First workout after Wren

I finally started working out again yesterday. You would think seeing as this is the third time I have begun this journey postpartum that I  would be a pro. After the birth of Bean I got myself into better shape than I had ever been in, and after Tadpole I had gotten myself into the best shape of my life. Last year, I had the most muscle mass I have ever had, the least amount of body fat in my entire adult life, a visible 6 pack, and I  was stronger than ever before.  I can't say I am not a little discouraged, at the moment, trying to get back to where I was. It isn't as exciting as when you first accomplish a goal, but I need to get back to where I was.

For one thing I love to workout. I love the challenge, and compound lifting gives me an awesome challenge. I also need to get back to where I was, not just for me, but for the people I love the most.  I  need to exercise for my health. Being de-conditioned makes me so much more symptomatic with my POTS which makes my daily life a lot harder, and leaves a very exhausted Mama to care for 3 little ones. Mentally I feel so much better when I exercise which makes facing the physical issues I deal with a lot easier to cope with.

 So people ask how I make time to exercise so often (which is there way of politely trying to really ask  how I don't feel selfish as a mother working out so much), or how do I workout with all the health issues I said I have. All I have to say is that working out makes me a better mother. It helps me physically accomplish what I need to do to take care of my children, it gives me a time out from everyone needing something from me, and it teaches my sons and soon my daughter that women are strong and capable.

So where I'm  at currently:  Wren is 10 weeks old. I have about 10 pounds to lose, give or take. I don't focus as much on weight as I used to as muscle mass can easily change the scale. I did some circuit training in my house yesterday and worked out for about an hour. I did squats using an exercise ball, reverse hyperextensions on the exercise ball, overhead band pull downs, chin-ups, push-ups, single leg bridges using my couch, a bunch of other exercises I do for my hip issues, and I jump roped for quite a while. Overall I was discouraged by how weak I have become after being so sick this pregnancy, but I was also pleasantly surprised with how much I actually did do yesterday. I didn't keep diligent track of my workout yesterday like I normally do, because basically my goals yesterday were to do anything in the realm of exercise to assess where I am at. I am pretty sore and the idea of sitting makes my quads cringe, so all in all I think this is a good start.Pin It

Lucky Number Seven

The most difficult part of blogging for me, is posting pictures and videos of myself, so I usually just stick to using everyone else for that. However, now that I am slowly trying to blog more about  warrior woman world, I suppose I have no choice.  Not to mention that a certain individual started a conversation on my facebook page about it and now I feel like I must follow through. So here it is, all 7 chin-ups. 

Pin It

Warrior Woman, Gym Rat WHAT???

I suppose one really important part of my life, the time I spend exercising, has not made it up on my blog very often. In my early blog posts, I used to add a brief synopsis of my daily exercise goals and back then, it was pretty much all about running. I have been a runner most of my life. I became injured from running in high school, started taking yoga classes and became a yoga instructor at 17. Yoga made it possible for me to run again and basically my fitness regime involved running and yoga.

Last year in nursing school, because 20 college credits and being the Mama of two small boys wasn't enough,  I entered the 911 fitness challenge with hubby and started lifting for the first time in my life. I was bored. I wanted to hate it. I decided I was doing it just for quality time with my hubby. It grew on me. I felt strong. It was challenging. Challenging is appealing to my innate personality.  I don't want to admit it but... I love it.

OK, there I said it. What, you can't read that font size?  Well then, for further clarification,  "I am a gym rat."

 I don't know how it happened, but there is something about lifting that is empowering. I feel strong, and I love it. One of my favorite parts of the day is heading to the YMCA, seeing all the friendly familiar faces, racking my weights, and challenging myself to do better than the last time.

The weight training was a little short lived because I had been having issues with my hip since Tadpole was born and the pain was getting unmanageable. I stopped every form of exercise this past October, and made a commitment to healing my body. I went to physical therapy and followed all of the rules. My physical therapist told me if I stopped exercising he was convinced I could get better. At that point I was willing to do anything to reduce the pain. I had to grow a lot. I never realized how much my flexibility had become part of my ego. The physical therapist told me my flexibility and the laxity of my ligaments was my biggest issue and was why I had to let go of being gumby. I also had been experiencing so many health issues I started taking an objective look at my diet. Once again I had to let go of my ego, as I gave up my vegetarian lifestyle. I am slowly moving into a 100% primal diet. It has been mentally and spiritually challenging, but the physical benefits I can not deny.  I am finally not miserable all day suffering from chronic pain. My hip only bothers me sometimes now, which to me is nothing short of a miracle or a very dedicated physical therapist who had faith in my ability to heal and was patient enough to allow for this to happen. Since March, I have been back to lifting and light running, but still seeing my physical therapist.

After a few weeks in the gym, Rock and I decided to start a 12- week program, Jim Stoppani's 12-week shortcut to size. When Rock sent me this workout, the title alone freaked me out. See not too many married couples workout. A lot of people argue that men and women need to do different types of exercise. Besides a few differences that Rock and I work into the week, I am calling their bluff on this and saying it is one of the best things we do for our marriage. I compromised and gave the workout a go. I actually really enjoyed it and was happy with the results. I was reluctant to move on four weeks ago when we were finished with it.

When Rock came to me with the idea of doing a 5-3-1 program, which is a program focused around compound lifting, I was skeptical(sounds like a theme in this post). I realize we exercise at the Y, which is not a very accurate assessment of the gym world, but still, I am the only female at our gym that squats in the cage with real weight.
I read over the workout and looked at him "100 chinups/pull-ups a week??? Anywhere between 75-85 squats (including warm-up) a workout?"

I kept reading the rest and once again I decided to give it a go, because working out with Rock is better than working out alone. I am definitely the compromiser in our workout world seeing as he has yet to take up running with me.

So far, this workout kicks ass and in 3 short weeks I am able to do 4 consecutive chin-ups on my own so I guess doing 100 of them a week with assistance really is paying off. I squat like a champ and I think if we ever get around to baby number 3 I am going to be able to squat and catch my own baby like a birth Goddess (if your wondering where that came from, then you are new to this blog, and you don't know that I am a doula and an aspiring midwife) Most importantly,  I feel stronger mentally, physically, and spiritually.



Pin It

This puny little bicep...

Seeing as it is Saturday, and therefore a work day for  Rock, this post exists. I think my new favorite day in the gym is back and biceps. See, I loathe(hate is just too kind of a word) my arms.  No matter how much I work on them, they look undefined and just fat in pictures, but I have found something to love about them; they are STRONG, whether they look it or not. Below is a pic of Rock's left bicep(see pic on the right just in case you thought that was my hairy armpit) and I apologize for the shadow over the top of his big muscles made by his hand in the sun, but I couldn't actually ask him to pose for this post! To the left is my puny little bicep. So why do I love back and bicep day.... because this puny little bicep KICKS Rock's muscular man bicep into the ground on back and bicep day. So those puny little biceps are only lifting 5 pounds less than those massive man biceps when we are doing dumbbell curls. That's right only a 5 pound difference, and seeing as I weigh 40 pounds less than my hubby, I say I WIN. And no it isn't beneath me to pick on him in the gym  as we near the end of our workout, or on my blog. 

Pin It

Running with kids

While I am at my parents I have been running on the treadmill, which got me thinking about how lonely it is running without my boys. I've been running with a baby jogger for three years now. When I go on a run without my children, I feel like I left my legs behind or something.

One particular evening about a month ago, I really wasn't in the mood to run and it was so windy out but I knew I would be happy when I finished. I was actually going to go out running alone because of the wind, but Bean insisted on coming. I loaded him up in the jogger with snacks, a drink, and books. It was so windy that the jogger was moving with the wind, so the resistance when running against the wind, was intense. Every 2 minutes, Bean was insisting I stop the jogger.

"Mommy here, I am done with my juice."

"Mommy a kitty cat"

"Mommy I need...."

"Mommy look...."

The only people I will stop for when I am running are my boys. They hold a very special place in my heart, but it is hard to stop and start and stop and start and talk to Bean most of the time. It is physically draining. On a normal day, I can hear him while I am running and answer some questions but on this day with the wind, I couldn't tell if he was just talking, or if he needed something.

After 3 miles, I stopped back off at the house for my water bottle outside, and told Bean he could go inside and play if he wanted, but I wasn't quite finished. He insisted on staying with me. We made it maybe 100 feet and I here "MA " and I can't hear the rest because of the wind. More of Bean talking but I can't hear anything. Now I am physically exhausted running in all of this wind and I just want to finish and I can't take it anymore...

"Bean I can't hear you because of the wind, WHAT DO YOU NEED AND IF IT IS NOTHING CAN YOU PLEASE STOP TTTAAALLLKIIINNNGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I look up and in front of me is a family outside of their house. The woman is with the dog trainer walking the family dog. The father is in the driveway with two boys that appear to be the same ages as my two boys. The first thought in my head was .... "Don't stare at me like I am some selfish mommy who only cares about her exercise, I want credit for the 15 times I have stopped and quietly and calmly accommodated every single one of his little requests." " I want credit, CREDIT!!!!!!!!!" The second thought in my head was "wonderful, I finally find a family with kids close in age to mine, and they are NEVER going to hang out with us now!



Gratitude List
* my parents
* friends
* chai tea
*hope
*sleeping in this morning thanks to my Mom


Running: Saturday I ran 5 miles and Sunday I ran 4 miles for speed. I have taken the rest of the week off with visiting Birmingham and everything else. I have been working on those pull-ups too.Pin It