Pregnancy Workout

For fun I thought I would post really quick what my workout routine has been for my Second Trimester. Through both of my pregnancies it's been a little frustrating trying to find a challenging, safe, and fun workout routine. I'm posting mine to give other moms or soon to be moms some ideas for their own workouts. All of my workouts are done at home or outside.

Just a little reminder that you are usually safe with any workout routine as long as it's something you've been maintaining before you got pregnant.

Monday: Total Body Workout ***full workout posted at the bottom**

Tuesday: My main goal is to get some cardio in. Denali and I have been going on an 8-10 mile bike ride together on these days. Once again, I had already been riding my bike a lot before getting pregnant and through out my first trimester. It's getting a bit too cold for bike rides so last week I went on a 2 mile run/walk with Denali. Some days I'm too exhausted and all I can do is walk a 1 mile, round trip, walk to the park with Denali. I think it's just important to get out, move, and increase your heart rate. 

Wednesday: I attend the Body Combat class at Golds Gym. I love, love, LOVE, this class. I honestly get a high from the energy in the room and the fun, but intense, workout. 

Thursday: My stretch day. I have terrible flexibility, always have. It would be better if I designated 15 or so minutes each day to stretching but it just never happens so I just have an hour each week that I focus on stretching. 

Friday/Saturday: These two days are always changing. I'll usually rest on Friday and go on a bike ride, take a spin class, go to TRX, or do my total body workout on Saturday. Sometimes it's flip flopped and Saturday I rest, or both days I exercise, or both days I rest. It really just depends on how i'm feeling and what my schedule is like.

Sunday: Rest day.

This workout schedule could be too much for some people or way easy for others. It works for myself and my body and I guess that's what's most important.

***Total Body Workout***

Warm Up: Running in place, jumping jacks, torso twists, just whatever to get moving and warmed up.

Main:
-Triceps Push Up (you could so it on your knees too) 15-20
-Hamstring Curl while in a Plank Position. Just start off in a plank (on your elbows and toes) and touch your heal to your butt, one leg at a time. 20
-Squat with an overhead shoulder press (with dumbbells or a barbell). 20
-Side Fly (with dumbbells) 20
-I don't know what to call this next exercise. Start on your hands and knees (or hands and toes). Touch your right knee to your left elbow. Switch and do other side. 20 Each side.
-Wall Squats with Exercise ball. Put the ball on the wall and back on the ball. 10 squats and hold in squat for 30 seconds. 3x
-MMA set. 30 jabs, each arm. 30 uppercuts with 5 lb weight. 2x
-Standing Side Crunch. Standing up, touch right elbow to right knee at the side of your body. Switch sides. 20 each side.
-Walking lunges. I'll probably have to switch this out from something else as I get farther along in the pregnancy. 30
-Bicep Curls. 20
-Seated Ab Twist. 20 each side. 
-Butt Lift Bridge. Hold hips up and alternate extending legs.

2 or 3 sets (depending on time and energy)
Should take about 45-60 minutes.

Cool Down: Walk and Stretch

I like this workout because I can do it at home, with only a few sets of dumbbells, while Denali is taking a nap. It does not put a lot of emphasis on lower body because I usually do a bike ride the next day.

You could change up the sets and reps to make it work for you and your different goals.

Hopefully it helped give you some ideas. Please feel free to leave any comments, suggestions, or questions! Thanks guys!

Day 60 of the 60 day challenge!!! (it's finally here!)

I haven't been posting recently because I've been taking a break physically which I think is exactly what my body needed! I dropped another 1.5 lbs and .5% in body fat just over the last week and a half. I am a perfect example of Over Training. I stopped seeing results so I worked harder when in fact that was my queue to slow it down. My body was yelling at me "dude! I'm tired and I can't keep up so I'm just going to shut down". Taking a week break gave my body time to recover completely and get back with the program.

Since I'm going on a cruise tomorrow and have honestly no time to get everything done that needs to be done my "Final Picture" is a little lame. It's your classic- take a picture of yourself flexing in the bathroom mirror. 

Here is the moment, that really maybe no one has been waiting for besides myself...my final stats and picture!

Weight: 123 lbs 

Body Fat %: 18.5

Chest: 33 inches

Waist: 29 1/2 inches

Hips: 36 inches 

So I actually only lost 1 lb from my original weigh in but I've lost 1.5 % body fat! The cool thing about those numbers is it shows that what you weigh doesn't matter! I was still getting healthier and stronger even though the scale wasn't moving. Since entering into the health and fitness industry, I have never been lower than 20% body fat! It's true though that my body looks very different after having a baby even though I'm more healthy now.

2.5 inches of my Chest (this could be due to the fact I'm not breast feeding anymore)

2 inches of my waist!

0 inches of my hips. 

The pants I'm wearing in the picture are pants that I have not been able to fit into since before getting married! It's a really great feeling to be back into them again.

How do I feel?! AMAZING! I have lots of energy, I feel strong, and the most important thing is that I like the way I look!  What is that main thing I want you to get from all this?! You have the ability to reach your goals WITHOUT fad dieting, buying expensive weight loss supplements, or spending hours and hours and hours at the gym! All it takes is a well designed training program, support, someone to report to, and some nutrition basics and advice.

Please ask me questions! Leave comments! Interested in some training? Need tips? Would anyone local be interested in free group boot camp classes this summer?

Tune in for my After Cruise Check up! We'll see how much damage is done on a week long vacation of all you can eat food.

City of Rocks + Over Training

First off, some pictures and recap of my trip to City of Rocks this last weekend. 

To make it quick I though I would list off some of the best and and not so great parts of the weekend since those are usually the most memorable.

BEST

-Family! Everyone from my family was there besides one of my bros and his family.  A lot of people are often surprised how close my family is to each other. Lets face it, they are my best...er...maybe my only friends I have these days. 

-Being out in the beautiful high altitude desert of Idaho. Typically I don't think of Idaho and say "oh ya it's so pretty there" (apart from the Tetons) but this trip was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was amazing as well.

-I left my makeup and nice clothes at home. I promised myself that I would not care AT ALL about what I looked like. It was amazing. 

-Top climbing a 5.10 b. I seriously roped in thinking dude there is no way im climbing this whole thing but lets just get up like 10 feet. I got to 10 feet and said lets go 20. This continued till I made it to the top. My heart was pumping crazy fast the entire time and my adrenaline running but that is the best part about climbing. 

-Lead climbing Too Much Fun. I've lead climbed harder climbs than this but this one was particularly amazing to me. At one point I started to lose my grip, like seriously lose it! I was about 5 feet up from my last bolt which meant that if I fell I would fall at least 10 feet before being caught. I was really scared that I was actually going to fall which I have never done while lead climbing. I remember having enough time to tell my self to calm down and just keep holding on a second longer. The good new is that I didn't fall and it was amazing to make it through knowing that I had accomplished something like that.

-I had the guts to climb in just my sports bra. I've totally always wanted to do it so I did and it was fun. Silly, I know, but its true.

NOT SO GREAT

-Getting a $90 speeding ticket on our way up.

-Having some of the worst head ache through out the trip. + Nausea.

-Family. There were a lot of us which means I did 2 climbs in 2 days. That's how it goes though. :)

I love my dad's "Rock Climbing Clothes"

I think I'll cherish this picture for a long time. Those hands are so familiar to me.

When I first started my 60 day challenge I told myself over and over again to not over train. I told myself this again and again through out the weeks and yet here I am, over trained. I don't think I'm terrible right now but if I don't keep my workouts under control then I could be in big trouble. I'm tired ALL THE TIME, huge lack of motivation, got sick last week, difficultly sleeping this weekend.
I honestly don't think the duration or the frequency of my workout schedule is a problem but I push myself to the limit every time. Every second of  every bike ride I feel like my legs might give out or maybe even just pop right out of the hip socket and I'll see them laying on the ground behind me. I push myself to failure every time.
SOOOOO yesterday I took the day off and I also ate a big fat peanut butter bar and it was awesome! I don't feel bad about it and I don't feel like either hindered my progress but rather helped.

Today I went for a 30 minute easy ride.

13 More Days!

So here I am, only 13 more days till the "Big Reveal" as my sister put it.

WEEKLY STATS

Weight: 125.5 lbs (1.5 lbs up from last week)
Body Fat %: 19
BMI: 22.9

Waist: 30 1/4 inches (-1/4 from last week but we'll say no change becasue that could just be that I didn't eat as much this morning)
Hips: 36 inches
Chest: 33.5 inches (-.5 inches)

Pretty much this week i've seen no change apart from gaining 1.5 lbs. I don't really pay too much attention to weight though. Weight is a terrible indicator of health and wellness.

Something cool that I noticed while working out in my body combat class is that at the beginning of my 60 days I could last a half hour in that class. Now I can work my very hardest through out the duration of the class and still feel up for more. That right there is a big WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This same thing goes along with all my weight training. 1 hour seemed like an eternity at the gym, now it feels like 15 minutes.

One of my goals that I actually took on a while ago was to be able to do 15 pull ups by the time I went on my cruise. I wasn't able to do a single one 4 months ago and I can now do 7. It's not 15 but I've still got 2 weeks right? ;)

I can now fall asleep quickly! Before I started my 60 day challenge and a little bit in the beginning I was having a really hard time sleeping. Now I lay in bed and pass out in 2 minutes + I have tons of sustained energy through out the day.

When I started the 60 day challenge I would seriously eat a whole sleeve a cookies or 18 pieces of candy. Candy or cookies was one of the things on my grocery list and Andrew and I would eat some (or a lot) every night. Now both of us have broken that habit that we've had for 2 years.

TUESDAY
Interval training in target heart rate zones.

I have to take continuing education credits to re-certify through NASM every 2 years. I just took a Cardio for Weight Loss course that gave me a great insight to maximizing your Cardio.
I already knew about finding your target heart rate zones and how to use them but I didn't know why you used them in certain ways and why certain programs where designed the way they were. Now I can actually design my own programs! Woot woot!

WEDNESDAY
Rest

THURSDAY
45 minute bike ride with Denali-Hills
30 minute upper body weight training

Days 25, 24, 23, & 22

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Body Combat. Have I mentioned how much I love this class? Any stress of the day or the week just flies out the window. This. Class. Is. Amazing!

Sunday: A much needed rest day. After Saturday's class Andrew and I went to the Zoo and I was exhausted! Climbing up the small hills they have there totally wiped me out and every time I would squat down to check on Denali and stand back up I would get really light headed. This all made me nervous that I'm over training so I really needed this rest day.

Monday: 20 minutes of core on the TRX. 1 hour hike. 1 really, REALLY tough climbing rout. Seriously I almost peed my pants.  On the hike out from where we were climbing Andrew slipped and gashed his leg open on a sharp rock. I was actually hiking ahead and didn't even know it happened till we got home and Andrew finally told me. I could tell it was deep but since it was so bloody I didn't realize how bad it was. I told him the hop in the shower and we would see what needed to be done after. After he showered I told one look at it, put some gauze on it, wrapped it up, and took him to get stitches.  So we spent the evening at Instacare. It was pretty gnarly, you could see tendons and all sorts of stuff.

Forgot to take a before picture! What was I thinking?

Yesterday I had Andrew take pictures of me so I could personally get motivated by any improvement, or maybe a lack of improvement. I'm sure you can guess that the improvement isn't great by the lack of posted pictures. I honestly could see only the tiniest of changes. Talk about discouraging. I feel tough and buff but it's definitely not showing. Want to know why? DIET! I've really gone off the deep end now that I don't have an app tracking my calories. I've got 3 weeks until I leave on my cruise. Still I don't believe that you have to go on a crazy diet to lose weight but lets see what a little food management can do for me in 3 weeks.

What did yall do for the holiday weekend? Hopefully there were no trips to Instacare or worse! 

Stay classy.

Laura out.

Day 29, 28, 27, and 26

Saturday:
Stair stepper - 40 min

Sunday:
Rest

Monday:
Total Body TRX - 1 hr

Tuesday:
Bike Ride -18 miles/ 1 hr
Dude this was HARD! I knew I only had so much time on the bike before Denali would get tired of it and freak out. I figured I had 1 hour and I wanted to ride as hard as I could. I made it 18 miles in one hr, including baby stops. No wonder I'm so crazy pooped and tired today. My HR watch said I burned around 700 calories!
The craziest part was that Denali fell asleep for about 20 minutes on the way back. Kids are crazy. I don't know how she slept slumped over in her chair, bumping around on the bike.

One Year

Today is my daughter Denali's one year birthday! It's been an entire year since that amazing amazing day when I labored for 15 hours and put my body through hell, for the most amazing outcome. Since this is my fitness blog I won't be sharing much about her, but about my journey over the past year.

I remember when I went out for my first walk postpartum. It was literally around the block and I was totally exhausted. I came home and went right back to bed and was sore for days.  I remember thinking "I have a LONG road in front of me" and it really has been. I never wrote down my goals but I think my one year goals were to weigh the same as  I did before I got pregnant and to have a "hot bod". Well I don't know if you can say I have a hot bod but I think it looks pretty darn good! I have less body fat than I did and I weigh less than I did. I'm actually in better shape than I was before getting pregnant with Denali which I didn't expect. Also during the past year I have accomplished a lifetime goal of completing a half marathon and on top of that have ridden 50 miles on my bike and am still training for a full 100.

Here are my measurements from 6 weeks postpartum vs today:

Weight- 142.5 lbs (I was 165 lbs the day I delivered) 124 lbs (-18 lbs)

Body Fat %  25.7 19% (-6.7 %)
BMI 26  22.7

Measurements in inches (right side of body)
Bicep- 11.5 9.5 (-2)
Chest- 37 34 (-3)
Waist- 35.5  30.5 (-5)
Hips- 40 36 (-4)
Thigh- 23  20.5 (-2.5)
Calf- 13.5  11.5 (-2)
                = -18.5 inches

Wow! I was honestly not expecting such big changes. I feel so incredibly blessed to have the body I have. That it moves the way it's supposed to, that I have all 4 limbs, that I have the ability to do the things I want to do. I'm so grateful as well that Denali and Andrew have really great health.

I think the biggest help for me during the last year is that my husband tells me I'm beautiful everyday. This huge self esteem boost has helped me be okay with who I am and what I look like at any stage. I think it's important that you become friends with yourself or you'll never make it through your weight loss and wellness goals. If you become too obsessed with being the perfect this or the perfect that then you'll lose hope. You have to celebrate the things you've done right, not the things you've done wrong.