Exercise After Pregancy- It Ain’t Easy

I’m free! As of Monday I was released for full activity after having had a c-section 6 weeks ago. This blog is titled, The Tomboy Mommy, so the fact that I get to be a tomboy again is so exciting. I wasted no time and headed back to the dojo Monday night where I train mixed martial arts. It was wonderful and splendid and horrible. Here’s why:

1. I have no core control due to the 9 months of pregnancy and at the end of that time, my abs were cut in half. Doing crunches during the group warm-up and conditioning portion of class made me look like a rolly polly that can neither rolly nor polly.

2. My boobs hurt because I’m breast feeding, so if you even look at them aggressively they cry. This makes using your chest to smash and be smashed feel like your breasts are being tenderized like hamburger meat. I can’t tap out when I’m making the offensive move, but damn it hurts more than the person I’m submitting. They make sports bras with cups in them, like a cup for my chesticles. I considered how awkward it might be to be smashing some guys face with my plastic molded boobs, but then I remembered how many times their cups smash my face. Seriously, I’ve almost gotten a black eye from a dude’s cup.

3. I farted while rolling (because my body does what it wants these days). Passing gas while performing jiu jitsu maneuvers is common among the sport’s practitioners. I have never expelled gas audibly from my body while rolling, though many of my male training partners have. There are three ways to react to this bodily function. The first is, if you know your partner well, make a joke and continue on. Second, you can say sorry and continue on. Or third (and the most practiced reaction), is to just continue on- which was the option I chose especially since the person with whom I was rolling was brand new.

4. My milk let down several times but thankfully I had prepared for such an occurrence. It also helps that when you’re soaked in your own and others sweat, you can’t tell if you have leaky nipples. I debated whether to wear the nursing pads in my sports bras because having one fall out while training would be mortifying.

5. To make it all worth while though, there are a couple of strapping young men who had to walk away reconciling that not only were they beaten by a girl, that girl just had a baby. Boom!

Getting back into an exercise routine post-partum is hard enough as it is. If you’re diving back into a fitness regimen, things bounce and jiggle that neither bounced nor jiggled before. Things chafe and rub that didn’t do so before. You’re knees hurt from the extra weight you’re carrying and from your gate changing from the adaption to accommodate your pregnancy waddle. Oh, and no matter how fit you were before and no matter how active you stayed, your body hates you right now. Ok, let’s not make it personal. You’re body doesn’t actually hate you. Let’s say your body is having an identity crisis and does not know who it is. So, it’s not you, it’s them. You will have a dysfunctional relationship with your body for a little bit. This can make it difficult to really gain momentum in sticking with a fitness routine, but believe me, your body will thank you eventually. You can sincerely look your body in the eye and say, this hurts me more than it hurts you, and it might actually be true (unlike when we say it to our kids).

Don’t Workout, Play! 2 Tips to Stay Motivated and Get Fit.

How is that New Year’s resolution going?  Is the fervor with which you made it starting to wane a little?  Has it waned a lot?  How do you keep motivated when chasing your kids all over hell and half of Georgia and don’t have time to make a healthy snack, let alone meal? Truth is, you have to make the time to be healthy  a priority.  It’s an appointment you must keep with yourself and make others respect.

Is time not your enemy, but staying motivated is? A terrific way to stay on a fitness routine is to join a team or train for a specific event.  It lends some purpose, intent and accountability to your fitness routine.  Here are a couple of ways to get out of a fitness rut and infuse that workout with a different purpose- one of fun and play!

Join a Team

-Check out a slow pitch softball league in your area.  You could even organize a team of your coworkers.

-Join a running club.  Members meet up once or twice a week to run and split into pace groups depending on where you are in your training.  There will definitely be a beginners group, so don’t be intimidated or think you have to first get in shape to participate.

-Try out a martial arts class- yes they have them for adults.  A lot of dojos offer a cardio kickboxing class.  Start there, get to know the place and ease into other classes.  Most dojos offer several disciplines these days and you usually get a week free to see if you like it.  Tae Kwon Do is a great discipline for adults.  Also, try out jiu jitsu.  You can train in a gi (uniform), or no-gi.  Most women are more comfortable starting out in gi.

-Do crossfit.  It’s a great way to learn how to lift weights in a supportive environment while keeping track of your progress.  The only competition is with yourself.  You will find yourself trying to get stronger and more fit to match and beat your previous times.  Crossfit gyms are full of moms getting in shape.  Go check one out.

Sign up for an Event

-Register for a road race.  5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon- whatever size goal you want to go after.  Download a training schedule for free online, let people know you’re doing it (for accountability), and start training.  My mom never ran a recreational step in her life.  She decided to train for a 5K, did a couple of those, and decided she wanted an epic challenge for her 50th birthday, so started training for a marathon.  Her first runs were more walks with a block of jogging thrown in, but eventually she was jogging with a block of walking thrown in.  Within four months she was going on 15 mile training runs and finished her first marathon.

My mom running in her 50th birthday marathon.

-Try out an obstacle race.  They are all the rage right now, and for good reason.  They make exercise fun!  Do an internet search for obstacle races coming up in your area and choose the one that looks fun.  Get a group of girlfriends together and train.  You will have a blast!

Once you get a larger goal, losing weight and getting in shape become less of the focus and more of a nice side effect of just being active.  When you train for something else, you naturally become conscientious of your diet and strength, because improving these will improve your performance.  Or, you’ll see that if you can do this without changing other habits how much better you could perform if you just cut out the extra sugar in your diet, or if you ran one extra day a week.  You will think more about fitness than losing weight, which is a much healthier outlook.  The goal is to have fun.  The goal is to go out and play!

For more advice, tips and just general help getting started, give me a shout over at thetomboymommy@gmail.com.  Free advice, people! Seriously, I’d be happy to help you out.  You can always just drop a comment below too.

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Women in the Workout Place

We could discuss women in the work place, and that is a viable topic I would love to tackle, but today we’re looking at women in the workout place. You know, that place you rarely get to visit because you’re too busy working and taking care of other humans.

Ladies, are you lifting weights? Please, for the love, lift weights and lift heavy weights. Don’t let the men at the gym intimidate you. In just the last month at the gym I’ve seen a guy working out in a polo and gym shorts (showing off his pencil legs, because body proportion is wack) and a guy who looked like he came in right off the job site in steel toe boots and a work shirt with his name over the pocket. I’ve seen men using the machines improperly, lifting weights that were too heavy so they were not working the intended muscle group and I’ve worked in on machines with guys that I had to up the weight when it was my turn. You deserve to be there and I promise you, you know as much as they do… and besides, being women, we’ll ask if we don’t know rather than do squats on the leg press machine.

Here are a few survival tips for women in the workout place.

1. This is the best kept secret to surviving at the gym and one that men use. It’s a pretty complex concept: ACT LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!

2. Go in with a plan. Create an idea of what you want to accomplish at the gym that day. This helps to keep you from feeling lost or aimless. Google some exercises and write them in a note on your phone. You will look like you’re changing music instead of checking notes. Really though, anyone who knows what they are doing keeps notes of their exercises anyway. Record the exercise, how many sets you did and how much weight lifted or the duration of the exercise. This helps you see progress and keeps you motivated.

3. Every machine has a picture with how to use it. I have been lifting weights since I was 12 and am a personal trainer yet I still have to read these from time to time. When you stop to read it, you may feel like everyone in the gym is judging you for having to read it. It feels like when the teacher would call you up to the board in front of the class to do a math problem, but no one is watching you. If the room is full of men, they’re watching themselves in the mirror and other women are reading their own machine’s placards. If you still don’t understand how to use the machine, ask someone. Find a trainer (they usually have on a shirt with “trainer” on the back) or go up to the desk and tell them you have a question about a piece of equipment.

4. Schedule a free session with one of the gym’s personal trainers. Most, if not all, gyms give you a free first session with one of their trainers. They will assess your fitness needs and take you through a sample workout. They will offer you a training package but do not feel compelled to sign up for it. This assessment will give you a few ideas of how to use some of the equipment. You can even request a session specifically to show you how to use the equipment. You may even get this service free from your gym, just ask. If you can afford to continue working with a personal trainer, sign up for 5-10 sessions (the per session rate should decrease the more sessions you sign up for). You can get a jump start on being in a routine with some accountability and learn how to put together a workout. You will be well prepared to go it on your own after that.

5. There is etiquette in the gym that you should be aware of. Some people ignore it, but don’t be one of those people. Take turn on machines: If you are doing three sets then be aware of others who want to “work in”. This means they want to get a set in in between your sets. Don’t just sit on the machine texting between sets and if someone else is, just ask them to work in. Wipe your sweat off the machines: Carry a towel with you and simply wipe down the seat when you’re done. There will be antibacterial wipes around too so when you’re done with your sets you can grab one and wipe it down that way. Re-rack your weights: If you are using free weights, put them back where you got them.
These tips should get you started, and that’s what’s important: to get started. A couple weeks of getting used to the gym and you’ll be a regular. Don’t be intimidated, act like you’re supposed to be there, go in with a plan, ask for help and do work. The quickest way to change your body is to lift heavy weights. That means heavy weights by your standards, not Joe Muscle over there using his back to do curls that are entirely too heavy for him. You can do this! Need some extra motivation or suggestions? Drop me a question in the comments or for more regular posts, head over to facebook and check out AvengerFitness!