Roni's Weigh » Workout Ideas

My Pregnancy Training Plan

roni — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 13:29:00 +0000

I mentioned a lack of motivation in this week’s pregnancy video update and you guys totally gave me a shot of motivation in the comments…

One thing I have to mention on having a goal to keep you motivated: you a training for delivering a baby. Every little bit you do now will help with labor and recovery.
-Jenn

You mentioned what motivates you in terms of exercise is training for the next thing… You’re training for the ultimate endurance competition known to man… labor and delivery!!! Does that help to motivate you? The only time I’ve ever been consistent with exercise was while pregnant because I knew labor and delivery was going to be hard work! :)
-Valerie

-As far as the exercise goes, think of it this way–you ARE training for something–Labor and Delivery! The ultimate event to train for.
-Amanda

You guys are totally right! I just needed to look at it in a different way. So just like when I start to train for an event, I’m creating a training schedule for my pregnancy! Nothing too crazy but something just to keep me motivated over the next 4 months, because honestly, I really lost almost all my desire to get out there. It’s all mental for me. It really is.

So here goes.

Sunday

Break. I try to be super active on Sundays in other ways so my goals is simply to make it Sensational!

Monday

Gym Day. There are two classes at the gym that I like. Power Flex and Step. They are back to back. Not sure I’ll do both each week but my goal is to at least one. I’ve scheduled the block of time in my calender and set it to repeat. This helps seal the deal for me.

Tuesday

Rest Day

Wednesday

Run/walk. Or maybe I should call it a jog at this point. ;) My plan is just to get out there. Cover 3 miles, whether I walk, jog or run. It really doesn’t matter. I realize it’s going to be getting colder and colder but I like the time outside. I almost feel I NEED the time outside.

Thursday

Home Routine. See below schedule.

Friday

Rest Day

Saturday

Boot Camp! It’s a pretty strenuous workout but I’m invested in this class. I love the other members. They all know I’m pregnant and I just go at my own individual pace. I look forward to starting my weekend with this workout every Saturday. Plus it’s right next to Trader Joe’s! So I get to grab a few staples while I’m there. :)

The Home Routine

I’ve come up with 3 excercies that I can easily do at home. I’m thinking of doing it like a circuit. 3 sets of 15 each.

Kegel Bridges

A Kegel is the exercise most recommended for pregnant women. It strengthens the pelvic floor muscles easing some discomforts of late pregnancy.

Kegels are done by contracting the pelvic floor muscles (like you are trying to stop the flow of urine.)

A bridge is a completely different exercise that strengthens your core and gluts…

My plan is to combine these two exercises. I used to do a LOT of bridges. It’s an exercise my old trainer loved. They are non-impact and easy for me to do with my growing midsection.

Squats with Biceps and Shoulders

Squats work your glutes, calves and thighs and are helpful during labour as squatting opens the pelvic outlet an extra quarter inch. I’m not sure I’ll be squatting in the hospital but I’d rather be prepared to do so if I have to.

Combined with the basic squat I will be adding some basic arm exercises. Bicep curls and shoulder raises with 5 lbs weights. I like to kill two birds with one stone. :)

Here’s the basic squat…

And a basic bicep curl with Shoulder press

Counter Pushups

I can still do a few pushups but as my mid section grows I’m not sure it’s a good idea. So I’ll be switching to counter pushups.

That’s it! I’m already motivated just writing it all out! I just ate my yummy oatmeal breakfast (this to be exact,) put little guy on the bus and now it’s time to give my home routine a go!

Resources: Parents.com & the YouTube videos I found as demos

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Beginner Treadmill Workout (with a detour)

roni — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:51:13 +0000

Most of you know my workout history, right? I mention it on my Workout Progress page (which I’m not updating as much as I should). It’s a very summarized version of my personal workout history but if you look at a stream of old posts since starting this blog you’ll get a pretty good picture of my progression these last 3 years.

If you look at my oldest archives (2005-2006) I never mention the "E" word as I wasn’t really exercising. However you can see it old comments that people were curious.
Then October 10, 2006 I recognize the need for more structured workouts. That’s over 6 months after I reached my goal weight.
December 31, 2006 I finally answered the workout question. Didn’t I have anything better to do on New Year’s Eve??? :~P
By July of the next year I was "Thinking About… IT". Is it bad that I crack my self up? ;~P LOL
Within 2 months I was calling myself a Gym Rat!
By November 2007 I was starting to really notice changes in my body from working out and I talk about my stamina increasing.
In March the Running started and I shocked myself with my nre love of long workouts.
Unbelievable, by April of this year people were asking me about Exercise Motivation. ME?!?
June I ran my first ever 5k race!
In August I proclaim my love for Weight Training and dispel some myths.
And of course, most of you know about my recent relay run and pull up brag.

I didn’t plan on sharing all of this with you but when I sat down to write up a simple treadmill routine my trainer had me do the other day I was inspired. Not by the workout itself as much as my mindset while doing it.

Let me explain.

The trainer plops me on the machine and tells me what to do. Then he walks away. At first I was like… "NOOO Don’t leave me. I’m going to be bored. There’s no way I can finish this alone. Especially without my iPod!" Then I realized that was "Old Roni" talking. I could SO do this. I’ve done it and I’m doing it! Then I start thinking (you guys probably hate it when that happens ;~P) Thinking about how far I’ve come and how much I used to LOATHE getting on this stupid gerbil wheel. How a year and half ago I’d be lucky to walk for 5 minutes before wanting to kill myself out of boredom.

Now look at me. For Pete’s sake, who have I become?!? Some crazed workout obsessed women that almost had a cow because she had to move her gym date to meet with a client. (I’m serious, that just happened and I’m pissed). LOL

In all seriousness, I want to shake everyone who wants to lose weight and get fit and tell them it IS POSSIBLE! You just need to do the work and make it a priority. For me it was a slow progression. I think that’s key. You can’t expect to be MizFit overnight! It takes hard work and dedication (I’m sure she’ll tell you the same ;~P). It takes doing what you can, when you can and recognizing that perfection isn’t worth it. But being good to your body and your soul is.

Ok, I TOTALLY took a detour from the point of this post. Sorry. You guys probably think I’m nuts. Who am I kidding, I am. :~)

Finally here’s the workout! This is for the beginners out there. All the "Old Roni’s" who think they can’t do it. The ones who can’t last more the 5 minutes on the treadmill without getting bored.

The idea is to change it up every minute by increasing the incline and speed and then stepping back down. For me, the fact that every minute I’m changing something seems to help. Although it has you looking at the screen all the time which can make it seem slow. I guess it depends on the type of person you are. :~) I like to be "doing something".

By the end of this you’ll get a nice 25 minute walk in. Try to lose yourself in it. Reflect on your day, jam out to your favorite tunes, watch a little TV. Whatever it takes! You deserve 25 minutes to do something nice for yourself, don’t you?

Time	Incline	Speed	Notes
0	0	3	Start by just getting up to speed.
1	1	3.1	Every minute we’ll be upping the incline and the pace (just by a tiny bit)
2	2	3.2
3	3	3.3
4	4	3.4
5	5	3.5
6	6	3.6	You made it past 5 minutes.. WHoo HOO! LOL
7	7	3.7
8	8	3.8
9	9	3.9
10	10	3.9	Once you get to 10 keep speed the same, this is a walking routine, you don’t want to go much faster – unless you want to that is!
11	11	3.9
12	12	3.9	Once you hit 13… start backing it back down.
13	11	3.8	Notice the speed will always equal the incline 11 = 8 + 3 — These are they types of things that my brain get’s preoccupied with. LOL
14	10	3.7
15	9	3.6
16	8	3.5
17	7	3.4
18	6	3.3
19	5	3.2
20	4	3.1	20 minutes already! You just need to cruise to the end now. :~)
21	3	3.0
22	2	2.9
23	1	2.8
24	0	2.7	Your DONE! Lasted 25 minutes, NO?!? Now pat yourself on the back! You did it for YOU! :~)

Note: I’m not a trainer, a doctor or a even a nurse. If you kill yourself by doing this routine it’s on you. ;~P Maybe that’ll teach you not to listen to crazy people on the internet.

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My Favorite Bootcamp Workout (so far)

roni — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:14:40 +0000

I think I mentioned this last week, but I’ll say it again, my new favorite gym workout is BOOTCAMP! Seriously, it’s fun. We do a variety of activities, it’s different every class and the girls there are so nice.

So far out of of all the things we’ve done (I’ve only been to three classes mind you) I found the push/crunch routine the coolest. Here’s the deal…

Start with 10 push-ups (any way you can do them – Challenge yourself!)
Then do 10 crunches
Then 8 push-ups
8 crunches
6 push-ups
6 crunches
4 push-ups
4 crunches
2 push-ups
2 crunches

The fact that you do less and less each time gives you a such a sense of accomplishment because it gets easier and easier but at the end you’ve done 30 push ups and 30 sit ups! Too easy? Start at 14, or 20! Want even more variation? do different types of crunches each time it’s “crunch” time.

Try it and let me know what you think!

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Killer Ab Workout

roni — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:38:00 +0000

Tonight (after mustering enough energy to get out of the door) I hit a cardio kickboxing class. The instructor always ends with 15 minutes of ab work and tonight she did such a simple effective routine I have to share. I still feel like I have a rock in the pit of my stomach!

Ok so here’s the routine… (I’ll link to the a description of the exercises as they do a much better job of describing and illustrating then I ever will!)

Start with 10 Reverse Sit Ups
Then 10 Basic Crunches
Then do 10 of them together (aka a Full Crunch)
The end with a Modified Plank for as long as you can hold it (at least 10 seconds)
Rinse and Repeat 3 TIMES!

It’s so simple and the exercises varied enough I didn’t get board. Midway through the second set my stomach muscles were on fire! Try it and let me know what you think.

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