To All My Prego Friends Part 2

This is my personal experience with exercise during pregnancy.

Round 1

Prior to my first pregnancy, I was working at the Memorial Hermann Wellness Center in Houston, Tx.  I worked as a fitness specialist and also taught various group exercise classes like step aerobics, ball & band classes, and abs and stretching.  I was in good shape.  When I became pregnant, I kept the same exercise schedule for a while.

A friend of ours was a massage therapist, certified to work with pregnancy, and worked on me a few times during that 9 month period.  Early on I had a little sciatic pain that he was able to help relieve.  I continued teaching – following the pregnancy guidelines.  I do remember that it was much harder for me to teach while pregnant.

 At the end of my 5th month I went back to my massage friend with quite a bit of sciatic pain.

He said I was too strong to be having this pain and asked what all I was doing.  When I told him I was still teaching step aerobics, his eyes grew large and he said, “STOP THAT!”  All of the knee lifts were doing a number on my back.

 Gradually I weaned my way off of my classes and in my 7th month got promoted to a

“Sit and Be Fit” class!  LOL  The sad part for me was that this class even became hard!  It was hard to bend and twist… even sitting down!

The last month I found my way to the water.

I started attending some water classes and LOVED it!  It was just what I needed.  I felt better on the days I swam and I slept better on those nights.

Labor and Birth

I went into labor in the spring of 2001.  I chose to have a natural birth and had prepared for it mentally as best as I could.  My doctor was not supportive of my choices, but I stuck with her anyway not realizing I had a choice.

I labored for 8 painful hours and pushed for 7 minutes.  That was a LONG 7 minutes.  It was hard and it hurt!  After it was all said and done, I found out that I had been given regular doses of pitocin… a medication given to induce labor.  Instead of my body contracting at its own pace,  the medication was controlling the contractions.  Pitocin is supposed to be given with an epidural…  I WAS NOT GIVEN AN EPIDURAL!

Well, it hurt worse than it had to, but I did it!

My baby girl was born 🙂

The 6 Week “Go Ahead”

I recovered quickly after having Taylor.  I was up and moving in no time.  It felt like it took forever, but finally I had my 6 week checkup and the doctor said I could start exercising again!  Yay!

So THAT night I attended a kickboxing class……..

BAD IDEA!

My brain thought I was right back where I was before pregnancy.  My body was not!

What I thought I looked like.

      

What I ACTUALLY looked like.

I remember hardly being able to jump off the ground.  I remember my heart rate being high and my feet not moving quickly.  I also remember having to leave class a few times for the bathroom 🙂

It made me mad that I couldn’t do it like the other women, so I pushed harder…..

ANOTHER BAD IDEA.

 I hardly made it home.  The rest of the day I laid on the couch and couldn’t get up.

 I felt BAD.

I learned to start back slowly and not to expect to be like I was right away before pregnancy!

A Year Later

I stayed home with my baby for the first year and began teaching classes again after her 1st birthday.

 At this point I was weaning her off of nursing and ready to get out of the house,

so I started back teaching my exercise classes.

Soon after, my boss began training me in Pilates.

After a few months of studying and teaching this type of exercise, I decided to stop teaching the high impact exercise for good and focus only on pilates.

5 Years Later — Round 2 

During the time I was blessed with our second child,

I was teaching only pilates classes throughout the week.

I continued instructing until the end of my 1st trimester.  At this point it was not smart to lie on my back anymore.  The first half of my class was performed lying on our back, while a good portion required us to lie on our stomach… not great either!

In the 2nd trimester, the uterus gets bigger and when you lie on your back, it puts pressure on the vein that returns blood from your lower body to your heart. This could interfere with the flow of blood & nutrients to the placenta & your baby.

The 2nd Trimester

When I stopped teaching pilates, I began weight lifting.  This was not new, I had consistently lifted weights long before my pregnancy.  I began having braxton hicks contractions during weight lifting in my 5th month.  I kinda ignored them and continued lifting.

We also moved during this time.  Me being me couldn’t wait for my husband to come home and decided to unpack and rearrange all the furniture… by my self.  Again, NOT SMART!

In the beginning of my 6th month, my contractions were VERY regular and I was told to avoid ANYTHING that caused contractions!  WOW, what didn’t????  I wised up and took it easy from this point on.  I even had to walk slower to avoid contractions.

Labor & Delivery

My baby and I made it to full term!  This time around I knew that I had a choice in doctors and found one who supported my natural birth plans.  He was a great doctor and I had a great day.  I labored easy from 6 am to 4 pm.  Then I labored hard from 4-5:15, and then I met my son!

It was such an easy experience.  First of all, not being shot up with pitocin made all the difference.  Second, my body was a rock star in pushing my baby out.  3 pushes and ta-da!!!!   When the baby popped out, my nurse turned to my mother and asked, “What does she do?”  As I was delivering my afterbirth

(I hope this is not TMI for you… it’s just reality!),

I explained what pilates is and how it has changed my body.

The Future

I don’t know what the future holds for us.  I am so happy with the way my family is right now, but if we were to grow in number, it would thrill me!

What I DO know is that I will learn from my mistakes!

 I hope my mistakes can help you have a healthy, blessed pregnancy.

Enjoy this unique season!

All images (besides personal) were found on google images.

The Human Anatomy – Part 1

I am currently studying for my Physical Mind Tye4 Pilates Certification… the reason for no resent posts lately!  Well, I have been reminded – through my studying – how perfectly complex the human body is.  I am fascinated by this intricate system i.e. the reason I work in fitness!  I love that we have so much knowledge about the body, yet it is totally vulnerable and mysterious.  All the parts are arranged  in such a way as to work together for perfect function.  When one part does not work properly,  other areas WILL be effected.  Every part depends on another.

Simply put:

• Bones support our body against gravity- we are a lot prettier this way 🙂
• Muscles move the bones
• Tendons connect the muscle to the bone
• Ligaments connect bone to bone and helps stabilize our joints

FACT:

If you are double jointed, it means you have more elasticity in your tendons and ligaments

Now let’s talk about our arms for a minute.

We are able to raise them above our head, easy (considering a healthy shoulder joint).  No big deal- not much thought, right?  Welllll, let’s take an inward look to see HOW we are able to preform that “simple movement”:

So let’s think about the shoulder blade, or scapula, for now.  It stabilizes our shoulder both at rest and in motion.  As the arm raises upward, the scapula is responsible for range of motion and support for the arm.  It holds the arm to the body so the arm does not dangle.

Again, we are more attractive creatures this way!

The scapula is an anchor!

As you raise your arm out to the side,

the first 30 degrees is accomplished by the arm alone- moved by the deltoid muscle.

The remaining movement is possible because of the scapula bone.

The muscle that moves this bone is the trapezius in the back.

Try this:

Raise your arms out to the side and all the way up to your ears.

Now lower them.

Think about the back work that is involved.

Now do the same thing but bring the arms in front of you.

 Can you feel your scapula move?

— — — — — — — — STORY TIME — — — — — — — —

 The Setting:  

College days at Houston Baptist University

The Plot:

Starting back to practice after volleyball season had ended.

So, we were back in the gym after a good Christmas break,

gearing up for training during the off season.

We were lifting weight to find our max.

This means that we had to lift as much weight as possible, in one lift, for different muscle groups, to find the maximum amount of weight we could lift.

 This would allow us to find 60% of our max weight to perform  3 sets, doing 10 repetitions.

Or

We could lift 40% of our max weight for 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

Ok, so back to the gym.

 I was doing the Military Press exercise with a straight bar to find my max.

WEll, it didn’t take long to learn that the weight I was lifting was OVER my max when my shoulder dislocated while holding the weight above my head!!!

OOOUUUCCCHHHH!

That was TOO much demand for my trapezius, levator scapulae, and serratus anterior.  When they gave way, my shoulder joint lost its support.  The  rotators in my shoulder clearly couldn’t handle that load and resulted in dislocation.

Good news for me: I didn’t tear anything, but I did stretch and strain the tendons and ligaments of my rotator cuff muscles in my shoulder.  They were stretched good!  For a number of days, I had to support my injured arm with my other hand while I sneezed, coughed, or hick-upped.  If I didn’t add that extra support, my shoulder would slide out of joint, and then slide back in.  Yes, that was weird!

I rehabbed my shoulder with focus – determined to fix it and get back in the gym.  After a few weeks and a much stronger shoulder, I dislocated it again 😦

The doctor said that if it happened again, I would require surgery.  Well, let’s not tell the doctor, BUT I dislocated it 5 more times.  BOOOO

I didn’t want the surgery and decided to live with my limitations.

Fast forward 6 years…

At this time I had earned my degree in Kineseology and was working as a Fitness Specialist and Group Fitness Instructor at the Memorial Hermann Wellness Center in Houston, Tx.

My boss and mentor

Joetta Dickerson

owner of

The Pilates Studio Houston

http://thepilatesstudiohouston.com/Certifications.aspx

wanted me to start teaching pilates classes, so I began studying and practicing The Method Pilates.  Unknowingly, I rehabbed my shoulder to full range of motion and strength while using the Reformer!

Needless to say this hooked me onto pilates!

Speaking of pilates, I’d better get back to my studying.  I will share again soon more wonders of the Human Body!

Be thankful today for your scapula 🙂

Pay attention to your movement and enjoy the fact that you have such a cool,

complex “earth suit” to wear!