My “Fit” Pregnancy – Week 15 (Plus a good leg workout for you to try)
I just closed out week 15 and now my bump in the front is starting to be a more obvious “baby” bump. At least in my workout clothes. Most would not know I was pregnant in my normal clothes. At this point, I’m using RPE to monitor my intensity levels but still trying not to go over 160 bpm. Many would say that is high, but I’m pretty well conditioned so I would rate this about a 7 or 8 (out of 10) based on RPE. I try to stay in 150 range, which is ~75% of my max HR. I’ve also cut-out abdominal work (started that about 3 weeks ago). During pregnancy, your abdominal muscles and ligaments stretch out and relax to make room for the baby (in a basis sense). This has been somewhat of a painful process for me because my abdominal muscles are stronger and tighter than most. So I get these sharp pains/cramps every now and then. They usually occur at night when I’m tossing/turning, so they jolt me awake. I’ve cut-out the abdominal work and am being careful of doing exercises that have heavy core engagement. Other than watching my intensity and cutting out the abdominal work, it is business as usual in the gym. I’ll soon be cutting out exercises that involve lying in a supine position. Lying in this position is not optimal for the baby to get good blood flow from Mom. Pregnant women should not sleep on their backs for the same reason. If there is a substitute exercise for a supine position one, I’ve already started implementing the substitute. Such as with DB chest press; instead of lying flat on a bench or ball, I’ve been using an incline bench. As you can see, all it takes is some minor changes.
Overall, I’m feeling very good (way better than the month of June). I still have those extreme tiredness moments, but that could be just from life in general. I think I’ve gained about 3 pounds at this point. I’m still sticking to a clean diet for the most part. But not being as strict with it as I usually am when I’m not pregnant. I need the extra couple hundred calories a day anyway. Below is a pic of me around 14.5 weeks.
Here’s a good, quick leg workout I did the other day. I was sore the next day, but not so sore that I couldn’t walk up the stair in my house. And the soreness started to subside by the second day. As you can see, pregnancy hasn’t held me back too much.
Warm-up:
· Jump rope x500 jumps
· BW prisoner squats x50 (you could also do some alternating lunges)
Set 1:
· DB squats x15 (30 lb DBs)
· Jump squats x15 (holding 10 lb DBs)
· 1-arm DB swings x20/arm (15 lb DB)
· Repeat for a total of 3 sets
· Jump rope x500 jumps
Set 2:
· Elevated split squats (1 foot on a low bench w/ all BW forward) x15/leg (20 lb DBs)
· Jump lunges x10 (holding 10 lb DBs)
· Burpee push-ups x15
· Repeat for a total of 3 sets
· Jump rope x500 jumps
Set 3:
· Stability ball hamstring curls
o Single leg x20/leg
o Both legs x20
