ANKE-“This goes without saying but keep in mind that everyone’s journey is different. I want to mention first, that it is most important (whether pregnant or not), that we learn to pay attention to our body’s signals! “Leave the ego at the door” and be ok with modifying, well, embrace it actually! Going slower and working on form was very important to me during and post pregnancy!
CrossFit while pregnant:
When I found out I was pregnant in September 2014, I had just started to regain strength and mobility after cervical spine surgery. I hadn’t done intense CrossFit or weightlifting for 3 months so I was scared and worried about potentially harming my unborn child. I watched my heart rate, went slow and light and began to truly learn what my body was telling me. It actually helped me that we were doing the 8 week nutrition challenge at the beginning of my pregnancy, although it did not keep me from being nauseated and über-tired. I made it a point to go to the gym at least 3 times a week - every time I went I felt better afterwards, so “make myself move” became my motto. I quit running early on, partly because winter arrived but also because rowing felt more comfortable. I also avoided any jumping or climbing moves, like box jumps or ropes, to eliminate the risk of tripping or falling. I avoided the snatch as well as the clean and jerk as soon as my belly started showing around 4 months! Just like the fear of tripping on a box jump, here, I eliminated the danger to bump the bar on my belly - and I also didn’t want to mess up my form. There are so many ways to modify, using kettlebells, or dumbbells for example. Sit ups made me nauseous so I quit those, too, and I used a 8″ box for push-ups and burpees. I tried to keep up with pull-ups and dips but when you’re pregnant, you don’t really have much of a core. This will also be important post-partum! Check for diastasis recti and consult with your doctor, or see a specialised (!) PT before doing any core work! Then I traveled back to Germany for a few weeks and got sick. Probably because I didn’t work out. My family in Germany didn’t even let me lift my nephew because “you are not supposed to lift heavy when you are pregnant.” However, fatigue and nausea were getting worse, and with the OK from my doctors, I started coming back to MBS in January. With every workout I began to feel better. Yes, by now I had to modify a lot, take more breathing breaks, but the weights on the bar slowly increased to pre surgery/pre pregnancy weights. About a week before my due date, I quit CrossFit again, it just didn’t feel right.
Giving Birth:
I was happy I worked out while I was pregnant, especially so close to the end. Maja was born within one hour and her Apgar score was 9.5/10. Don’t get me wrong, giving birth was still not easy. Yet, I can only imagine how much worse it would have been for me, or her, had I not been in somewhat decent shape.
After birth:
The second part of the journey begins here and I am still on it (People say it takes 9 months for your body to prepare for birth, it will take 9 months to “return to normal” - I completely agree). In the beginning, it was most important to me to focus on Maja but I also became very depressed (post-partum depression is no joke!). All I could physically do was walk, sleep and do kegels (which I recommend doing already before giving birth). My body and spirit felt “broken.”At my 6 week post partum appointment I was cleared for exercise and went back to MBS for the “Perfect Week” and managed to complete all 5 girls - modified, but accomplished 🙂 I developed a training plan around Majas sleep/feed schedule and especially enjoyed returning to Rich’s strength class. Besides all the smiles and memories that Maja creates for me on a daily basis, CrossFit plays a crucial part in promoting my well-being. Now, Maja is 5 months old, and I am excited to share my love for CrossFit with her as she grows, although currently her sport of choice is napping.VAL-
First a quick athletic background on myself. I grew up a swimmer and competitively swam and played water polo through college. After college, swimming remained at the core of my training. No matter where I lived I would seek out a Masters Swim Team and continue to compete at swim meets, triathlons and open water events. As I was following this routine in the summer of 2011, I began hearing about CrossFit. Previous that year though, I had ACL reconstruction surgery and I was too afraid to try CrossFit until I felt like I was completely healed. So in the spring of 2012 I took the plunge into the CrossFit world and haven’t looked back.
About two years after starting CrossFit, in June 2014, I found out I was pregnant. My husband and I were beyond happy with the new chapter about to begin in our lives. With doctor approval, I decided to continue with CrossFit throughout my pregnancy. Of course the first 8 weeks of the pregnancy were easy-peasy, nothing felt like it had changed, and then the morning sickness set in. I have never thrown up after a CrossFit WOD before but it began happening then. The morning sickness made me really slow down and focus on what I was doing. I had to really pay attention to my body and not push it too hard. I also made sure I was fueling myself properly. Being a morning WOD-er I rarely ate before I worked out, but with the morning sickness I had to start getting up earlier to fuel my body and settle my stomach down before the WOD. Luckily around 16 weeks things calmed down and other than feeling extra tired at the end of the day, the morning sickness was gone. I started having great WODs again and even set a couple PRs. I continued to CrossFit until the day I went into labor. In fact my water broke at the gym during 15.1 at the 5:30 AM class. 35 hours of labor, and 40 minutes of pushing later Odin came into the world.
Post baby was definitely more difficult for me than the pregnancy. About 3 ½ weeks after Odin was born I re-hemorrhaged and had to go back to the hospital. I had to have a small procedure done because there was left over placenta. This was more mentally difficult than physically because I was dead set on getting back into the gym and working out by 4 weeks. After the procedure the doctor told me that I had to wait until at least the 6 weeks post-partum to begin working out again. This really discouraged me because I had my goal and now I couldn’t meet it. I reminded myself that my health is just as important as my new baby’s and I needed to listen to the doctor and not let it get me down too much. Luckily, everything healed fine, and I was cleared at 6 weeks to resume my workouts. When I returned to the gym I made sure to check my ego and scale appropriately. Mainly I tried to remind myself that my body did not change overnight to grow Odin and it will not change overnight to go back to what it was before. Now being 8 months post-partum I feel almost fully back to myself. I still focus on maintaining good form and tell myself that there will be good days and bad days at the gym and I cannot be too upset by the bad.
All in all the biggest take away for me from my pregnancy is listening to my body. I used to be so competitive and push myself to the breaking point too often. I now take rest days more often, fuel my body properly and am always thinking about form. No workout is ever worth an injury, especially when I have a little one at home I have to chase around!
Post Baby Competition with Coach Amy
