Pregnancy workouts: Lifting
Next up in the pregnancy workout series is strength training!
This one is near and dear to my heart because as a soccer player my whole life, running was something that came super natural to me and was my exercise on the daily.
But what really helped me change my body after kids? WEIGHTS.
((And of course, diet. ))
Anyway, my first pregnancy I legit had allllll the time in the world so I was able to spend as much time as I wanted working out. That meant training on the ball, running, and continuing my weight sessions in the gym. I also swam as I spoke of in the pregnancy series #2.
After I had my first baby, I simply didn’t have enough time to fit in all of the cardio I wanted AND the weights.
And let’s be honest, I didn’t WANT to or have the energy. The cardio that I did do was a lot of walking & running with the stroller and I chose to prioritize my time away from my son with strength training. Weights are what got me where I wanted to be postpartum.
Fast forward to pregnancy two, and it was a lot harder to stay fit during pregnancy, because, hello, time is limited when you have kids lol. I managed to run until full term. and continued to lift until I hit the third trimester and then stopped. Why? I was so uncomfortable, it was the hottest August in over 100 years, and I was content with doing just cardio. I also think I stopped caring as much because I was so tired, and because I had “gotten my body back” once before, I knew I could do it again.
Well. In conclusion, I definitely feel like I got REALLY soft, gained 5 + more pounds than I did with my first, and my recovery was a lot harder. Like A LOT.
When I found out I was pregnant with my third (unexpectantly) I had literally almost gotten to where I wanted to be with my body post baby 2. My second had JUST stopped nursing 3 months earlier .. so it was definitely something I had to get my head around knowing I had 9+ months of pregnancy and another year of nursing ahead of me!!
I think when you find out you are pregnant you have goals in your head like “I’m gonna do this one different.. I’m going to eat super healthy and work out everyday and look good “ LOLZ. And then you’re waddling around and like yeah.. gimme that chocolate. Ha.
I think out of all three pregnancies just due to experience I was somewhat able to fulfill those goal this time. I was also determined to have a better “rebound” from baby 3 and lift as long as I could because I knew it would make a huge, huge difference.
Why is lifting so important?