Kickboxing Chic’s BodyBlog

I’m nearly halfway and still most people don’t know I’m pregnant unless I tell them. But I sure feel like it and my pictures show it for sure. I weighed myself the other day and I’ve gained about 6-7 pounds so far. I gained 22 lbs with my first, so I hope I end up around the same with this one. I’m now reaching the point where I’ll need to start breaking out the maternity pants… at least the early stage ones with a wide-stretching waistband. Since low-rise pants/jeans have been the fashion over the past few years, I’ve been able to make my regular pants last longer since they ride below my baby bump. As for gym attire, I’ve given up on tank-style tops as they don’t cover my belly and just ride up (very uncomfortable). And since I don’t complete a workout without being drench with sweat, baggy cotton t-shirts are not my thing either. I just go with sports bra style tops and let my protruding mid-riff show. In the gym, it is more obvious that I’m pregnant and I often get double-takes (mostly from guys) because people can’t believe this pregnant girl is doing bench press, BB deadlifts, squats, sprints on the treadmill, etc. I’m like ‘hey, I’m not disabled… just pregnant!’ It will be even more amusing when I’m closer to 7 months and still doing steps-ups w/ DBs.

Speaking of training… it is time for more modifications. I’ve transitioned to doing push-ups on my knees for the most part. It is also probably time to either maintain or lower the amount of weight I use for most exercises and work within a 12-15 rep range. When I use heavier weights and work in an 8-10 rep range, I engage too much core. Which contradicts with what I should be doing… relaxing my core so this kid doesn’t have to fight for space with hard abdominal muscles. Other than kneeling push-ups and lighter weights, I’m still following my usual routine while watching my intensity and not doing things that just don’t feel right.

I don’t have any new, good routines to share this time, except for some cardio intervals. Since I can’t push my HR into the 85%+ zone, I’m doing longer bouts of cardio. Here’s a couple I’ve come up with:

Treadmill – Jogging/Incline Walking
·         Warm-up with walking, light jogging, or a combination of both – 5-7 minutes

·         Incline walking @ 4 mph w/ the grade set to the max level or close to it – 5 minutes

·         Jogging @ 6 mph w/ a flat or low grade – 5 minutes

·         Repeat the incline walking/jogging interval 3 or 4 times for a total workout time of 35-45 minutes (including warm-up)

·         Cool-down

·         Note: You’ll find the incline walking more challenging and increases your HR more than the jogging. At least, that’s the case for me.

Elliptical – Pyramid
(Note: I used a resistance scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most difficult. Since resistance levels vary by machine, just use the 1-10 scale as a guide.)

·         Warm-up at a moderate pace/resistance – 5 minutes

·         Max effort on L7 – 1 minutes

·         Active recovery – 30 seconds

·         Max effort on L8 – 2 minutes

·         Active recovery – 30 seconds

·         Max effort on L9 – 3 minutes

·         Active recovery – 30 seconds or 1 minute if needed

·         Max effort on L9 – 4 minutes

·         Active recovery – 1 minute

·         Go back down the pyramid starting with max effort for 4 minutes

·         Cool-down

Be sure to have your music player of choice loaded with high energy tunes and a well-charged battery. I personally have been enjoying Disturbed, Seether, and Buckcherry during my cardio sessions lately. Enjoy!

There is this poster at one of my gyms that says “Cardio doesn’t have to be hard”. The poster is part of a series of posters for some supplement company (I won’t disclose the name as they should be embarrassed for making such a statement). When I first saw this poster, conveniently hung behind the row of treadmills, I’m like “what??!!” If cardio was easy and gave you the same results as “hard” cardio, then wouldn’t everyone be doing cardio all the time? I, personally, am not a big fan of cardio. But it is an unfortunate necessity to a lean body. I enjoy some group fitness classes (indoor cycling and bag/gloves kickboxing), but classes rarely align with my schedule. So I’m left to my own devices. In which case, I hit it hard and get it over with as quickly as I can without killing myself. As mentioned in previous posts, I’m a big proponent of HIIT. Meeting my sweat and calorie quota through a quick cardio HIIT session is usually not a problem. And with a warm-up and cool down, cardio is done and over with in about 25 minutes. Here are a few things I do to keep cardio interesting and challenging:

·         Endless versions HIIT cardio – I created several flavors of HIIT cardio. You can adjust the work/rest interval periods, resistance (stationary bikes, elliptical), incline (treadmill), and speed. There are so many factors to play with that the options are virtually endless.

·         Hit the pavement – Although I trained for and ran a marathon once, I no longer go out for a “run.” The primary reason being that I’m afraid of dogs (a dog took a bite out of the back of my hamstring several years ago while jogging). So what I do now is sprint up/down my street. We live in a cul de sac that takes a sharp incline about 2/3 of the way up. I sprint up and jog back; rinse and repeat about 10 times. There is also this very short, yet very steep hill around the corner from my house. I’ll also throw in a few sets of high knees or high skipping up this steep sucker (jog down). Now we’re talking lactic acid.

·         Vary the equipment – I alternate between the elliptical, treadmill, and stepmill. And sometimes I just put on my boxing gloves and hammer away at my punching bag. Before I know it, my hair is a sweaty mess.

·         Do plyometrics and BW exercises instead – I also get my cardio fill by putting together 5 or 6 high intensity exercises, such as box jumps, burpees, jump squats, jump lunges, jumping jacks, etc, into a circuit. Then repeat 3-4 times. I can easily maintain a 70-85% max HR, plus plyometrics can be used for strength training too (bonus!!)

With that, I completely disagree that “cardio doesn’t have to be hard.” If you want to see results and don’t have 3 hours to spend in the gym, cardio needs to be hard and challenging work.