ground. Hold the down position for as long as possible before coming back up.

5. Military Push-up: Come all the way down to the floor in this style of push-up, raise arms above head as you lie down on the floor on your stomach and then raise yourself back up off the floor for one repetition. Be careful not to “peel” your body off the floor in this one, but keep your body straight and in line as you come up.

And remember if you can’t quite do push-ups on your feet yet, try doing them either on your knees or place your hands on an elevated surface until your strength improves!

Dose of Medicine

A medicine ball is a great way to burn some serious calories and have “a ball” doing it!! They usually range in weight from 2-20 lbs so your level of intensity and work can change as you progress to heavier weights.

Source

Here are a few of my favorite medicine ball exercises…

1. Medicine Ball Push-ups w/ Roll: Place one hand on ball and perform a push-up then roll the ball to the other side and repeat

2. Medicine Ball Squat & Reach: Hold ball at chest level, squat down then raise ball overhead as you stand back up

3. Medicine Ball Lunge & Twist: Do either a forward or reverse lunge and while you’re in the down position, twist toward the leg in front

4. Medicine Ball Slam: Reach overhead then using your entire body, slam the ball hard onto the floor and let it bounce back up to you

5. Medicine Ball Overhead Toss: Place ball behind your head and then throw it overhead against a sturdy wall and catch it on its way back down

6. Sitting Russian Twist: Sit and lean back while rotating ball from side to side

This is just  a sample of the many different kinds of exercises that you can do with a medicine ball. Try to do this as a circuit (10-15 repetitions of each exercise back-to-back) for a great strength workout that will also have you sweating pretty good.

Tabata Training

Have you ever heard of Tabata Training before? It’s a kind of interval training that involves working hard for 20 seconds, resting for 10 seconds and then repeating that same series 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. You are supposed to go very hard and fast during the 20 seconds of work, leaving you pretty worn out by the time the 4 minutes are up.

 

You can do this type of training with just about any exercise. Here’s a few examples of tabata-style exercises that we did during our boot camp class this morning…

1. Bodyweight squats

2. Isometric squats (holding in the down squat position)

3. Mountain climbers

4. Push-ups

5. Wipers (holding upright plank position and jumping feet from side to side)

6. Jump lunges

 

You can also do a few core exercises utilizing this time of interval system. Here are some things that you could include…

1. Crunches

2. Reverse crunches (bringing legs in)

3. Planks

4. Bicycle crunches

5. Double crunches (bring both upper and lower body together)

 

I love using my interval timer to do tabata or any other type of interval training. Here’s the kind I have…

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You can also find free apps for your smartphone as well as this website to help count you down. Give it a try and see how hard you can work in just 4 minutes!!

Hill Intervals

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Want to get a great strength workout for your legs without using weights? Try running some hill intervals. You can do this either on a treadmill or you can find a hill near your home that has a decent grade and will be a challenge but not impossible to run up (I spent some time living in Houston, Texas where the only hill I could find were the highway overpasses. If this is you, you may be forced to use the treadmill for any kind of hill workout. Now I enjoy living in hill country where I have a plethora of good hills to choose from.)

After a good warm-up (think jumping jacks, bodyweight lunges and squats, arm circles, high knees, etc.), perform each hill interval for about 5 minutes. then rest for 2 minutes before going onto the next interval.

Interval #1: Run up hill, do 5 burpees at the top, then slowly jog (or walk) down the hill (If you’re using a treadmill, run at 5-8% incline for 2 minutes, jump off to do your burpees then jog/walk for a minute before repeating.)

Interval #2: Run up hill, do 10 mountain climbers at the top (right+left=1), then slowly jog (or walk) down the hill.

Interval #3: Run up hill, do 10 jump lunges at the top (right+left=1), then slowly jog (or walk) down the hill.

Finish this workout with some bodyweight squats, isometric squats (holding in the down squat position) and squat jumps and your legs will definitely be feeling the burn by the time you are through!

A bit about food…

There’s a quote that I heard several years ago that really resonated with me.

“You can never out train a poor diet.”

For years and years I justified my eating habits because I exercised so much. I could never understand why I wasn’t thinner or more toned with the amount of running and exercise that I participated in. Hearing and truly understanding this quote made me realize that unless I changed things in the kitchen, the hours and hours that I spent at the gym would be wasted for both my health and appearance.

I come from a family of BIG eaters. I remember being quite shocked when I would go to a friend’s house and they had five hamburgers for five people!! It was not uncommon for us to have upwards of 15 hamburgers for the six people in my family! Our ice cream bowls were more like soup bowls and our dinner plates were always piled high. By the time I reached middle school, I was definitely sporting a fairly portly shape. I was able to lose some weight in high school but portion control and making healthy food choices came back to haunt me after having my first child. You see, this was me about 3 months having my daughter…

Yes, I know I had just a baby but the sad thing was that I weighed more in this picture than on the day that I gave birth to that sweet little girl. I somehow thought that nursing would be like a “magic pill” that would allow me to eat whatever and however I wanted and still lose the baby weight. Needless to say, it just didn’t work that way for me.

I really do believe that 70-80% of your success in losing weight and getting healthy will be determined by the food choices you make. Yes, exercise is very important and will help to motivate you for the other 20-30% of your success, but only going to the gym and not watching what and how much you eat will leave you feeling very frustrated with your lack of results.

I wanted to share with you two things that I have recently discovered to help me with that part of the health equation. The first is a free website called My Fitness Pal. This site allows you to track your food intake and has a huge database of foods to pull from as well as a recipe creator for your own meals (There’s also an app for you smartphone/tablet users.) You can track not only total calories consumed but also things like protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, sodium, sugar, etc. so that you can get a really good idea of how your diet truly is.

I am also a big proponent of eating clean (more whole, less processed foods.) Sometimes it’s hard to come up with good recipes for this style of eating, but the website Emeals.com has made things just a bit easier. Basically for about $5 a month, they will prepare a food menu for your family for everyday of the week and also give you a shopping list on what to buy for all the meals that week. The exciting news is that they now have a “Clean Eating” menu (in addition to many others) that allows you to have a great source of meal ideas for each day of the week. We don’t use every recipe, but even just 3-4 new meals a week is pretty exciting. Look on my sidebar to see a direct link to this site and enter in the code CLEAN to save 10%.

Eating healthy will always be a challenge for me, but is so very worth it. I definitely have my not-so-good days and meals, but I try to follow the 80/20 rule where I try to eat clean about 80% of the time and allow myself 20% to splurge a bit. I definitely feel the difference in how I feel though when I choose to make clean choices.

Fun with Bands!

Have you ever worked out with these before…

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Resistance bands are a great way to get in a workout no matter where you are because they are so light and portable. You could easily sneak these into your luggage while you’re on vacation or simply have a set at home if you can’t get to the gym.
Here are a few of my favorite exercises to perform with resistance bands:
1. Squat to press (Place bands under feet, hands gripping handles of resistance bands, squat down then as you rise up from the squat, raise your hands into an overhead press)
2. Band Rows (Place the bands around a pole or tree and pull handles behind you as you face the tree/pole. The further away you are from the tree/pole, the more resistance and harder the exercise.)
3. Band Chest Press (Place the bands around a pole or tree and pull handles in front of you while facing away from the tree/pole.)
4. Band Walks (Place bands under feet and hold handles near hips. Step out to the right then out to the left. For more resistance, try crossing the band in front of you.)
5. Lateral Raise/Front Raise (Place bands under feet and lift your arms out to the side for a lateral raise and to the front for a front raise. Keep your arms straight through the exercise.)
So here’s just a few exercises just to get you started. Experiment just a little and you can find a lot of different things to do with the resistance band!!

Skipping Rope

Back in the day, I remember when I could skip rope for hours and hours and hardly break a sweat. Now this same activity is quite the workout!!

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It doesn’t seem to matter how physically fit I think I am, jumping rope always kicks my booty and gives me a great sweat session. In this morning’s boot camp, we did a lot of jumping rope (and lots of shuttle runs too…remember doing these with erasers back in elementary school?)

Here’s the jump roping circuit that we did…
1. 30 seconds of straight jumping (30 seconds of rest)
2. 30 seconds of side to side jumping (30 seconds of rest)
3. 30 seconds of heel tap jumping (30 seconds of rest)
4. 30 seconds of toe tap jumping (30 seconds of rest)
5. 30 seconds of high knee jumping (30 seconds of rest)
If you’re a great jumper, increase the work segments to 60 seconds but keep the rest at 30 seconds for each exercise. Complete the entire circuit 2-3 times. Hopefully this little workout will help to channel your inner child!!

The Ultimate Exercise

If I had to pick just one exercise that was great for both strength and cardio conditioning I would have to choose the BURPEE. It’s kind of a silly name for such an intense exercise. The basic burpee has 5 components…

 

1. Squat down and place your hands on the ground in front of you.

2. Jump your feet out behind you so that you’re in the top of a push-up position.

3. Perform one push-up.

4. Jump your feet back in towards your hands so that you’re in the crouching squat position once again.

5. Jump up into the air with your hands above your head.

 

Not only will you be strengthening your upper body, lower body and core with this exercise but you will also be getting some great cardio in as you spike your heart rate.

 

Try this burpee challenge during your next workout…Start by doing 10 repetitions (5 if you are just starting out), then rest briefly before completing 9 reps, then 8,7,6,5….all the way down to 1. Try to take as little rest as possible between sets and time how long it takes you to go from 10 to 1 set of burpees. Try to beat your time the next time you attempt this challenge.

Core Circuit

This was the circuit that we used to end our boot camp class today. It’s a great way to end your workout!
Perform each exercise for 30 seconds and then go immediately to the next exercise.
1. Crunches (AMRAP…as many reps as possible)
2. Plank (HOLD)
3. Bicycle crunches (bring opposite elbow to knee while other leg stretches out)…AMRAP
4. Superman (lying facedown, raise arms up and overhead while simultaneously raising your legs…this is a great posterior chain exercise to balance out the other three exercises!)…HOLD

Repeat entire circuit 2-3 times for a great core workout.

Do this often and you may end up with abs like this…

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Okay, maybe not (unless you eat completely clean and have amazing genetics to help you along!)

Fitness Test

Here is the fitness test that I put my clients through this morning on our first day of boot camp. We’ll be taking the test every 3 weeks to measure progress and hopefully see some improvement. Give it a whirl and see what you think…
1. Aerobic Test: 10 minute run (You can do this outside with a GPS watch or on the treadmill. Just see how much distance you can cover in 10 minutes. I much prefer running outside but I really like to do my speed work on a treadmill. It makes me work a little harder and there’s no slowing down unless I want to fly off the back of the machine!)
2. Pull Test: Get a pull up bar or use the monkey bars at a local park to see how long you can hang with your chin above the bar. Your palms should face away from you in true pull-up fashion. If you can do regular pull-ups, record how many consecutive ones you can do.
3. Push Test: Record how many push-ups you can complete in 2 minutes. Try to do as many as possible on your toes but if you need to, you can drop to your knees. Take rest breaks as needed.
4. Core Test: Hold yourself in the plank position for as long as possible. Record your time.
5. Lower Body Test: Leg finisher (this was the workout I posted on Wednesday to really finish off your legs.) Time how long it takes you to complete the following circuit:
20 squats + 20 alternating lunges + 20 jump squats + 20 jump lunges
Record your results and revisit this test every now and then to try to better your time or number of reps. Good luck!!

Legs on Fire!

I like to do this little bodyweight circuit at the end of my weightlifting sessions. If you do this correctly, your legs will definitely feel the burn by the end!

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Leg Suicide:

20 Bodyweight Squats (A nice, keep squat here…at least 90 degrees or below, make sure to keep your knees behind your toes)

20 Alternating Front Lunges (both knees should be close to 90 degrees at the bottom of each lunge with the back knee almost touching the ground, keep knees behind toes)

20 Jump Squats (be sure to get in a nice deep squat before exploding up into the air…this is a great plyometric move!)

20 Jump Lunges (again be sure you get the full lunge in here, with back knee almost touching the ground before exploding into the air while switching legs)

Time yourself and see how long the complete circuit takes. Rest 2 minutes and do it all over again. Your legs will thank you later!!

I’m back…with some changes!!

So I’ve had a few requests to start this fitness blog back up again. I’ve been toying with the idea of bringing it back to life and thought that now was as good a time as ever!

A lot has happened in the year since I stopped writing…I had a baby (and that baby is now almost 10 months old!!) I’ve gotten back into the swing of working out again and have lost all of my pregnancy weight plus  a few more pounds. I am currently working as a personal trainer at my gym (Gold’s Gym) for a few hours a week and next week will also be teaching a fitness boot camp three days a week at 6 a.m. I am also starting a new certification to become a Fitness Nutrition Specialist. Life is busy but very fun and I enjoy being involved in so many different things!

I will be implementing some changes with this blog as I start it back up. Before the blog was a lot about how I work out (not a bad thing, but not quite the direction I want to go with it this time around.) I want this blog to help others in their desire to be fit and healthy, so this time I will be including more fitness and nutrition tips as well as some fun workout ideas and challenges. In other words, this blog will be less about me and more about all of you!! I am planning on posting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so be sure to check back on each of those days to see what new things I have in store for you!! Also, if you have any ideas on things that you would like to see included or if you have any questions about anything regarding health or fitness, please let me know.

Strength training vs. Cardio

Yesterday's Workout:
45-minute BodyJam Class
60-minute Burn & Firm Class

Total Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Average Heart Rate: 120
Total Calories Burned: 675


Today's Workout:
Treadmill (4 minutes running, 1 minute walking=25 minutes)
Total Body Workout (Circuit-style, 3 sets of 12 reps for each exercise)

1A: Wide-grip lat pull-down

1B: Dumbbell side lunge

1C: One-arm dumbbell row

1D: Dumbbell squat

1E: Bicep Curl

2A: Narrow-grip reverse lat pull-down

2B: Reverse dumbbell lunge

2C: Wide grip barbell row

2D: Straight-leg dumbbell deadlift

2E: Triceps dips

Shoulder Complex (3 sets of 10 reps per exercise performed back-to-back)
3A: Press
3B: Lateral raise
3C: Upright row

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Average Heart Rate: 136
Total Calories Burned: 694

I really do love to workout. Sure there are days when I have to drag myself to the gym, but I never regret going and I always enjoy myself once I'm there. I'm pretty addicted to those endorphins that exercise gives me without fail.

For most of my adult life, I would be considered a cardio-junkie. I started running when I was 15 and ventured into aerobics classes, spinning and riding the elliptical in college. I ran three half-marathons while going to school at BYU and generally felt pretty good about my fitness abilities. My obsession with cardio workouts continued after my first child was born and when she was about 15 months old, I started training for my first marathon. I trained for about 3 months before I found out I was expecting baby #2 and I ended up running that marathon (Richmond) when I was 11 weeks pregnant! (Note: This is not something I would recommend doing nor do I ever plan on doing it in the future!!)

Soon after my second baby was born, I was back at the gym and a year later I was training for another marathon (Baltimore). Soon after that marathon though, I knew I needed a change in my workouts. While I had great cardio endurance, I felt really soft and I wanted to firm up a bit of that extra flab. Near the end of 2009, I began to get more serious about weight training and I loved the results. I finally started to see the changes that I had been seeking by combining quality cardio workouts with intense weight workouts and I really liked these changes. In the spring of 2010, I was healthier and thinner than I had even been in my adult life. I loved the way my body had changed due to weight training and loved the strong feeling it left me with after every workout. So with this pregnancy, I've changed things up a bit. In some ways, I'm performing an experiment with my own body. I exercised throughout my second pregnancy but it was almost all cardio-based. With this pregnancy, I'm still doing plenty of cardio workouts, but I am trying to emphasize doing more weight workouts as well this time around. I really like doing total body weight workouts and I do them circuit-style in order to get the most bang for my allotted time at the gym. I'm really interested to see the results of this informal "experiment," to see if I'm able to bounce back quicker after this pregnancy and how my body will respond to these changes. I guess we'll all find out in a few months!!

My kinda smoothie

Today's Workout:
Treadmill (4 minutes running/1 minute walking=25 minutes)
Total Body Weights (Circuit-style, 3 sets of 12 reps for each exercise)
1A: Single-leg straight-leg deadlift
1B: Push-up
1C: Goblet squat
1D: Incline dumbbell chest press
1E: Dumbbell lunge

2A: Dumbbell sumo squat with heel raise
2B: Barbell skull crushers
2C: Walking lunges
2D: Incline dumbbell fly
2E: Dumbbell ab pulls

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Average Heart Rate: 143
Calories Burned: 670

After every workout, I always come home and make this smoothie. It's chock full of good, healthy ingredients and has a great combination of fats, carbs, and protein to aid in muscle recovery. It's also really tasty!!

Post-Workout Smoothie:

Ingredients:

3 ice cubes

Handful of raw spinach

Large spoonful of plain greek yogurt

Banana

Spoonful of chia seeds

Chocolate soymilk

I blend all of these ingredients for a few seconds in my magic bullet, and viola....

A YUMMY SHAKE!!

(I swear it tastes yummier than it looks!!)

Friday Favorites

Today's Workout:
Treadmill Workout (15 minutes of walking/running )
Total Body Weights Workout (circuit-style, 3 sets of 12 for each exercise)
1A: Dumbbell squat
1B: Cable row
1C: Dumbbell step-ups
1D: Lat pull-down
1E: Barbell straight-leg deadlift
2A: Biceps curl
2B: Dumbbell lateral lunge
2C: Dumbbell shoulder press
2D: Dumbbell sumo squat
2E: Ab pull-ups

I thought that each Friday I would post things that are my current "favorites" regarding health, fitness, food and just life in general. So here goes...

1. SPRING!!!
This definitely tops my list this morning. Today is actually a dark and gloomy day here in Maryland, but we've had enough nice days to make me really excited that spring is finally here. We love to drive around and see all the new blossoms on the trees and the flowers that are beginning to pop up.

(Image found here)

2. The PUSH-UP
This is one of my favorite workout moves because it works almost the entire body, can be done just about anywhere and requires no special equipment. I have to admit that these are getting harder and harder for me to do as my belly expands, but I still love 'em!!

(Image found here)

3. My Magic Bullet
Jason got this for me for Christmas and I use it just about everyday. There are lots of things that you can use it for, but mostly I just make smoothies with it and I absolutely LOVE it. It's super quick and easy to clean and makes a perfect single-serving-after-workout shake for me each day.

(Image found here)

So what are some things that you are loving today?

What's your choice?

Today's Workout:
60-minute Kickboxing class
35-minute walking on treadmill (5% incline)

I saw this quote recently and it really registered with me...

"There is going to be pain in your life. It is going to be the pain of discipline....or the pain of regret. What’s your choice?”

Sometimes it is painful to do what you know you should. Maybe it's getting up early to exercise or resisting something very yummy and eating spinach instead?!?!? I have definitely had my share of regrets when it comes to eating and even working out. I have never regretted passing up something fried for something a bit healthier nor have I ever regretted rolling out of bed for an early workout...but I have regretted making the opposite choice too many times to count.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely believe in moderation in all things, but there are many times when I eat (really I should say "overeat") something that is really not good for me and I feel so yucky afterward. I tend to really regret those decisions later. Like take Monday afternoon for example. I made the mistake of not eating lunch before I left to run some errands with the kids and I was STARVING before we were done. I picked up some raspberry lemonade for the kids at "Long John Silver" and before I even really thought about what I was doing, I had ordered myself a meal consisting of two pieces of fried chicken, fries and a Sprite (clean eating at it's finest, don't you think!?!?) While the food was pretty tasty (the fries at least, I ended up throwing most of the chicken away because it was pretty nasty), I walked out of there feeling so gross. Fried foods really don't agree with me much anymore and while I knew I would probably regret this feeling later, it didn't prevent me from indulging in the moment.

Even though I know that when I eat foods that are more natural and healthy, I feel SOOOO much better, I still don't always make the best decisions. I am improving slowly, but it is still a battle most days. I wish I was the type of person that could look at a really yummy desert and be satisfied with one or two bites, but I'm not. I feel like I HAVE to eat the whole thing, even if it will make me feel sick later. I am hoping to get to that place where I can be satisfied with just a nibble, but I am not there yet. (Sad story: Sometimes when I am eating something really good, I am thinking more about my next piece or serving of it rather than enjoying what I am eating right then!!)

(Photo found here)

(Hmmmmm, chocolate....I only wish I could get away with devouring it like this!!)

I guess that's why life and one's "diet" is a work in progress. I'll celebrate my successes and try to improve upon those weak moments.

Does anybody else struggle with making good choices when it comes to food or exercise?

Just Say No

Today's Workout:
Rest!!!

While I talked a lot in my last post about the great benefits of exercise while pregnant, I also need to point out the fact that I do tend to take more rest days when pregnant vs. non-pregnant. In general over the last few months, I have been averaging about 4-5 days of working out per week (probably closer to 4 most weeks.) Sundays are always my rest day, pregnant or not, but I tend to take 1-2 additional rest days during the week in order to give my body a bit of a break. It's a lot of work to make a baby after all!! So today was one of those rest days with no formal workout planned (but raising two small children=no REAL rest day, right?!?!)

I did have something interesting happen to me yesterday. I was walking into my doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon when a man stopped me. I really thought he was going to ask me for the time or maybe even directions on how to get someplace, but what he did actually ask me kind of took me by surprise (any guesses???) He asked me....


"Do you have a cigarette?"


Really? Really? I had to chuckle a bit as I said no. I think it's pretty obvious that I'm pregnant at this point and it's hard for me to fathom smoking at all, but especially while pregnant. Unfortunately I do see quite a few pregnant women smoking around town so maybe it wasn't such a weird question to be asking me....but really, shouldn't it be??

This picture is so sad to me. Here's a pregnant woman with a cigarette in one hand, complaining about the effects "on her unborn child from the sound of JACKHAMMERS!!!" (REALLY?!?!?)
(Picture found here)

One thing that I also find really bizarre is to see people smoking outside the gym and then to see them come inside to workout reeking of cigarette smoke. I admire these people for wanting to get healthy, and maybe they are really trying to quit, but it just seems counterproductive to run 30 minutes on the treadmill and then go outside for a smoke. I know nicotine is so powerfully addictive. I have had many friends and family members struggle for years trying to quit only to be drawn back again and again to this deadly habit. I really do admire those who are finally able to kick the habit for good and I'm very grateful I never had the desire to take it up.

Benefits of exercise for those "with child"

Today's Workout:
45-minute BodyJam workout (This wasn't a very strenuous workout really, but it was a lot of fun!)
35-minutes Eliptical

(Photo found here)

Sometimes while I'm at the gym, I get compliments for continuing to exercise while pregnant. But there are other times when I get some really strange looks and even a few comments such as "Are you sure you should still be doing that?" or "What would your doctor say?" or even "Be careful with the baby!" Generally these looks and comments come from older people (say 60+) and I know that advice back when these people were having babies was far different than today's recommendations. Pregnancy back in the 1960s was considered more of a disease than a natural phase of life and women were encouraged to lead pretty sedentary lives and engage in lots of bedrest. Of course like everything else, exercise during pregnancy has gone through phases of various recommendations. In 9 BC, Plutarch stated that the women of Sparta "...should harden their bodies with exercise of running, wrestling, throwing the bar, and casting the dart, so that they, by gathering strength thus by exercise, should more easily away the pains of childbearing" (Shrock).

Hmmmm....I think I would REALLY get some strange looks if I started wrestling and casting darts during my gym time!

Advice shifted again early in the twentieth century, with doctors who feared that exercise could damage the fetus, and recommended bed rest for even their most athletic patients.

However, another shift has occurred with the current generation that highly recommends exercise during pregnancy. According to Babycenter.com, there are seven great benefits of pregnancy exercise...

1. Boost your energy
2. Sleep better
3. Reduce pregnancy discomfort
4. Prepare for childbirth
5. Reduce stress and lift your spirits
6. Improve your self-image
7. Get your body back faster after childbirth

I also read that it can result in easier and shorter labors (woohoo, who wouldn't want this?!?!) Some studies have also shown that those who regularly engage in physical activity during pregnancy tended to have smaller and healthier children. Obviously this can be different for every person though. I have been blessed with two healthy children but certainly not "smaller" babies (at least at birth anyway.) I ran a marathon with my last baby and exercised up until the day of delivery and he still came out a chunky-monkey at 9 lb 14 oz. But I tend to believe that because I was in pretty good shape going into that delivery, his birth was fairly smooth and I pushed him out in less than 10 minutes despite his big size.

Of course, there are many cases when a woman should use extreme caution when exercising while pregnant and many others who are required to remain on bedrest for a good portion of their pregnancies. And it isn't always easy to get out there and do it even during a normal pregnancy, especially during the first trimester when nausea can be so bad and during the third trimester when tiredness, achiness, and general "largeness" are difficult to overcome. But for healthy and normal pregnancies, exercise is great for both mother and baby and has many lasting benefits. Maybe I should make a t-shirt with all of these benefits and wear it to the gym to avoid those well-intentioned but ill-informed comments!!

I'm baaaack!!

Today's Workout:
25 minutes on treadmill (4 minutes running + 1 minute walking)
Total Body Circuit Training (3 sets of 12 for all exercises/60 second planks)
1A: Single-leg dumbbell straight-leg deadlift
1B: Jumping pullup
1C: Dumbbell swings
1D: Cable row
1E: Side plank
2A: Barbell row
2B: Underhand grip lat pulldown
2C: Straight-leg deadlift
2D: Rear lateral raise
2E: Plank

So after a three-month hiatus, I've decided to bring this blog back to life!! I am now 28 weeks pregnant and I thought that regularly blogging about fitness again will help to keep me motivated for these last 12 weeks before delivery. I am amazed at how fast this pregnancy is flying by!!28 weeks down...12 to go

(Please excuse my awkward right hand in this photo...I can never quite figure out where to place it!!)

I do have to admit something kind of embarrasing though...I think I need to invest in some bladder protection pads here pretty soon!! I've never been able to run this far into pregnancy before (with both of my other two pregnancies, I've always had to stop right around 20 weeks or so because it was just too uncomfortable.) I'm happy to say that at almost 7 months I am still running but my bladder is quite compromised with the extra baby weight pressing down on it. This is especially true when I run. I came off the treadmill today pretty sweaty and admittedly a bit leaky too. Anybody else have this problem? Please tell me I'm not the only one with terrible bladder control these days!!

(Disclaimer: "Running" is a pretty relative term these days. I am definitely slower and can't go as far, but I am still out there plugging along so I will still continue to call it "running" although "jogging" or even "shuffling" may be a bit more accurate!!)

Being Sick

Yesterday's Workout: 45 minute BodyStep Call +
20 minute metabolic circuit workout from FBB
Today's Workout: Sleep!!!

I spent all of last night either sitting on or kneeling in front of a toilet so today definitely calls for a rest day. It's amazing how you can be feeling great all day (I had a great workout yesterday and even managed to do some running on some treadmills that we were checking out at Sears) and then have something like food poisoning totally wipe you out. I'm hoping that a day of rest and gradually eating and drinking again will have me back in my game before too long. It's amazing how much more you appreciate your health when it is gone for a bit.