I had a great Monday today. I went grocery shopping with no drama. I managed to remain pretty productive without feeling stressed. All of your comments on my “Put Up or Shut Up” post made me feel much better. We have a laid back night of leftovers (whole wheat linguine with sauteed veggies) ahead of us. And I fit in a great spin workout this afternoon. I love the instructor at that class time. She gets working out while pregnant and doesn’t feel the need to baby me or question me all the time. You know how much that means to me.

Oh, workouts! How I love thee. You have seen and heard a plethora of my adoration for maintaining exercise during pregnancy. From photos to videos -

Even during pregnancy I seek out a good workout high. I always make sure to do so safely though. Which brings me to this reader’s question:

What type of modifications do you make for working out while pregnant? How do you work out your ab muscles? How do you avoid laying on your back for chest presses etc. I need tips 🙂

First of all, congrats to whichever reader needs these tips! I’m here for any support you may need in the months to come. As for the question, I will list out some of the things I do or keep in mind for pregnancy fitness:

• I never try new workouts. I only participate in things I know my body can handle and that I know how to adapt for my body’s needs.
• I never allow myself to feel winded or like I’m exerting myself much. I work out at a comfortable state – enough to feel like I’ve done something but not leave me fatigued in any way at the end.
• I do not do targeted ab exercises. This is purely personal preference. I focus on keeping good posture and using good form in other activities (like during spin or while lifting weights), which naturally will work the core. I regained core strength just fine after M and didn’t suffer a diastasis.
• I stay off my back after the first trimester by doing moves on an incline bench. I either use the incline benches at the gym or during Power set my step up with 3 risers on one side and 1 on the other. This mostly affects chest work, since I do not do abdominal training.
• I don’t do high impact moves after the first trimester. So no jumping in kickboxing, no high intensity plyometric drills, no running, etc for me. Although if I had been running regularly before pregnancy, I may have felt comfortable continuing that.
• I stop any activity that becomes painful at ALL. Don’t risk it for the sake of finishing a workout. I have had days where I have to stop after 10-15 minutes instead of completing a planned 40 minutes to an hour.
• I take more rest days. I take two FULL rest days from exercise and one “active rest” day where I will do a lighter walk or yoga.

Those things work well for me, but as always if you have any specific questions check with your doctor/midwife. And listen to your body! Always!

• What type of workout have you been doing the longest? How long? When I think about it I guess I would have to say kickboxing. I did some TaeBo videos before buying my own fitness DVDs and Cathe’s Kick Punch & Crunch was the first fitness DVD I purchased…8 years ago! Wow! Maybe that’s why I can still do all of that at 8 months pregnant?

I don’t like feeling juxtaposed between not eating as well as I would like but having no motivation to change right now. I don’t like feeling caught between knowing my body produces a miracle and worrying about getting in shape after baby B arrives. I know I explained before that I feel unlike myself at times and this is one of those times.

It all started when I began craving sweets and giving in to  those cravings regularly. Then, I began to question my eating habits and if I was pulling the “I’m pregnant, so I don’t care” card. I certainly do care because I want to provide my body what it needs. Then, I became frustrated as I realized I didn’t want to feel restricted, even if it meant eating more of the “bad” foods than I typically like. This lack of motivation had me bemoaning my choices and questioning whether I would gain too much weight and then not be able to get back in shape over the next year. It left me analyzing and critiquing my body, instead of embracing it even in its bigger state.

I’m only human and these mental games get to me too. For awhile I didn’t even try to stop them, even though I fully recognized them. Perhaps they felt comforting in an old, familiar way? Perhaps I knew that when it boiled down to it I feared my decision. Would I “put up or shut up” so to speak? Typically I am a “put up” girl – make the changes you know will leave you feeling better physically and then mentally. In the last 6-8 weeks of pregnancy though? I’m going to “shut up”. I know the changes I would like to make would feel very forced right now and done more out of guilt or what I should do over what I want to do.

I will still focus on consuming healthy meals the majority of the time and not criticize myself for treats above the norm. I will remember its completely okay to not want to worry the last bit of my (hopefully) last pregnancy. I will “shut up” those negative thoughts about my body because I know it is temporary and I have faith in myself to accomplish everything I hope fitness wise post-baby. I may not be making a ton of changes yet, but I don’t want to make the end of this pregnancy any harder on myself by adding in mental games.

I had to get a grip on myself before my baby shower after all. My good friends from church wanted to throw us a shower in combo with a Thanksgiving lunch to help us start stocking up on baby boy clothes and other baby necessities. Here’s a few shots from the party. I’ll let them speak for themselves of the good time I had – no mental games included. 😉

• What was the best part of your weekend? I love my friends and all the support that they continue to show!
• When have you had to “put up or shut up” in something?
• Today is the last day to enter the Exercise TV giveaway!