The P.W.O.D. Diaries
“Pregnancy Workout of the Day”
As most of the TorqueNation community knows, I am pregnant with my first baby! Tomorrow I am officially 19 weeks pregnant. My goal is to share some of my experiences as I continue to CrossFit with a +1.
It’s like wearing a weight vest for every workout.
When Sara and I first found out I was pregnant, my first thought was “aw man, no more box jumps!” [insert sarcastic voice] – box jumps are actually not something I typically enjoy so I was okay with this new development. But what did that mean for everything else…
I’ve coached over 12 women in the past 6 years who have gone from day one of pregnancy to the day of labor as members at CrossFit Torque. I knew what to say to them, how to encourage them, what movements they should try to avoid and the ones to modify.
But I’ll be honest, when it came to myself I was having a hard time accepting some of the new realities!
First of all, breathing. Breathing is SO different when you’re growing something inside of you. The body gives the baby priority, not you anymore. That meant the simple task of explaining a strict press with a PVC pipe while coaching the 5:15am class, meant I was immediately out of breath.
Nevermind the warm-ups! As CrossFitters, we always joke that our warm-ups are other [outsiders] workouts; our warm-ups are known to be on the difficult side. Well this quickly became my workout. Completing the warm-up was a success in my book! Ask Coach Jake – I would joke that this was it for me, I was done with class after completing his five minute warm-up.
Lifting has changed a little bit for me. I now try to stay at 50-75% of my previous maxes, in order to keep my body safe. The hormone relaxin that’s running rampant in my body since day one of pregnancy, is prepping my ligaments labor; but what about the 9 months leading up to that day? Yeah it doesn’t discriminate; everything is a little looser in my body now. I can feel it when I get out of bed in the morning, or when I catch the bar in a full squat. I keep myself in check on a daily basis, and see my chiropractor every two weeks to make sure everything is still aligned properly in my hips!
Being pregnant and having the ability to continue to CrossFit has been a blessing. I had a really great first trimester, putting aside the complete exhaustion (I still apologize to those folks who I coached at either 5:15am or 6pm when I was a walking zombie!), and my second trimester is going well so far!
It’s incredibly important for me to continue to stay healthy, for myself post pregnancy, but more importantly for the health of my baby. It’s a lot easier to just sit on the couch every day and let the baby do it’s thing, but man it feels great to get a sweat on and keep my body healthy!
Here are a few excerpts from current and past pregnant athletes!
Lindsey B (currently 9 months pregnant and worked out two days ago!):
“1) I’m no Doctor, but its not a coincidence I’ve felt great this entire pregnancy and kept working out.
2) After running with a 25 pound weighted vest and then running at (almost) 39 weeks pregnant, I can confidently say running pregnant is easier!
3) Squats get easier the deeper you are into your pregnancy. Your belly effortlessly pushes your knee out.
4) Now you can say, “I’ve done all these workouts weighted!””
Christine J (her son is now 19 months):
“Doing CrossFit during my 3rd pregnancy made a world of difference. I had worked out with both of my other pregnancies, but on my own, and nothing compared to what I did with CrossFit . In my experience, during the first trimester, when you don’t really “feel” pregnant (other than extreme fatigue and a touch of nausea) I noticed that I was able to perform most movements RX, I didn’t really need to scale much until I started showing (beginning of second trimester.) That’s when I noticed it was a bit more difficult to catch my breath during metabolic stuff, and that the belly started getting in the way a bit for things like burpees, cleans, and snatches. I still did most everything, and just modified weight and sometimes scaled back intensity. I honestly feel that it helped me feel better and recover faster both during and after the pregnancy too. I was able to sustain working out up until 3 weeks before delivery. I could have gone until the end, but being this was my 3rd child and I was scheduled for my 3rd c-section, I didn’t want to end up in spontaneous labor for any reason! I would definitely recommend listening to your body, because every pregnancy and every woman’s experiences are different. But as long as your Doctor is okay with it, keep on going with it!
