Saturday, November 29, 2008

Old Friends

Workout this morning- 3 Rounds of 20 seconds work/10 second rest. Exercises for first 2 rounds pull ups as my interval with burpie press, ball pull ins, heavy kettle bell swing, jumping jacks, for my last round used push ups as my interval. To explain this I do a set of berpies then pull ups, a set of ball pull ins then pull ups, a set of kettle bell swings then pull ups, a set of jumping jacks then pull ups.

I had a chance to catch up with my roommate for university on Friday. It was great to see her again and meet her kids, she has the same family combo as me a 3 year old and an infant. This seems to be common spacing for families. We were mentioning how all we feel like we do is yell and say no, it's enough to drive you crazy. One kid in the terrible or testing 2's and an infant. As a mom you know how thin you can be spread, even to find time to blog is a chore. Like right now my toddler is screaming for one of us and is about to wake the baby. .......... I'm back she has to go poo. My husband asked how are visit was and I indicated we probably only got 5 minutes to catch up otherwise we were on call for the kids, but that 5 minutes is worth it to keep your sanity. My husband also made reference to the fact that it must be nice to sit around and gossip all day with the kids- he is down in the basement now.

As I have mentioned before I use fitness as a way to steal some time for myself and give me a boost. Regardless of your platform or style of fitness or where you start it can be the most important 15 minutes of your day. The mother sets the tone for the family and how the house is run. In our house we are now reviewing "happy wife, happy life" 101.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Exercise Selection

Today on my lunch hour I raced up to my daughters school to see her 30 second performance of reciting a poem at the schools annual book drive. (really she just held up a sign and mouthed a few words) I cut through traffic and made it in time, only to realize I had left my water bottle open in my bag and it spilled all over my camera. My camera was "buzzing" from my bag and it is "toast". One ruined digital camera, one 40$ parking ticket, heaps of stress in downtown traffic was worth the 30 seconds as she smiled at me in the audience. Oh yah, there will be a short break in video postings until I can manage to get a new camera.

I had a good day training people. My workout - full squat/press, kettle bell cleans, modified pull ups, weighted burpie press -break 1 minute-heavy front chop, modified pull ups, kettle bell clean and press, burpies, bent over rows.

My workout program is extremely short, it takes me about 10 minutes. If you look at my exercise selection you will notice they are all total body exercises with a huge metabolic benefit. This is an example of a fat loss workout for new mothers. If you want to lose the fat after your baby bump this is where you need to be. A workout like this does come with preparation such as muscle balancing work, post partum core training, rest and nutrition. If you do the prep, the intense workout is short and the PAY OFF is huge to help you get your body back after having a baby. This 10 minute workout requires so much oxygen that your body goes into "oxygen debt" and will work hard all day to repay itself, this is where you get the fat loss benefit. Exercise selection is very important and you should have a good reason for performing each exercise in your program or you are waisting your time.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

First Born




Today is my eldest daughters 3rd birthday. We had a party with cake, pizza, balloons, lots of friends. She was so happy at the end of the night, out of the blue gave me a big hug and kiss as I was putting on her pj's. This struck something in me and I started thinking about what it is to be a mother.


I can recall every moment of that night 3 years ago when I gave birth to my first daughter. I was in labour for 2 days until my contractions were getting painful. My husband and I read the same small paragraph in our birth manual about 1000 times. We were clueless, excited, scared and ready for something to happen. Well it happened, in a big way, and it is still happening. We never imagined the joy we would feel along with feelings of vulnerability having exposed ourselves to being parents. I think back over the past 3 years how my life has changed, I am responsible for another life (and another one since). Feelings of loneliness, isolation, frustration, joy, love, pride, my eyes and heart have been opened wider than I ever thought imaginable. I recall saying to one of my friends when my daughter was born, "this is the single most important thing I have ever done in my life." No amount of money, fame, popularity, failure, frustration could ever take this experience from me. The PROUDEST day of my life.




Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Week by Week Early Post Partum Exercise Progression

Sorry to be away but the girls are both sick. I'm training today because my dad is helping with the kids. My workout today- 2 x thru this circuit-ball pull ins, ball toe taps, 1 legged ball pull in. Explosive band kettle bell front chops/modified pull ups, barbell front squat/kettle bell cleans, Power band barbell front squats, power band barbell full dead lift with band resistance from on front and from behind 5 sets, finish with 10x jump squat/10x jumping jacks/5x burpies 2x thru.

I obviously modified my workouts as I slept about 10hours in 4 nights last week, one day I just did body weight squats/lunges/push ups 2x thru, another day I worked on slower rehab exercises.

I am now 7 months post partum and my pelvis is pretty much back to it normal position. What I did up to this point-

Weeks 1-6 post partum- I worked on kegals and huff breathing like what they send you away from the hospital with. I added the Furious 5 exercises about 6 weeks post partum. My relaxin levels were still high.

Weeks 6-12- I performed rehab exercises with some anaerobics at the end of my workout for a few minutes. This was it and it was slow. I kept doing the Furious 5- progressed stage 2

Weeks 12-24- I started to perform some dumbbell training on 2 feet as my pelvis was not stable enough yet for single leg strengthening. I removed lunges that I had started because my SI joint was feeling irritated, I reintroduced them week 20. I started into serious fat loss training now with intense mini circuits. I am doing full squats and lunges- my pelvis can take it now.

Weeks 24-30- My mini circuits have become more intense and shorter, working in 20 second intervals. I will be transitioning to single leg weighted exercises soon and "test the bones". I still do my rehab exercises before my intense training.

I will explain my exercise progression in future blogs as to selection during certain weeks post partum.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Help, I Think My Husband Used My Nursing Pads to Clean the Bathroom

Help, I think my husband used my nursing pads to clean the bathroom. I was getting ready for work, and this is a long day of not nursing, so naturally I need to manage the leaks. I opened the cupboard and it was bare. All I can think in my head was my husband was on a cleaning rampage this past weekend and now I have no breast pads left from under the bathroom sink...yeah beside the basket of toilet paper and cleaning clothes. It was a long day and I wore a hoodie.

I had a smokin' workout. My workout kettle bell swings as my interval and my 4 exercises were; full squat dumbbell press, push up off stability ball, burpie press, ball pull in, 3x thru. Enjoy this one.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Pay It Forward

I am on my own this week, my husband is on a business trip. I woke up this morning, got my eldest ready for her school picture day, and searched the house for something beginning with the letter "I" for show and tell- no dice. As I was packing up the girls the green bin recycle truck arrived early and had emptied our bin- I left the girls in the front hall and went chasing the truck down the street with a stinky bag of diapers in hand. It is crucial to get your stuff in the green bin in Toronto because the city is crawling with raccoons that will scavenge everything-yes even diapers full of poop. I strapped the girls into their car seats and it was off to the daycare, when I arrived I realized I didn't have my wallet-I felt naked. Where was it?, I wasn't quite sure and did not have time to return to the house and look for it. This is where I call on FAVOUR #1- I phoned my sister and asked her if I could borrow some money for the day, I knew I would see her because she is the owner of the school my daughter attends. So I traded in the toddler and took the money at the school. ($ and kid drop -good deeds #1 and #2 cashed in) I proceed downtown to train clients, it went well. I check my email and the twittermoms have left me some very encouraging support meassages about my blog. (encouragment-good deed #3)
One of my clients performed a new exercise today. She was shocked and explained, "this one is pulling in my Kegel." Wow I'm better than I thought- I told this professional writer client-I have to write about it, Gail this one's for you.
On my way to pick up my daughter a friend and colleague phoned to let me know I had left my diaper bag with my wallet in it at another gym that I am affiliated with. (phone call-good deed #4) I knew I didn't have time to go get my bag across town, so I called on The Fit and Busy Dad, Chris Lopez, because he doesn't have enough to do. He checked his schedule and said he's training in the area tomorrow so he will use his only 1/2 hour break to go pick up my diaper bag and wallet, and bring it back to our hood, we are neighbours.(wallet retrieval-good deed #5). Chris, the Fit and Busy Dad is a stand up guy, I am friends with him and his wife Rozanne. Reviewing my week I can appreciate how much I ask of them. Saturday morning I call his place asking to borrow some DVDs for work, I turn up with 1 kid in hand and he offers me his entire DVD educational library which is worth it's weight, if he doesn't have it, it ain't worth having. I sit at his kitchen table while he cooks breakfast for his 4 daughters and wife, and he still has time to offer me an espresso. (DVDs and espresso- good deeds #6 & #7). Amazing to watch this family in action, they have got it together. You can check out Chris and his family at http://fitandbusydad.blogspot.com/.
The day is coming to an end and I turn up at the daycare to see the baby is in a different outfit- this means only 1 thing- a poo explosion. The daycare provider offers to wash the poo filled clothes and she will keep them on hand for the next time. (good deed #8-washing my babies poo clothes)
Sometimes you just need a couple of good gestures as a mom and I definitely needed and appreciated every single one of them today.
Todays workout-I am tired and will be taking the day off.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Screaming Kids and Wining Dog- Still Got My Workout In

OUR FAMILY WORKOUT

On the weekend my husband mentioned he is only get 1/2 of his workout done in the morning the dog clicks her paws and whines and wakes up the kids. I asked, how long do you workout for-20minutes. I asked him to work out with me, we can cut that in half. So that evening I made our 3 year old daughter her dinner and set the baby in the exersaucer (aka- ring of neglect) where they could see us. In typical fashion for our house, the toddler had a meltdown because I do not let her in our mini gym, my rule when I am lifting weights, she has to stay at the door and watch or exercise herself. The baby picked up on the vibe and freaked out and our hyperactive springer spaniel was wining up a storm in and out of the gym. I told him "this is as good as it gets, let's start". We burned through a circuit-our workout- 4 exercises and 4 burpie dumbbell press intervals- 8 things to complete 1 minute rest and repeat. The 4 exercises- heavy kettle bell swing, squat high pull, kettle bell push press right side, kettle bell push press left side. My husband was drenched in sweat, I said "see only 10 minutes warm-up to finish". He replied, "it felt longer". Not because of the exercise, but because of all the commotion during our workout. It didn't phase me, I workout in those conditions all the time, this is one of the reasons I only workout for 10 minutes I couldn't listen to screaming any longer than that. I have made my workout to fit my life, I get good results and there is science to backup my regime. I am not unique all mothers have a schedule like me, this is why I have made it my mission to create fitness programs for busy moms.

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Sunday, November 9, 2008

Read My Threads at Popular Fitness Sites

good way to lose weight after pregnancy?
... this is working great and even if I am sleep deprived (usually) I can complete this program. Hope this helps. JFitMom http://jfitmom.blogspot.com ...babyfit.sparkpeople.com/archive_posts.asp?imBoard=18&imParent=7584838 - 52k - Cached - Similar pages

Exercise Central
MGARCHI08, 14, JFITMOM 11/3/08 1:23 P. Running question · MAOFMANDY, 4, CRCASTLE 11/1/08 5:58 P. Ab Slider? NOELLELOY, 4, CATHY_CRAM_MS 11/1/08 12:00 P ...

How to Drop Those Pregnancy Pounds Fit Pregnancy
Every minute counts, even if you perform one exercise for 1 minute a day you will get stronger and feel better. http://jfitmom.blogspot.com. -- Anonymous ...www.fitpregnancy.com/advice/1066?comments=1

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Jogging Strollers

Do I own a jogging stroller, you bet. Do I jog with it, NO WAY.

I own one because it was a gift and it is great for long hauls and walking the kids through the snow in winter.

First things first, I do not jog. I don't have time to jog and it does not get me anywhere near my personal fitness goal of fat loss. Jogging is cardio training your heart muscle, that's it. Holding onto a fixed handle with your hands while running places all of the cross rotational stress into your low back, your low back absorbs the upper body rotation and your low back will over rotate. As a new mother you are much more susceptible to the stress of lumbar rotation as you still have relaxin hormone floating around in your body allowing your joints to be hyper mobile and over rotate. As a new mother your core muscles have been compromised while pregnant which makes you that much more susceptible to lumbar rotation as well. You may be wondering, so what? What's the big deal with excessive lumbar rotation, Back Pain, that's the problem. I will cover this in more detail in an issue of my newsletter. Sign up if you wish to investigate this issue further.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Working Mother

The term "working mother" rolls off the tongue and is easily said without thought. The reality is "it's f**king hard".

RESUME of a working mother

Job description- clean entire house, laundry, feed family -sub jobs include- grocery shop, cook, make lunches, nurse baby, taxi driver, bath kids, oh yah and go to a 9-5 and pull in an income, be a wife

Skills- multi task to the 100th degree, referee, put hair in ponytail, wipe baby barf off a black suit, hide the bags that have progressed into luggage under your eyes, function and smile on under 3 hours sleep a night

Occasionals- host Christmas (pregnant or not), paint house, bath dog, buy all family xmas/bday cards and presents, pull out grey hairs

Interests- looking "good", feeling "normal", taking a bath

This is how I feel, I rely on my friends and husband for support and use them as my sounding boards. I have realized the only thing in the Resume above that I can control are my interests, and I have found some peace through exercise. It allows me to look "good" and feel "normal" in the most subjective sense and it also forces me to take a bath- no one wants a stinky mommy
Take a look at the Furious 5 exercise program, it may be your start to integrate interests into your busy life.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Kids in The Kitchen

When my toddler asks me if she can help in the kitchen, instead of pushing her away I embrace the opportunity. I have kid proofed my kitchen, we have a metal guard around our gas cook top (from http://www.ikea.com/ about 15$), the knife block is pushed back into the corner and we have a wall oven. Tasks I get my toddler to do are retrieving the fresh herbs from "her" herb garden, picking cherry tomatoes and raspberries and peeling the individual herb leaves off the stock. I allow her to throw all of the ingredients into the pot. I give her the chore of preparing the vegetables, she is capable of ripping the lettuce leaves off the the stock, putting vegetables into a pot and she sets the table. These are simple tasks that allow her to learn proper habits about food and cooking. I am proud to say she knows all of her fruits and vegetables (and all of the treats as well). I'm not saying she is perfect, there is a lot of struggle and sometimes bribary at the dinner table, but for the most part she is pretty good. My eldest understands that after we make a roast meal we use the bones and carcase to make soup stock as to not waste any of the ingredients. I buy the best quality ingredients I can afford and make sure I use them all. If I can instill good habits regarding food now I hope to prevent later food issues such as childhood obesity and eating disorders. There is a great website http://ourgeneralstore.typepad.com/our_general_store/2005/08/mission_real_fo.html if interested in more information regarding childrens eating habits.
I don't have much 1 on 1 time with my eldest daughter and we are able to bond while cooking together and it allows me to get more of my daily busy mom chores ticked off the list.

My workouts- Yesterday- started with some rehabilitative work, front planks, side planks, ball hamstring curls, ball adductor bridges (great for v-birth recovery), wall shoulder rotations with presses (stage 3 furious 5) and lunges. Onto my fat loss work- full squat/press, kettle bell high pull berpie, heavy kettle bell clean and press.
Today- light kb swings, plyo push ups, dive bomber push ups, jumping jacks, shoulder windmill, jump squats, kb lumber jack chops, dynamic split squat jumps (mixed my cns and metabolics together)after this for strength I performed 2 sets of full front barbell squats- 1 warm up and 1 to my 8 rep max.
Any questions regarding the exercises please ask over the comment, chances are someone else has the same question.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

5 Things New Mothers Can Do to Increase the Results of Their Fat Loss Program

Please read my published article thru the link below

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1195295

Halloween Blowout

Halloween weekend means costumes, jack-o-lanterns, trick or treat, rangy kids and another birthday weekend in our house. It was time for a blowout, we had pizza, curry, beers and chocolates. All of this junk food flew right through me and I was up very early with a growling stomach. Time to feed the machine and get back to the workouts. My workout today, full squat and press, heavy kettle bell swings, lunge with biceps curl, squat high pull, bent over row.

The girls were so cute, a few houses went all out with decorations and cotton candy machines on the front lawn. The eldest dressed as a dragon and the baby was a tiger.
 
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