I see the light….

…at the end of this 1st trimester sickness.  I’m actually officially in my 2nd trimester and this week was pretty dang good.  I had one day where I was quite nauseous, actually worse than it has been in quite a few weeks, but other than that, I think Snowflake is feeling pretty good:)  I have been battling a cold this week, so that’s been keeping me up at night, but that’s okay. My stomachaches and headaches have subsided.  Yeah!! This being sick for 3 months has really put some things in perspective. My heart goes out to the people that are actually sick (and not just pregnant and whiny like myself).  I couldn’t imagine going through this day in and day out for very extended periods of time.

Me at 14 weeks...hello baby bump!!!! Are you sure there's not twins in there doc? Haha...

My energy and motivation are slowly starting to come back as well.  With this cold I’ve been a little tired, but I still managed to get in some great workouts this week. One of these days I’ll actually video them. I tried that once before and my skill with the camera was not so good and I videoed my backside almost the whole time. Whoops!

Level 2 skills are coming along.  I’ve been working a lot on pullups (like always) and doing some pullup progressions from the book, Convict Conditioning.  They seem to be helping.  Pistols are also slowly starting to come back to where I had them about 3 months ago.  We have about 4 months until Level 2, so I’ll keep plugging away!

Here’s a workout I did this week in one of our bootcamp classes:

FMS warmup followed by 3 stations, 2 min at each station:

• (A) Overhead walks, single bell (20kg)
• (B) Single leg deadlifts (double 14kg) 5/5 side, repeat
• (C) Half Kneel presses and rotations (12kg)

20 minute workout with 4 stations, repeat. Made through 3 times.

• (A) Single Arm Power Swings 4/4 (20kg all 3 rounds)
• (B) TGU to elbow 4/4 (20kg all 3 rounds)
• (C) Walking Lunges- 16 steps (1st round double 16kg–this was TOUGH for me!, second and third round dbl 14kgs)
• (D) Alternate Rows, keeping bells high the whole time 8/8 (dbl 14kg all 3 rounds)

FInisher- 8 rounds of 30 work, 30 rest- alternated each round between jerks (14kg-16kg) and viking push press (12kg). Last round I snatched (16kg).

It felt so good to get a good workout in and the baby cooperated so well:)  I feel like my strength is coming back. I don’t have any restrictions yet from my doctor.  He says to keep doing what I’m doing as long as I feel okay.  There’s an overwhelming amount of information available from a variety of people on what to do/not to do during pregnancy, it makes my head spin, so for now I’m just gonna listen to my body and back off when I need to like my doctor said. I love that:)

Enjoy the weekend! I’m getting a little pampering done today then some much needed girl time baby shopping and dinner and keno! Woo hoo!!

My 1st Trimester Workouts

I have to admit it’s been hard these past 8 or 9 weeks or so to keep up with my workouts.  My doctor keeps telling me it gets better, which I’m sure it will. I’m just listening to my body and doing what I can. Some days are good, some not so good. I’ve gone from working out 5-6 times a week to 3, sometimes 2, one week was 1…Oh well. Gotta listen to what’s going on to keep me healthy and the baby healthy! That’s all the really matters.

I’m still tentatively planning on attending RKC Level 2 in April (which my doctor is completely cool with, as long as my body can take it).  As my weight increases, so does my bell for the 1/4 body weight press, so that’s gonna be tough.  I was starting to feel really good about my pistols and really getting some where with my pullup, but after being sick for so long, I have taken a pretty big step back.  Currently I’m starting a new program as I enter my 2nd trimester that will really focus on some key areas to get me ready for Level 2…hopefully:)

It’s amazing how different my energy levels are. As this is my first pregnancy, I had no idea what to expect…but I’m starting to slowly understand the changes I’m going through.  There was one day where I was doing TGU to windmill, L/R, then 5 goblet squats and 5 pushups, repeat for 10 minutes and I was SO tired after the 10 minutes and I’m pretty sure I only used a 16kg.

Here’s a few workouts I did and the week preggo I was when I did them:

Week 7 (this was KB muscle workout, each exercise done 5 times, then on to the next for 4 rounds.  Weight I used for each round in parentheses):

• Double High Pulls (14kg, 12kg, 12kg, 12kg)
• Double Snatch (14kg, 12kg, 12kg, 12kg)
• Double Military Press (14kg, 12kg, 12kg, 12kg)
• Double Front Squat (14kg, 12kg, 12kg, 12kg)

Week 8:

• Pullups x 5 (1 purple, 1 red, 3 blue)
• Pistol progression w/10kg
• Double Swing x 10 w/14kg
• Double Clean x 5 w/14kg
• Double Front Squat x 5 w/14kg
• Double Military Press x 5 w/14kg
• 10 rounds on the minute-  SASW 24kg 5/5 (x5 rounds), Snatch 16kg 5/5 (x5 rounds)

Week 9 – 30/30 x 2 rounds:

• Swing w/24kg
• Single Leg Bridge (switch 1/2way)
• Jerks w/14kg (switch 1/2way)
• Plank (feet on wall) 1st round, T-rotations 2nd round
• Swings w/24kg
• Alt Side Lunges 1st round, Pistols to tire 2nd round
• Jerks w/14kg (switch 1/2way)
• Skaters
• Swings w24kg
• Birddogs

Week 11:

• 20 Leg Lowers
• 50 snatches (10/10 to 5/5) with 14kg
• 25 pushups (various angles)
• 50 Swings with 24kg
• 20 walking lunges
• 50 burpees (oh holy hell, this was the worst)
• 10/10 R/L Jerks with 14kg
• 15 jump squats
• 50 mountain climbers

Repeat–I finished up at walking lunges before time was called

Week 13 (today actually):

• 1A) 2 x 5 double kb deadlifts (28 and 32kg, so nothing too heavy)
• 1B) 2 x 5 double kb military presses (16kgs)–just for fun I tried a double 24kg push press and got it, so yeah:)
• 2A) 2 x 5 pullups (with bands)
• 2B) 2 x 5 pistols (either normal or to box)
• 3A) 2 x 5 TRX pikes
• 4A) 5 min of battling ropes

So there you have it.  There’s a handful of the workouts I’ve been doing. I’m working on a more defined program for the 2nd Trimester to get me closer to my goals of Level 2.  These last few months were just doing what I could so I could feel better and keep up some level of fitness and activity. Will keep posting as the weeks go on!

The 1st Trimester

I’m not really sure where to start as I begin to talk about the 1st trimester because it seems like it was such a long time ago that I found out we were expecting, but really it was only 9 weeks ago.  So for starters I had to figure out a way to tell Mark. He was teaching 9 am class that morning and I was going to go in and workout. I took a test just cause I had a feeling and it was positive! So then I had to figure out what to do…with only about 1/2 hour before class I wanted to get something ready.  I’m not super creative but I found this cute pair of baby shorts my mom bought us a while ago with a “34″ on them (which was my highschool and college basketball number) and put it in a cute bag to give to him after class. It was really hard to workout during class knowing this and not having told him…but on a good note, I had a GREAT workout! I do believe it was the last time I did use the 24kg for everything….that’ll come back in August:) So after class he opened the bag, gave a little look and we both got all excited and happy!

So here’s where the fun begins…here’s what I wrote in my “Baby Snow Diary” for Thanksgiving:

• And the sickness begins!  It’s Thanksgiving.  We hosted a big turkey day workout at the gym, so we had about 16 or so clients in that day.  I was supposed to lead the workout, but I was feeling so icky that Mark was going to take over. Unfortunately for me, we had a guest student in this morning so Mark had to take her and show her the swing and getup, so I had to lead. No biggie as the workout was pretty basic, but it took a lot of effort to just speak.  We got through the workout okay, but once I got home I was down for the count. I laid on the couch for HOURS while my poor husband cooked our side dishes for our Thanksgiving feast.  And bring on the vomiting! I have NEVER been so sick in my life.  I had no intention really of telling my family this early (as I am only 6 weeks), but considering I had a vomit bucket in the car as we were driving (which I had to use), my family knew something was going on immediately.  They could see it on my face.  So I walked in, my mom and sister look at me funny cause, well, I look like death and I had to tell them. I was considering going the “I’m really hungover” route, but that wouldn’t last long as I knew my brothers would just try to get me to drink then.  So it was nothing cute or fun or spectacular. Basically, hi! I feel horrible…why? Oh yeah, because I’m 6 weeks pregnant! Of course they got super excited, but it was painful to even hug anyone as I felt gross.  So I basically spent the whole Thanksgiving time on my sister’s couch or on her bed cause I couldn’t do anything else.  I did eat though…if you count my nephew Jack’s green jello bites (which unfortunately, didn’t last too long in my system).  Angie (my sister) did buy some champagne to toast Thanksgiving so she thought that we should give the toast (which I didn’t drink of course).  Everyone knew, except my brother Tony and his girlfriend Christa, because they had come late. I made my poor husband give the toast and our announcement cause I could barely speak.  So the day for me was bittersweet. Not how I envisioned everything going down, but that’s life and this is what happens. 

After this day, I haven’t had any actual sickness, so I think I may have had a touch of the flu. I feel crappy here and there but it’s not too bad. I feel I get most sick about mid afternoon.  We did make a trip to Nashville in December to visit some friends. It was a great time as we got to see a bunch of people and tell everyone our news, but unfortunately for me, “Snowflake” didn’t want to cooperate and was giving me fits all weekend.

It’s fun to look back at the diary I was keeping for the 1st trimester to see how I was actually feeling on certain days, what I was eating, doing, etc.  I’ll probably keep up with it throughout my pregnancy and put some of that fun stuff on my blog:)  I’ve been trying to keep up with my workouts, but it’s been tough. I’ll post my workouts tomorrow.  I just can’t wait til the day, hopefully some day soon, where everything changes and I feel awesome and truly start to love being pregnant:) Until then, I’ll just cope with the “fun” and realize that there’s a tiny human being growing inside of me that is the miracle from God for Mark and I:)

Some big life changes…

I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 months since I’ve last blogged. That’s a really long time for me.  As I looked at the date of my last post, I realized why it had taken me a while to get back to blogging.  I found out on November 14th that we were expecting our first child!! That first week was kind of a whirlwind and it’s been like that ever since.  We just made the public announcement last week (and thank you all our facebook friends for the sweet and thoughtful comments!).

Our Announcement!

I’m almost out of my 1st trimester and I’ll share the first 12 weeks in another post.  I’ve had some good conversations with my doctor about training and heart rate and weight restrictions, etc (and TGUs and windmills after 12 weeks) and he’s awesome.  He’s very into fitness and works out with kettlebells himself so he’s giving me the green light to do what I can and just listen to my body. Back off when I need to, but do what I can to keep my level of fitness.

So that being said, I’ve changed the name of my blog to “Sexy & Strong…and Pregnant!”, so my blog is gonna be a little different for the 28 weeks or so.  I’m going to share my workouts, my ups and downs, my diet and our journey along the way!

Me at 12 Weeks...Yep, definitely already showing

Training Update

I haven’t posted any training progress lately. As I have written before, Mark and I are preparing for RKC Level II next April.  Things have been coming along pretty well, as I’m trying to overcome by two biggest exercise obstacles, the pistol and the pullup.  I’m starting to feel more confident in my pistol, unfortunately, though, only on 1 side.  I’m really struggling to get below parallel on my left side. I’ve been working on some stuff Jeff O’Connor gave me while he was here and I think it’s getting better. I think some of my issue is just plain old fear.  Both of me knees have had ACL repair surgery on them, and my left one was when I was 13 years old…so that sucker is from 18 years ago.  So for me, I think it’s just overcoming that fear and I should be able to do it.  I’ve had mental issues like this in the past, so I just need to get over it:)  The pulllup is coming, just greasing the groove daily…Everything else I feel is right on target.  Wish me luck…we have 6 months to go!!

Now on to yesterday’s training.  I did a mix up of Level 1 and Level 2 skills. I worked out during our 9 am class.  I’m really beginning to enjoy that time, I think I get my best workouts done during that time.

FMS Warmup, followed by TGUs to windmill to OH walk (about 10 feet), to windmill to OH walk and back down.  Did L and R 3x/through.

Then I did 2 12min strength circuits:

• 1A) Double Swing (16kg x 5, 20kg x 3, 20 kg x 3)
• 1B) Double Front Squat (16kg x 5, 20kg x 3, 20 kg x 3)
• 1C) Double Military Press (reps 3 on the 20 were push press) (16kg x 5, 20kg x 3, 20 kg x 3)
• 1D) Double Snatch(16kg x 5, 20kg x 3, 20 kg x 3)

• 2A) Pistol work L/R- varied between actual pistols, TRX pistols and progression work 8/8 x 3
• 2B) Pullups 2 x 3
• 2C) Bent Press 1/1 x 3

Finisher was Double 16kg Clean and Jerks -4, 3, 2, 1 x 2.

Overall a pretty good day…now off to grease the groove again, my timer went off…Happy Thursday!!