Mom- An Isolated Word

I picked my baby up from daycare today and she looked at me and said MOM clear as day, she has been mumbling it for a while, but I am now officially "MOMMA", this is all she can say. I am bursting I need to share this, she is 7 months and time is flying by.

My arm cramp feels better so I did a chop workout yesterday, 7 sets- 4 with small kettle bell and 3 with large kettle bell.

Today I trained clients and then did my workout- 4 sets of front barbell squats, super-set with resistance band kettle bell front chop (very explosive) and finished off with planks. My legs were wobbly.

I have lots of friends who are new mothers, people who have come together from all walks of life with the common thread of being a mother. There is a bond, it is like this unwritten code. When I had my first baby one of my clients/friends called me and said "welcome to the other side", I knew exactly what she meant. The reality is motherhood is great, it is overall extremely rewarding, but the general day to day service for others is extremely hard. Even though you may be surrounded by others you can still feel isolated, lonely, a lack of accomplishment and overwhelmed. I truly believe fitness can help. It allows you to do something for "yourself" and can elevate your mood tremendously. Whatever your level of fitness their is something out there for everyone, it may be tennis, jogging, thai chi and something as short as the one minute fitness solutions I have been posting. If you start small it will lead to greater things. Starting with the front plank may lead to chin ups or it may just allow you to hold your baby a few moments longer.

Arm Cramp- trouble shooting using early post partum exercises

So the baby was up every 2 hours last night to feed and I could not get enough water into me. I constantly felt dry with the change of weather coming so quickly. All of the sleep deprivation, baby holding and dehydration the inevitable happened today. When I was working I suffered a muscle cramp in my coracobrachialis (biceps area). I can feel my scapula is unstable, my forearm is tight and my upper arm has a knot in it. My workout for dealing with this today-
2 sets of shoulder external rotations with cables, 3 sets of hand behind the back shoulder isometric wall pushes, push presses, pull up position shoulder protraction/retraction, squat high pull with my left arm only, front plank, side plank, wall shoulder rotations with stick ups, laying on the foam roller small arm circles, pec stretches, and rolled my armpit area along the boarder of my scapula, 1 legged leg lowers for abdominals. This is part of being a nursing mother. This happened more often to me when the baby was first born and I was just starting post partum exercises. This workout is a typical example of a more involved early post partum exercise routine.
After work I picked up the girls, I unloaded our 10 bags and all of the soiled clothes (both) into the house I was ready for some quality time with them. I poured the bath and put the baby in with the toddler, we made a nice dinner of chicken pasta and pears with rice cereal and talked about the day. My previous sleepless night, arm cramp and bed wetting are all a distant memory.

Out To Lunch

Today I completed a 10 minute blaster workout just before the baby interrupted me with a hunger scream. She has a six sense of know when my 10 minutes to myself is done. This has happened many times before, but I was on to the babies tactics. I made my post workout drink in advance, did my workout and as she screamed in her crib I was able to gulp my drink before I got to her. It is a simple thing, but big, having my recovery meal ready is the value of 2 workouts in half the time. I was able to feed the baby and not feel light headed as well. Every Minute Counts, that is my mantra.

I was able to catch up with my best friend for a birthday lunch today. I was unaware, but she has been reading my blog, as she has a newborn and a toddler as well. When my lunch arrived half the plate was covered in french fries. She commented "your blog said you didn't eat fries", I ate a few, but left most. That's right when trying to lose the extra pregnancy pounds cut the fries out.

Time's Ticking On

It was off to the gym to train clients early this morning. It was a good day and I had my typical 30 minute break when I did my workout.

My workout- 8 sets of pull ups and 8 sets of burpies done as super sets. I then had my post workout drink and was ready to train clients again. I feel good about my strength and am getting close to my pre pregnancy body. My baby is over 6 months now and although I started my fat loss training about 2 months ago I feel like I am really getting some great results now. I am strong enough to consistently preform my workouts as intense as they need to be for post partum fat loss. It was an up hill battle to get to this point. I was using every spare minute throughout the day to integrate fitness into my baby routine. I kept motivated by telling myself "if I can push a 9 lb baby out over 3.5 hours I can do anything." I believe this is true for any busy new mom, if you can put up with pregnancy and delivery what's another 10 minutes of fat loss hell a few times a week.

Healthy Meal Tips for Busy New Mom's

Today I was up early and off to work armed with my gym bag of clothes and food, my laptop, kettlebell and breast pump in hand. It was a full day of training and at the end my sessions it was my turn to workout. I asked my newest client to stick around and watch my 8 minute whirlwind of a workout. I think she got the just of it fat loss training is intense and short.



I was off to pick up the girls and home to make dinner. I had put a chicken carcus into my crock pot at 5:20am and by the time I got home I had wonferful stock. I found 2 red peppers and pured them in my blender, added salt, parmesan, garlic, rosemary and some noodles with a touch of milk and there you have it, chicken pasta red pepper soup. The reason why I'm writing this is to help busy new mothers organize healthy meals. We ate a great homecooked meal that took me about 5 minutes to prepare. My pattern for cooking is night 1- roast meat (chicken, beef, veal), night 2-use the left over roast meat and bone to make soup/stew stock, I just repeat this cycle with different meats that make for quick, healthy meals for J fit mom's. I can cram all the veggies (pureed or cooked) into the stews and soups so your toddlers don't even know that they have eaten them, and after diet introduction these are perfect meals for your infants. Diet is very important for post partum recovery, nursing and fat loss

Great Family Lifestyle

Yesterday I did a photo shot for an upcoming program that mothers can do with their toddlers. My almost 3 year old daughter was a star, she looked at the camera while exercising first try, every shot! I hope she doesn't want to be a model. I was so proud of her and she loved it. I believe children should learn about activity and exercise at an early age, don't hide your activity from them, let them watch and join in when safe. I do understand that exercise is "your time", but explain to your toddler this is a very important part of your day and you will be setting your child up with great mindset for life. This is just one way you can prevent childhood obesity. (more to come on that latter)

I took my toddler to the ski swap today, we were looking to get her a small kit so we can, again do another activity together. Then it was down to the park to run the dog. I realized today our weekend revolved around exercise, not directly working out, but it hit home that we have an active lifestyle.

Furious Five Progression-stage 2

Front plank- aim for 2 minutes continuos
Chin Retraction- hold 10 seconds 6x
Side Plank- from the fully extended leg position, lift the top leg at the peak of your lift
Reverse Fly- use a light resistance band and retract you chin 20x
Shoulder Rotations- perform against a wall, elevate elbows to 90 degrees, retract chin, shoulders down and back and rotate

Enjoy