This is a rather rough topic for me. Most of you who know me at all, even a little, know that I have been an athlete my entire life. My life has revolved around sports and fitness. As a former division 1 collegiate athlete, I know the grind. And for those of you who aren’t quite sure what that lifestyle is like, our workouts make an everyday person’s workout look like a walk in the park, I promise lol. I’ve had to endure some pretty inhumane workouts to be totally honest. I always assumed that I would be that pregnant girl on social media jogging while 8 months pregnant, deadlifting with a baby bump, or boxing like a preggo Mayweather. Boy was I WRONG!
As an elite athlete, often times we don’t feel like we had a productive workout unless we’re a little sore the next day; this has been my mind set for as long as I could remember. However, the pains in my lower body joints, more specifically my pelvic bones/muscles, were beyond sore, it was an excruciating pain that made me want to tear up when transitioning from sitting to standing. Not to mention, the size of my new boobs do not help either. I thought that the pain was strengthening my muscles and helping me for labor but that thought process was wrong. I talked to my doctor and finally opened up to my mom about it. From being able to deadlift 300 pounds, jog a couple miles without stopping, to not even being able to jog 25 yards was a huge culture shock; it was mentally frustrating. At first I thought it was lack of motivation, then I thought it was fatigue, then I concluded that maybe I was just lazy. In reality, it was none of these things. Pregnancy IS a culture shock; it’s a culture shock on your mind, soul, AND BODY. I never thought I would be the one to say this but social media got to me a little. I follow tons of pregnancy fitness pages and lets just say I had to unfollow all of them. I didn’t understand why these girls who never played a sport in their life, let alone a collegiate sport, were out doing me in fitness, I didn’t understand, I was pissed to be honest. I also had the pressures of all these people/social media outlets harping on the fact that fitness during pregnancy is a MUST. I took a step back and realized that the phrase “everyone’s pregnancy is different” is so simple yet SO ACCURATE.
As of right now, I am 8 months pregnant. I’ve exercised a total of 12-15 times my entire pregnancy. I have finally stopped beating myself up about it. I have finally changed my mindset that pain during pregnancy workouts is productive, it is not. I’m done beating myself up about not exercising as much as I would like and I am focusing on doing what I can when I can. New Years Eve was my 1st workout, led by my awesome Father In Law, that I did without putting myself in pain, while still being productive. It felt great! Will I create some new workout routine for the remainder of my 3rd trimester? NOPE. I’m going to do what my OBGYN told me and go with the flow. I mean, isn’t growing a human a workout in itself?
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