Prego Cardio

I love running, but it has definitely been challenging since I've been "with child,"  probably because of just that, I'm running with a little child in my belly.  So more power to those ladies running marathons while pregnant.  I've never been a marathon runner though, and most likely never will be.  I ran cross country in high school and have been running regularly since then, anywhere from 2-6 miles.  I have gone through my periods where I run more than that, but I find with my regular weight training routine, my joints prefer less mileage, not to mention I personally prefer a body with tone and definition over a stick skinny one... just sayin'.     

 

Now that we've covered that, here's a recap of my workouts this week.  I'm at 19 weeks, here's another bathroom selfy for you to enjoy :)

love my lil' baby gut!

 Since it's Wednesday, we'll start with that day a week ago....

Wednesday: I did my favorite simple warm up of jumping jacks, high knees and butt kicks.  Then I did an all leg workout which felt awesome!  Meaning I definitely felt it the next day (so did the clients I did this workout with).  Here's how it went:
Warm up - 20 seconds each of jumping jacks, high knees, and butt kicks
Repeat 5 times
Leg Workout - 20 squats
20 lunges (10 on each leg)
20 plie squats
Repeat 5 times
Take a 30 second break when needed

Thursday: 25 minutes on the elliptical
I needed to give my arms some love since I did all of that leg stuff the day before, so I did bicep curls and seated dips.    

Friday:  I took my doggies on a jog. I took them individually - one is a pure bred Great Dane (Cody) and one is a Great Dane/Black Lab mix (Cooper), so naturally the lab mix has more energy than the lazy Dane, plus it's just easier for me to take one massive dog on a jog  than two. I took Cody for a 1 mile jog and Cooper for a 2 mile jog. That would be 3 miles total if math is not your specialty.

My boys... aren't they handsome?!

Saturday:  I normally teach an outdoor Bootcamp (emilyexercise.com will give you more info on that), but we'll start up again in March when it's hopefully not so darn cold outside!  So instead, I went to the gym with my hubby and did a treadmill interval workout: 
10 min warm up walk
1 min run at 7.0
1 min walk at 3.8-4.0
Repeat 10 times
5 minute cool down
Then I just followed up with some shoulder toning and love handle exercises

Sunday:  No workout!  I went shopping for maternity clothes instead :)

Monday:  Kept it simple and did a 30 minute walk on the treadmill.  I maintained a 4.0 speed with (what I call) a slight incline at 6.0.

Tuesday:  I did another treadmill workout. 
10 minute warm up
5 min run at 6.5-7.0
5 min walk at 4.0
I did this for 30 minutes
Then I did some assisted pull ups and other back exercises.

As you can see, I like to mix it up with my workouts.  Not only with weight training, but my cardio routines as well.  Being pregnant, you feel different everyday.  Some days you may feel great and hardly notice a growing baby in your belly (my Friday) and other days you will just feel sluggish (my Monday).  But no matter how you're feeling, sitting around all day won't help your body or mood feel better.  Match these cardio workouts to your personal pregnancy mood of the day (and to your personal fitness level too, of course) and see how much better you will feel!

Now go do some cardio and have a good day!