Back in the Gym

Even though I feel like napping all the time, I am doing my best to keep moving. As long as its not early in the morning I join Josh at the gym here in our apartment complex. Josh usually runs and does some weight training. I either walk on the treadmill or work out on the elliptical machine and then do some very light weight lifting --- just upper body with the 2.5 pound free weights.

It feels pretty good to get off the couch, even if I am barely breaking a sweat. The important thing is raising my heart rate a little and just keeping my muscles moving. I do get out of breath a lot faster because I am carrying extra weight and my lungs are being squished by my ever growing uterus. What's funny though is that I still get the urge to push myself. As soon as I step on the treadmill I want to set it to 6.0 mph and run for at least 30 minutes, but today I settled for 3.3mph for 15 minutes. I did put it at a 1.5% incline though, just to add a little difficulty. But by the time I was finished my pelvis was ready to be done, so I am succeeding at not pushing myself too hard.

Thankfully the machines have a heart rate monitor so that I can keep an eye on my heart rate. The rates are: 1)warm-up 2)fat burner 3)cardio 4)peak high. I try to keep my heart rate between 'fat burner' and 'cardio' which is between 130 bpm and 155 bpm. That is the safe zone for my baby. Also if I allow it to go higher and I start to really heat up it can be very unsafe for my little James because he will heat up also and in the uterus the baby has no means to cool down, which is why I am not allowed in a hot bath or the hot tub for the duration of the pregnancy.

So long story short, I need to be careful and listen to my body, but I also need to keep moving  :)

On days that I don't go to the gym I am trying to do some prenatal yoga or prenatal Pilate's. Since that's in DVD or YouTube form it can be very difficult to get motivated and off the couch, but rest days are also very welcome :) 

I look forward to getting back to proper running once James has arrived, but in the mean time I am very much enjoying a slower pace :)

Prenatal Yoga Time!

I bought a prenatal yoga dvd a few days ago so that I would stay somewhat active and strong. Today is the first day that I managed to get up off the couch and onto my yoga mat to use it.

The prenatal section of the dvd is 30 minutes long and incorporates all the safe poses for an expectant mother. I had no idea that there were so many unsafe poses until I checked online! So be careful if you decide to go to a regular yoga class! Their is also a postnatal section on the dvd, but obviously I havnt used that one yet.

There was a lot of reminding me to breathe and smile and relax my face. Every time she said something along those lines, I was holding my breath or frowning because the pose was a little difficult, so I was thankful for the reminders. She also takes the time for you to connect with your breathing and your baby, which I feel is very important.

Despite having felt a little under the weather this morning, the entire 30 minutes was very doable, it even made me feel a little better (though I am not yet running to the fridge). So I can definitely see myself being able to do this a few times a week throughout the pregnancy.

I do hope to get to a few actual prenatal yoga classes. My friend Nadia is all for going with me and participating since this may be outside of Josh's comfort zone (which of course, I fully understand if he doesnt want to step inside a yoga studio). So I am happy to have a yoga buddy :)  Thank you Nadia!

So I highly recommend this yoga workout. It's nice and simple, but I feel like I had to work a little.
Namaste!