Day 125: Perinatal Fitness Picks Part 2… The first trimester!

May 4, 2012 By 1 Comment

Fem365: Fitness. Food. Femininity.

If you missed my first “Perinatal Fitness Picks” post (from last Friday), click here! Then click here for the video. 

So… You did it! There’s a “bun in your oven!” A friend of mine despises that phrase… I happen to think it’s cute.

The first trimester is different for everyone. Some people sail right through with no problems whatsoever. Others are miserable, with near-constant queasiness (who decided to call it morning sickness?) and oppressive fatigue.

I remember my own first trimester… Lying in the fetal position — near the bathroom — as my mom prepared Thanksgiving dinner. I was so tired… And so queasy! I couldn’t bring myself to even look at a carrot without a wave of nausea. At work, I often had to excuse myself and (literally) run to the restroom as I felt my face turn three shades of green (I was working as a PT in a skilled nursing facility at the time).

But I can’t complain… I had it much easier than many women I know! Luckily, I was able to continue with my physically demanding job and keep up my workout routine, both of which kept me strong and contributed to a relatively quick and easy labor, and a speedy re-entry into pre-baby jeans.

Enough about me… Let’s talk about YOU! You with the bun in the oven! If there’s no bun in your oven, share this with someone who is expecting. Women need to know this stuff!

The undiscussed “secrets” of pregnancy…

First, you might start leaking urine. Now. I know, I know… You’re barely even showing! But studies show that changes occur in the inner core early in pregnancy with a decrease in pelvic floor muscular activity noted as early as the eighth week gestation. Many women begin having incontinence issues for the first time in their lives when they are pregnant. Urinary leakage can occur due to the weight of the baby creating a downward force on the pelvic floor muscles, which are stretched – sometimes to the max – during the course of pregnancy. When the pelvic floor muscles are overstretched, they can’t effectively help close off the urethra. This can cause spontaneous leakage; for example, while walking, lifting, moving from sit to stand, coughing, and laughing.

In addition, you probably have to pee more often. Your bladder is not accustomed to the feeling of the growing uterus pushing into it, more and more every day as it expands. Go ahead and go, but take it easy. Don’t rush, and don’t fret. When you start becoming hyper-sensitive to your bladder filling and rushing to the bathroom at the drop of a hat, you create a self-fulfilling prophecy: Worrying about “not making it in time” can contribute to not making it in time! A heightened sense of urgency and can ultimately create an increased risk of urinary leakage due to the rush of stress-induced adrenaline that’s released, especially when coupled with your already slightly-less-active pelvic floor.

It will all be worth it in the end!!!

So what to do? Well… Do your kegels! Continue to develop your core and pelvic floor strength. Notice I said CONTINUE, becuase hopefully you started exercising before pregnancy. You will want to focus especially on the gluteals (butt muscles), pelvic floor, deep abdominal muscles, and low- and mid-back muscles.

Some things to keep in mind during the first trimester:

  • Fatigue will be an issue. Listen to your body and push yourself a little, but not too hard. If you’re just plain exhausted, then you might want to skip your 5 AM workout. Missing one day won’t harm you (or the baby).
  • Strength training is AWESOME, but allow for plenty of recovery time after (and between) workouts. You might feel more muscle soreness and fatigue than usual… Take care of yourself and allow for an extra day (or two) of MORE rest than usual between sessions.
  • Start stretching now! Muscles can get kinked and tight in odd places due to the postural changes you can expect during pregnancy. Often, muscle tightness in the low back, hip, and gluteal regions can pinch and irritate nerves… This is a primary cause of sciatica, that dreaded beast that many pregnant women have experienced!

The following are some IDEAS — exercises picked among thousands of exercise possibilities — that are great for the first trimester. Keep in mind, these exercise picks are inteded for healthy women in their first trimester with no complications and no medical restrictions. This is not personalized advice for YOU… Just some good, solid exercises that your average healthy woman in her first trimester (I hope that describes YOU) might want to try.

I am listing them below… A video describing them more fully is coming this weekend. Watch for it!

Strengthening:

  • Bird Dog
  • Bridges: supine (on your back), and side positions
  • Planks: from elbows and knees (or from elbows and toes)
  • Mountain Climber
  • Deep Squat
  • Kegels in all positions (lying down, in deep squat, sitting, and standing)

Stretching:

  • Standing hip flexor stretch
  • Mermaid (seated side-bending stretch)
  • Hamstring stretch

If you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about when I name the exercises (as above), just wait another day or two… Video coming! Check back!

What was your first trimester like? Do you have any stories to share related to morning sickness, fatigue, or lack thereof? Any stories related to first trimester fitness? I want to hear from you!

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Day 111: ZuzkaLight review: Have you been Z’wowed?

April 20, 2012 By 7 Comments

Fem365: Fitness. Food. Femininity.

As I have stated before, this is a women’s interest blog with varying info about fitness, women’s health, food/nutrition, and even a bit of fashion and beauty thrown in the mix, but I must warn you: For the next few weeks I am going to focus heavily on FOOD. And I am SO EXCITED. I have been hard at work on super-simple Paleo-friendly recipes that the whole family will love. Most of my upcoming recipes consist of only three to four ingredients, and ALL ingredients will be readily available at any grocery store. Not just fancy “gourmet” stores or “health-food” stores — no, no no. We’re talking ingredients that are available at your local Super-Wal-Mart or Safeway (or better yet, your local farmers market!). So stay tuned: More info about my super-simple recipe series is coming next week. Check back, and tell your friends! Your support via comments and Facebook “likes” feeds my soul and gives me the encouragement needed to keep posting daily. Because it’s a lot of work.

Until then, it’s important for me to get some fitness info out there, especially since the original focus of this blog was women’s health and fitness!

Have you heard of BodyRock.tv? I had… But I didn’t know much about it until recently. First, let me state this (and I know I’m not the only female who feels this way): Women can be EVEN MORE FUN to look at than men. A beautiful female is a sight to behold, and an athletic, toned, fit female is inspirational and motivating (to me). So back to BodyRock: Although I love seeing lean, athletic female physiques I was a little turned off by the blatant sexualization of the men and women who demo the exercises on BodyRock.

Check it out:

Too much.

But what BodyRock offers is important, because it highlights power moves, which many women stop doing as they age. They might have played high-intensity sports in high school or college, and even taken a few bootcamp-style fitness classes in their twenties and thirties, but in general women stop the “hardcore” exercises that make sweat pour, the heart pound, and the breathing labored. I’m no exception: I also prefer a more comfortable — shall we say — form of fitness (such as yoga, walking, a bit of weight training, and my FemFusion classes, which are intense but low-impact). However, a few weeks ago I started adding one to two “power” sessions each week and it has (already!) done wonders in terms of sculpting my muscles, revving my metabolism, and giving me energy that lasts throughout the day.

But I don’t do BodyRock. I’ve found something better! She goes by the name of ZuzkaLight.

Zuzka’s “real name” (well, maybe real) is Zuzana, and she was actually the co-founder of BodyRock when BodyRock started a few years ago. Recently, she left BodyRock and went in a (slightly) different direction. She started her own fitness “channel” on YouTube, which you can access and subscribe to by clicking here. My opinion is that Zuzana’s workouts are BETTER than those found on BodyRock.tv, and here’s why:

  • Although Zuzana is a bombshell and it’s VERY CLEAR that she is capitalizing on her looks, the filming is far less focused on capturing boob and butt shots. Rather, the filming clearly captures the exercise session. The exercise is the star, rather than T & A. Well, that point may be debatable, but it’s the view I’m taking.
  • From what I have seen, Zuzana tends to use less equipment than the videos on BodyRock. I haven’t done all of her workouts… I’ve actually only done two of them over and over. When she does use equipment it tends to be readily available items such as medicine balls and weights rather than specific equipment pushed by the website (as in BodyRock, where they have an entire section devoted to buying the equipment they use in their vids).
  • Zuzana’s manner is sweet and encouraging. She makes it clear that she’s working hard and motivates her followers to keep up with her.
  • The best part: In each video, she goes through the entire workout with you. They tend to be 10-15 minutes long. With the BodyRock vids I’ve viewed, they just show you clips of the intervals you’re supposed to do and then you do them on your own, with your own interval timer. For those of us who don’t have an interval timer, Zuzana’s vids are nice… You can use hers. I’m still a proponent of rest-based interval training as described by the Metabolic Effect Diet gurus, Jade and Keoni Teta, who encourage you to rest only when you need to and pushing when you don’t need to, but Zuzana’s workouts are intense enough that I always need to rest when her interval timer says it’s “rest time.”)
The cons:
  • Safety may be an issue, especially for viewers who are just starting out in terms of fitness/strengthening. Her routines are extremely challenging and seem to be tailored to athletes and people who are pretty far along in their fitness journey(s). In the videos I’ve watched, Zuzana doesn’t provide many modifications, and when she does, she usually provides the modifications (i.e. to make the moves easier/less challenging) toward the end of the routine when she — herself — is getting tired. I’ll tell ya: If you’re a beginner, you’re going to be tired far before she is and from the beginning you may not be doing the exercise properly due to weakness or lack of stamina/endurance.
  • Her workouts contain a lot of high impact movements, which may be problematic for women with pelvic floor dysfunction. If you have pelvic organ prolapse or incontinence issues, I recommend talking to your doctor or women’s health physical therapist before trying her high-impact moves. If you ARE going to try her stuff, remember to ZIP UP especially before jumping, etc., or exercises that require a lot of balance.

My take on Zuzana vs. BodyRock? Zuzana wins, hands-down. :)

Thoughts? Comments? Have you tried BodyRock or Zuzana’s channel?

 

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Day 100: Booty Move #2, deep squats

April 10, 2012 By 2 Comments

Fem365: Fitness. Food. Femininity.

Day 100! Wow — that really feels like an accomplishment. If you’ve been with me for 100 days, I thank you for joining me on this “365 days of fem” journey!

Let’s build on the challenge I started in yesterday’s post. I want you to start off with five kegels and follow up with my deep squats. Oh, how I love deep squats. They are amazing for stretching and strengthening the hips, legs, and back and are especially effective when you hold a weight overhead. Yes, this is a re-post… But it’s such a great one to re-do.

First: Have you done your five kegels? I hope so.

Now for the deep squats:

I have been buffing myself up lately, lifting more weights, and reading more and more about the importance of weight lifting for females. Higher weight and fewer reps (rather than low weight and tons of reps) is important for 1) revving up the metabolism, and 2) improving bone health. I came across a great blog written by a brilliant female weight lifter at www.stumptuous.com. She has a category of posts titled “dork to diva” — perfect for me! It details how to perfect your weight lifting form, and I decided to start with squats. I consider myself to be well-versed when it comes to squats, but I’ll admit — I had some things to learn! When squatting with iron (i.e. at the gym) I tended to be more dork than diva. I did not descend as low as I could have, but  now my motto is “how low can I go?” **Here’s a link to the stumptuous post I’m referring to: squatting – dork to diva.**

Here is my latest take on the squat, holding a 10 pound medicine ball overhead. Try using a medicine ball, a hand weight, or nothing at all (just hold your arms up overhead). Shoot for 10 repetitions. Remember to go slow, REALLY SIT BACK like you’re sitting into a deep chair, engage your core muscles throughout the exercise, and breathe out (exhale) on the way up.

Hold medicine ball over head and strongly engage the core muscles (see my past posts on "zipping up.")

Don't bend forward, SIT BACK! And start going down... Waaaaaaay down.

Make sure your core muscles are still engaged before coming back up to stand. Breathe out (exhale) on the way back up.

 Five kegels and ten deep squats. Did you do it with me???

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Day 55: Control = Confidence.

February 24, 2012 By 3 Comments

Those of you who are familiar with me know that I love talking about the pelvic floor. I love talking about kegels, I love talking about gaining control and awareness of the pelvic floor muscles… Let’s face it, I’m a pelvic floor passionista!

I recently wrote an article that was featured on Dr. Michelle Segar’s blog (click here for the full article), and yes, it’s about pelvic floor fitness and the importance of gaining strength and control in this vital region of your body. Here’s a teaser from the article:

Learning how to properly contract and relax your pelvic floor muscles – how to do kegels – will help you gain strength, endurance, and coordination of the pelvic floor muscles, which will keep you in control of your bodily functions as you age…

Control = Confidence, and confidence is hugely connected to quality of life: If you don’t pee when you laugh, you might feel more comfortable socially. If you don’t leak when you exercise, you might be more likely to head outside for a walk. If you can hold your bladder long enough to make it to the store and back, any anxiety you might have about knowing every rest stop en route and in the shopping center should greatly decrease.

I was driving along this morning, considering the line “control = confidence” and thinking about how true it is. Not just in relation to the pelvic floor muscles (although you know how I love the pelvic floor); rather, control = confidence in every aspect of life!
  • When you have order in your home, you feel in-control of your household and confident that you can find what you need to find when you need to find it. CLEAN A CLOSET. (Click here for an archived post related to closet-cleaning.)
  • When you have a sense of control over your food intake you feel confident that you are doing your best to keep your body healthy and strong. It’s fun to indulge every once in a while, but let’s face it… Over-indulging on a regular basis makes you feel like a slug, and if over-indulgence becomes a habit, it can make you feel out-of-control… Like you have become a slave to the whims of your taste buds and the animal part of your brain that says, “candy, NOW!” It feels GOOD have a sense of control over your food intake. It feels good to treat your body right. (Click here for info about treating your body like royalty.)
  • When you lift weights you gain muscle mass, increase your bone mineral density, and feel rooted and strong. Your body awareness improves. You feel like you have more control over your bodily movements, your body mechanics, and your physical life in general. You feel confident about your body and your safety when you need to lift heavy objects or do something physically demanding. LIFT WEIGHTS. Don’t worry… You’re a woman. You will not end up looking like Schwarzenegger. (Click here for archived posts related to weight training for women.)
  • When you get enough sleep, you don’t feel groggy or fuzzy or hazy. You feel bright, alert, and in-control of your life and your day. It may be a busy day, it may be a crappy day… But at least you’re alert enough to manage it. You feel more confident about the tasks ahead. (I’m still working on this one!)
  • When you feel (largely) in-control of your health, food, and fitness routine your BODY CONFIDENCE increases significantly. You carry yourself with your head held high and you exude PRESENCE. You look and feel sexier… Stronger. Graceful. Secure. My book, FemFusion Fitness for Intimacy, is all about increasing your body confidence. Have you signed up for the Ladies Night launch party?
Sounds good, right? Remember, control=confidence. Stated another way, confidence stems from feeling in-control.
Chime in! What do you think? Do you agree with my equation (control=confidence)? What makes you feel confident?

Mothering and Ice Skating... Control required. Confidence gained.

 

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Day 5: Fitness tip… Move furniture.

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Fem365: Fitness. Food. Femininity.

Humans were meant to lift heavy things; to push and pull and drag and haul. Thursday is my vacuuming day, and today I am going to celebrate my inner cavegirl by moving some furniture around while cleaning my floors. Have you ever looked behind your couch and almost screamed due to the size of the dust bunnies?

Watch out, bunnies. Today I am going to get under the couch, behind the potted plants, and between the railings. I’m going to scorch some calories, increase bone density by taxing my muscles, and come away with a squeaky clean house. (Oh, and of course I will use proper body mechanics when lifting and I’ll “zip up” when shoving things around!!!)

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