30 weeks pregnant, lifting and WODing

Working up to a 80% (190#) 3 rep Backsquat

I am now 30 weeks pregnant and I grow more impatient every single day.
Luckily, I feel a bit better but I am still slow and out of breath after 2 sets of stairs. However, I can still lift weights and the sun started showing her face again!

I worked up to a 80% 3rep Backsquat the other day (190#), as well as to a Deadlift by feel but stopped at 235#. Yesterday, I practiced  split jerks and got to a 3 rep at 135#. I felt fairly strong. Even the WOD afterwards felt pretty good (I got almost 8 rounds of 12' AMRAP  5 G2OH / 10 DL at 95# and 15 BJs [but I did step ups to be safe!]).

Bodyweight movements have become increasingly difficult and, while I can still string 3 kipping pullups together, T2B are down to singles. BUT, that's ok. I am working on a training plan to rebuild core strength after delivery. The idea is to make sure I regain a strong basis of ab and core muscles as well as stamina before even thinking about getting back to 100% working out again. I will run, swim, walk, do light weights and bodyweight exercises.

I might drop out of Crossfit for the month of June when the baby is just a newborn and see how I can manage at-home-exercise first. But until then, I will be hitting the gym at least 5 times a week if at all possible.  Even though I am super tired and usually not motivated to do anything really, it does help me feel good about myself and actually energizes me at least for a short while. This being said, today I won't have time to workout, but I will make sure to see what 15.3 is going to be. I had to mod 15.2, so I am hoping for movements I can do Rx.

CrossFit Total - 22 weeks pregnant

A little over one year ago when I moved to Colorado and started at MBS, I did the CFT with

Backsquat 205

Press 95

Dead 305

= 605

My pre surgery and pre pregnancy CFT which I did around May 2014 was 

Backsquat 240

Press 105

Dead 330

= 675

Now, 5 month post-op and 22 weeks pregnant I am at

Backsquat 220

Press 95

Dead 275

= 590

Only 15Ibs below where I was a year ago. I am amazed about what the human body is capable of. In fact, the backsquats felt easy today but I am not maxing out while pregnant. My mind won't let me. The dead wasn't pretty but didn't feel heavy. And the press?! Well, I am still gaining back the strength in my neck and shoulders, and I felt and feel the loss of muscle here or anything overhead the most. 

But I must say, I am glad to be back at the bar. The cardio makes me sick so I am not seeing improvement there but that is ok. 

A friend pointed me to the article Elisabeth Akinwale just posted about pregnancy and fitness. http://elisabethakinwale.com/

She puts it in perspective. 

Today, I was just very happy with my results and the way I felt and that is a good thing. 

Pregnant 14 weeks and 2 days

This week was kind of tough. I bought a cold and only managed to work out Monday, Tuesday and today - lifting sessions primarily.

Going in today I did not perform as well as I though I should or could have but I guess I need to remind myself that a strength day after being sick and in bed for three days usually is not a super awesome day. 

This was on the plan after the warmup;

1. High Hang Power Snatch -3RM then 2x5reps @-10% 

My 3RM was 30kg

2. High Hang Power Clean- same

My 3RM was 50kg

3. Push Press - 3x3 AHAP 

For me 2x@45kg and 48kg

1 rep post-surgery push press PR at 50kg

I need to work on my rack, my elbows come down and the bar does not sit on the shelf. 

Generally a good workout to come back to just didn't feel it. 

This weekend I'll be judging at the MBS Turkey Challenge and I really hope I myself will be able to compete next year! 

Pregnancy Week 11

               Our baby at 9 weeks! 

Food: 

I am starting to feel a bit better and my appetite  seems to be returning. I am still taking diclegis to help nausea and vomiting. Sometimes I am even craving certain foods (primarily complex carbs, such as Pumpernickel) but I have another week of my nutrition and lifestyle challenge to go thorough before I can indulge "limitless" in dairy and carbs again. 

I am currently eating tons of fruits (smoothies, bananas and nuts are my go to foods) I have notice weight gain in areas that bother me. Though he scale, hasn't changed much. Obviously, this may be further pushed by being pregnant, feeling bloated and generally "full". 

Workouts:

I worked out 5 times this week and noticed strength loss. Not only on upper body movements and lifts but also in my legs which is very strange and unusual for me. I was able to Frontsquat 175 but it was super heavy and my jerk only went up to 125 this week. Not to speak of my miserable attempts to dip and do strict pullups. While I am still trying to renounce and recover from neck surgery, I am not happy. 

WOD times also are significantly slower. I have identified several reasons

a) I am not willing to push myself as hard because I am scared I could harm the baby and 

b) I get out of breath unusually fast

c) it's in my head that I "should do better" and how I feel like a failure. 

On some wods I even opted to use lighter weights (very unlike me, unless I can physically not do them, but this week I really could have). 

So WODding has been not as much fun this week. Primarily, because I found myself in self-destructive self talk episodes coupled with passion- and motivation-lacking attitude towards the WODs and myself.

Lifestyle: 

I dragged myself to work every morning this week and on days I didn't have errands to do I took long naps after lunch. Generally, I have been fairly active this week though but I did not get all things done around the house that I wanted to. My husband and I did spend some eves wodding and snuggling together which made me happy and content despite the negative feelings I have had about my body and myself this week. 

Feelings and thoughts:

This week, I have noticed that I am increasingly frustrated about my decreasing performance. Especially my stamina seems to have disappeared. 

I know that part of it has to do with surgery as well which is just 2 months passed now. But it is very difficult for me to not be one of the leaders of the pack at my gym. Plus, everyone else is hitting PRs and improving. 

Sometimes I just can't believe that being 11 weeks pregnant makes me so much weaker. 

I've heard people say the second trimester was different and that the body will regain strength and tiredness will pass as well, but I am skeptical. However, I am not going to give up and I even started running short distances again. I am missing out on the next games and comps season but I want to bounce back as quickly and strong as possible. 

Yet, I am scared I won't. Not because I couldn't but because I will have a baby to take care of which will limit me to the possibilities of doing what I want when I want. But why worry about this now? 

Most important for me now is to get my body image in check and think about aome dietary changes for when the semi-paleo challenge is over. (I had done 6 weeks of strict paleo before and my body did not respond well to it that time either, so I am looking forward to eating what my body really needs and cutting back on some of the things I probably shouldn't have as much (aka bananas and nuts). After all I grew up on potatoes and my ancestors did - still hearing Oma's voice "Iss deine Kartoffeln! Während des Krieges waren wir froh, wenn wit überhaupt welche hatten."

Whiteboard obsessions

Ever been to a CrossFit gym? If so, you've probably seen a whiteboard with lots of names and numbers, and wondered "what the heck?!"

That was my first thought at least, whenever I began CrossFit. 

But, soon I found myself drawn to the board. I checked out other peeps' numbers and wondered if I would ever be able to get that Rx sign next to mine. I still don't have it on all WODs - especially not now that I can't do any upper body movements - but then, once I had it, I kept wondering if I can shave off seconds and minutes of my WODs - especially the benchmark WODs. I found myself liking the competition and I found myself liking getting  better at movements. 

I worked on getting double unders for probably 3 months after failing miserably on 13.3 and I still need to get more comfortable with them. Without the whiteboard I would not know this.  

The whiteboard constantly reveals to me what I need to work on. And of course, it makes you feel pretty good to see your name and number shows that you beat others'. Within a year I have improved tremendously not only on WODs but on lifts. I have kept pretty good track of my numbers since I started, and cannot complain that I was not getting stronger. 

Until now. Until my injury put my CrossFit life on hold. I should have taken that shoulder pain more seriously back in March. I should have rested and not competed at local competitions. But I did not imagine that it was that serious. So March through May I worked through the pain, even worked more on handstand walking and muscle ups. I wanted to keep my numbers up on the board.

I paid the price in June, when I realized that I needed to stop. Some days in May had already shown me that I needed to get this figured out. I started Physical Therapy, but whenever there was a WOD that would allow me to do well, I would do it. I hit lots of PRs April and May and strength-wise was probably right behind Andrea Ager at our gym. Deadlift 355#, Back squat 235#, Front squat  210#, Squat Clean 190#, clean and Jerk 180#, Jerk 185#, just snatch, press and bench were not improving. I hated the days at the gym on which the board would reveal my weaknesses, and I truly hated having to modify WODs. I was. terrified of losing upper body strength. However, cervical radiculopathy means weakness. So, I am in pain and I have lost strength. I can't do anything about it - not even work through the pain - the strength is simply gone in my left arm. 

Now, the whiteboard reminds me everyday that it's all relative. It's more important for me to get healthy. At the same time I need to make sure I do what I can until I am again able to do pullups, toe to bars, dips, swings, and all. I am scared that I will have to relearn what has been difficult for me already. But I am even more scared that I will not be able to bring myself back on the whiteboard at all. Not only because I am competitive and like to have good numbers on there, but also because only the whiteboard really shows me how I am doing comparatively to others and how I am improving. 

I have eight more months before the next Regionals and I really want to kick ass on the big whiteboard that is the leaderboard. Making it on a team for MBS would be awesome. Qualifying as an individual seems out of reach considering that I will have to relearn a lot of the basics in a short time frame. But I can work on making my legs even more valuable and appreciate them for what thy make me do. Core work and legwork will dominate for another 1-2 months. Then, I hope I will be able to climb back up on the board and prove to myself that I can do whatever I set my mind to. 

I'm thankful for the whiteboard because it is what helps me keep my eyes on my goals. Even though it is sometimes a painful reminder of how much mental and physical work I have ahead of me. 

Measurements and Baseline

Baseline WOD


400m Run
40 Air Squats
30 Situps
20 Push-Ups
10 Pull-Ups

Time: 4 minutes 51 seconds

May 1 before working out, I had my measurements taken.

Weight: 142Ibs / 64.5kg

Chest: 35.5in / 90cm
Waist: 28.5in / 72.5cm
Hips: 38.5in / 98cm
Thigh: 21in / 53.5cm

BodyFat%: 18.8

So, I guess I should be setting a goal.
I want to improve in one month.
If I could do the WOD in 3 minutes, that would be great. I am better on 10min+ WODs but that's ok. I am already doing RX on most WODs though. inch-wise I think I can lose around the hips, possibly thigh and waist but I think my chest is not goign to get smaller, rather bigger. Similarly, I am barely in the athletic range for body fat, but 15% would be pretty awesome. Weight-wise I have no idea. But 135 would be great, yet, I really don't care about my weight.

I have no idea if any of these are realistic but let's say these are my goals:

Performance Time: 3 minutes (1minute 50 seconds)

Chest: 35in / 90cm (0.5in)
Waist: 25.5in / 65cm (3in)
Hips: 35in / 90cm (3.5in)
Thigh: 19in / 48.5cm (2in)

BodyFat%: 15

Weight: 135Ibs / 61.5kg

The Beginning

I did my CrossFit Elements course in  May 2012 and had no idea how much I would like playing with barbells, kettlebells and all until the beginning of 2013. My husband had been telling me about CrossFit many times before but I think I never really understood what he meant, I guess. I even booked us in for a bootcamp, which he did not enjoy at all, and I just didn't experience pushing myself. Eventually I came across a living social deal for CrossFit Cedar Park which was conveniently located close by. The vouchers were bought and the first step towards a better more healthy lifestyle was set.
We didn't go regularly at first, had to put it on hold every now and then because of travel, but towards the end of 2012 I began to establish a routine. We participated in CFCP's  Holly Jolly Challenge, a 6-week team challenge that included to stick to paleo eating, recorded in daily logs with an allowance of 1 cheat meal per week and  3 team challenges and working out (of course). The eating was the hardest part for me and my husband, but we definitely learned a lot about what difference it makes to not only watch what you eat but to actually making a true effort to change habits and feeling better about your daily choices.
In January, we decided to go unlimited, and I settled for 4 times of CrossFit classes a week. I started to see results after just a month, hitting new PRs and finally being able of completing most WODs RX (as prescribed). I think I got my first real pull-up in February and was talked into participating in the CrossFit Games Opens just for fun. And it was fun: I beat my husband on all but one of the 5 WODs :)
So, here I am now, enjoying CrossFit and feeling much better about myself, even though I have gained about 15Ibs since I have started a year ago. I am still having trouble with the nutrition aspect of it but hopefully time and effort will make that better as well.