Finally, I found a short interview with Laila Ali about her birth experience. She's motivating me to keep going to the gym. I usually go three times a week and do 30 minutes of elliptical and 10 minutes of rowing. I'd like to add some weight training, as soon as I get my courage up to master all the weight machines.
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Man, it's nice to see such positive presstime about home birth. She looked great, and it was nice to know that other women have weight to lose afterwards even with exercise. Maybe someday I'll get my body back, but right now I'm just enjoying my baby. :)
ReplyDeleteRixa, I highly recommend getting a couple of sessions with a personal trainer who has experience working with pregnant women. They would be able to teach you how to safely train with weights, particularly free weights, which are generally preferable to the Nautilus-type weight machines. In my personal experience, free-weights helped keep me from lifting too heavy too fast...because it become very clear early on if the weight is too much. With the machines, it's easier to fool yourself (and therefore over-train and/or injure yourself).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have to put a plug in for prenatal yoga as a great way to maintain (and increase) strength as well as flexibility - not to mention the benefits of relaxation and nurturing the mind-body-spirit connection.
Thanks for the link to Ms. Ali's interview. She's a great inspiration!
I hope the "bottle" that her husband is giving her son is breastmilk and not formula! :)
ReplyDeletehave you ever seen the infomercials for P90X?
ReplyDeletei saw those over and over again, and sat on it for a while thinking about buying it.
we did end up buying it after my son roan was born, and i lost about 20 lbs working out and eating right. which seems like such an obvious thing huh? it has you eating 5 times a day, so i definitely wasn't starving myself for food.
anyway. check it out. it'll kick your ass. i just started it back up to tone myself (baby belly) after willem's birth.
You don't need to master any machines :) A set or two of freeweights and a good routine and you will also get a cardio workout at the same time. Take a look at the book "The Cardio-Free Diet" by Jim Karas (it's not a diet book, but does have recipes and meal plans). You won't build much muscle on ellipticals and rowers, and muscle burns more calories even at rest than fat, so I highly recommend circuit training with weights over the boring elliptical anyday :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of the P90X. I kind of like doing ellipticals, since I can read magazines or books at the same time. Our university does a free yearly fitness evaluation and weight training plan, and I am sure they can help me figure out which weights or machines to use. My goal isn't to bulk up so much as to do light toning and build all-around strength.
ReplyDeleteYES!!! I got the chills hearing her promote natural birth to the masses!
ReplyDelete-As for the weight training, it is so essential to a healthy body. I trained for a body building show, natural of course, and let me tell you, it is very hard for a woman to bulk up. Hitting the wieghts heavy is invigorating and adds sexy, womanly lean muscle to your body. However, form in weight training is so so important. A trainer would be a huge help.
It's so wonderful to see someone who didn't get the hb they wanted still working to educate women out there that they have options. I'm delighted that she mentioned Business of Being Born, as well. Great short interview!
ReplyDeleteI've gotta start working out again, but I don't know when in the world to do it. I really enjoy running, but seriously, all of my "free" time goes to full-time grad school and life with three very young children. I've been very lucky in that after this homebirth, all my weight just fell off. I even lost about 20lbs less than my PRE-preg weight. Now I just need to work on muscle and toning. I'll be interested in reading what you decide to go with.