Pregnancy Test

Performing 30 clean and jerks on our daughter’s birthday!

I love to experiment with my fitness and prove to myself that I would not only stand a chance, but prevail in the survival of the fittest if and when it mattered. Whether it is climbing a mountain, running a marathon with no training or Navy Seal like events, I viewed the physical challenges of my pregnancy – and now postpartum – as one of those real life experiments.

Saturday marked two weeks postpartum for us.

For privacy reasons, I wasn’t a big fan of posting my pregnancy on social media and generally speaking, half naked selfies to promote fitness are not my style, but this post needed such a picture. Attempting to soften the blow with the cuteness of our daughter.

Over these past two weeks, even though I don’t have the brain cells to worry about what I look like right now, my body seems to be pulling through.

I believe this is due to my overall training mileage and the choices I’ve been making in the kitchen over the years.

14 days postpartum

I’ve been middle of the road crossfitter for about 6 years now. Besides couple of seasons of training for Regionals a few years ago, my bread and butter has been midday class 2-3 times per week. Sprinkled through the years there have been big gaps of not training at all, sometimes for medical reasons, other times motivation or just falling back on being generally active and athletic. I rely heavily on getting outside and fitnessing through various sports and believing that quality nutrition is paramount.

I was not able to train at all for 3 or 4 months when I was first pregnant (read laid out on the couch), I was finally able to kick it in the gear again and attended the noon class 3-4x per week until the last month of pregnancy. I also kept up with regular acupuncture and visits to my BirthFit Chiro Lindsey. 

I decided to stop attending class 5 weeks before Leona was born and just focused on some yoga, swimming and couple of sessions a week of light back squats. To complete the picture, I should add that my baby was not always interested in eating whole foods only during my pregnancy, but I did my best and did not beat myself up over some of the random things I was eating outside of the norm.

Starting with the ease of the late months of my pregnancy, my entire birth experience and the speed of recovery, I feel that my years of on and off training is shining through when it matters most and it will for you too. We can’t all be LGs or Matt Walraths, whether genetically, or simply because we are unwilling or unable to put in the time and energy that it takes to make a dent in top notch fitness.  Trust yourself and the effort that you are making on most days, try to fuel properly, just show up to class and give your best.  

Even if it may not seem like it, and you don’t see a gold star next to your name too often, you are doing something and making progress. Over time, you will build up enough base line where that busy month at work or the heartbreak that needed to be cured by one too many doughnuts, or even a pregnancy, isn’t gonna matter that much.