I was a tad bit late with my last prego post, so this one is coming in right after it! Life is beginning to settle down post-move/pre-baby so I will have my Week 35 post on schedule at the beginning of next week and tomorrow keep an eye out for a YUMTASTIC paleo-friendly Cubano recipe!

If you’ve been following my pregnancy journey, you know that I have remained relatively active and was aiming for three strength-training sessions per week plus 4 yoga sessions a week. I would say that for about 80% of my pregnancy, I’ve participated in prenatal or prenatal-friendly classes. Though I love vinyasa flow classes, I found myself generally enjoying a more modified practice. Plus, my additional body weight + relatively weaker upper body strength made the flows more difficult and tended to strain my shoulders and core.

I’ll say it again and again, but pregnancy fitness is all about listening to your body. Strength is good, Strain is not. Challenging is fine, but frustrating is not. Pregnancy is a huge change and can introduce a lot of difficulty to our day-to-day lives. I haven’t felt the need to seek out even more difficulty on top of what I’ve already experienced. Sometimes the combination of symptoms, lack of sleep, and awkward body shape is enough without adding a 50 lb. kettlebell, a running regimen, or 150 chatturangas. This, of course, is all relative to the woman in question which is why I would reiterate my point of LISTENING to your body.

In the past few weeks, I’ve really abandoned a lot of my exercise routine for the remarkably more challenging movement of MOVING. Filling boxes, carrying boxes, moving furniture around, cleaning the house, organizing closets, nesting, decorating, shopping, walking to and from the car, garage, and house a million times a day…

Let’s just say I’m not lacking in movement. And to be honest, I quite prefer and active life to a strict exercise schedule. My fitness feels more well-rounded with regular movement like walking, lifting and standing rather than 20 mins of pushups, squats, and lunges. The exercise is fun and it certainly can help boost strength in particular areas (I’m looking at you BOOTY), but it is not a replacement for a holistically active day.

I’m in awe of how active I’ve been up until this point. Every once in a while I’ll jog across an intersection to avoid traffic or make a crosswalk light and I’ll think “wow! I just ran!” I look at my new home with all my stuff put away and properly organized and think,”It’s amazing that I can still do this!” Our bodies are fantastic.

Part of that empowerment includes the awareness of how my body is different now and less capable of certain physical feats.

My limitations:

1. Exhaustion and Soreness – My joints get tired rather quickly from all the loosening for labor. I have to force myself to sit down and take breaks or schedule social time with friends so that I physically CAN’T keep working on house projects.
2. Bending over – Full depth squats are my friends. It ain’t so easy to just quickly grab something off the ground.
3. Lifting furniture – I may be strong enough, but my core is not prepared for the awkward weight distribution of furniture. I left this task to the men in my life.
4. Twisting – For obvious reasons. Little Atlas doesn’t like being corkscrewed in my abdomen.