My “Fit” Pregnancy – Week 23: Holding Strong
No doubt about it now… this bulging tummy is clearly not due to big time slacking in my nutrition and exercise habits. People can clearly see it’s a pregnancy tummy. Although my 23 week picture doesn’t show it as well, I’ve got a nice, round bowling ball. I’m now around 134 lbs; pre-pregnancy I was around 124/125 lbs. However, I’m proud to say I’m still wearing my normal jeans. Still feeling really good and able to keep my workouts going. Although, I’m realizing it’s time to take it down a few notches with some things. Sprinting has now been reduced to fast jogging. Box jumps are now fast step-ups. Burpees are now stepping back one leg at a time into a push-up position. The higher intensity versions were just putting too much pressure in my pelvic region and the muscles in my pelvic area would be so sore for 1-2 days. Just wasn’t worth it. Surprisingly, the baby and the placenta are developing perfectly. It’s just my body that can’t take it. What I’ve really learned with this pregnancy is that once you’ve trained yourself to use your muscles properly and to engage your core in any form of exercise you do, you really can’t untrain yourself doing those things. As a result, the muscles in my abdominal area, pelvic region, and inner thighs are causing me a bit of grief.
This kid, a girl BTW, is as active as her mom. If I’m not moving, she is. Like I say, training starts in the womb.
Here is a full-body circuit I came up with a couple weeks ago and it kicks my pregnant butt. It was more challenging than I expected, so would even be a good one for the non-pregnant. I burned ~450 calories and didn’t even step on a piece of cardio equipment. I was able to maintain a HR between 120-150 the entire time. The 70 minutes also flew by.
Warm-up w/ body weight exercises and jumping rope – 10 minutes
The Circuit – Repeat 3x
1. Fast step-ups onto a step bench (w/ 6 risers) – 2 minutes
2. Lateral hops over a step bench (w/ 6 risers) – 2 minutes
3. T-lunge with DB row x15/leg
4. Close-grip chest press/fly combo on stability ball x10-15 reps
5. DB tricep overhead press x12-15 reps
6. Alternating curtsy squat with a squat in the middle x10/side
7. Bicep curls (front, side, hammer) x6 sets (18 reps total)
8. Burpee push-ups x12
