Wednesday 27 March 2013

Getting back into exercise after a baby...

Life lately has been somewhat different to what it had been a month ago, however I am loving every bit of it. I have to say too that we are very blessed to have a very calm and content baby. He is not much of a crier and not much seems to phase him. However, there is still a lot of learning going on for all three of us. On Monday, Fletcher was a month old. I can't believe that a month has gone already - so fast - but I also can't think of life without him now, it feels like he's always been here. Such a treat.

Our precious wee boy at 12 days old

Anyway, here is probably what you really want to read about... My journey back to exercising... There are a lot of changes to adapt to and finding the time can be rather tricky... We are still working on that one.

If any of you readers have ever had a baby, you will know that things in your body change (somewhat of an understatement for many, I'm sure, but because i am so thoughtful, I'll spare you the deets). Therefore getting back into exercise is not quite the same as before baby/pregnancy. So it's been an ease back. I am only 2 or 3 kilos heavier than my pre baby weight, however everything seems a lot softer and jigglier... Not so cool. My journey back into exercise consists of these three goals:
  • Loose those extra couple of kilos
  • Firm up all the jiggly bits
  • Get back to running fit and strength
BOOM!

Since he was 2 weeks old I have been just walking with him in the buggy - great way to ease back into it with walking. Thankfully he loves the buggy and going for walks - must take after Mum! I have been trying to do around 5km 3 or so times a week.

Last week I did baby bootcamp with my wonderful ante natal group yummy mummies - so awesome having a personal trainer with her own home gym in the group! It was great, we did some leg work, some ab work and some interval training either using our babies as weights or some free weights (I used free weights as my baby is still a bit light and floppy, plus he was sleeping like an angel *boast*). Thankfully none of my insides fell out, nor did i wet my pants whilst doing the workouts... Phew!

As you would have seen from this post there is a great outline for getting back into exercise post baby. I have been following the guidelines from the article in the post and it all seems to be going great. In about 1.5-2 weeks I will start jogging - I am a little nervous about this and will be interested to see how my fitness is with a run. It's been about 4 and a half months since my last run... Eek! Not to mention trying to find the time for the run and working it in with our routines, as well as Tim's - Fletch is still to small to run with in the buggy so I'll leave him with Tim.

So watch this space to follow my journey back to exercise and running and whether I can achieve my goals. Remember, I have an overall goal of running the Whangarei Half marathon in September, followed by the Auckland Marathon in November... Can I do it? We shall see.

How is your training going? 

If you have had children, what are you post baby exercise experiences? Did you find that it was easy or difficult to get back to pre baby fitness?

8 comments:

  1. great goal.
    And much more fun probably leaving him at home with Dad so you can get some time out too

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  2. You are amazing - so wish I had been organised with fitness after having my babies!

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  3. Yay for getting out and going for walks. I ran with my last 3 babies in their mountain buggies as it kept me sane. At that stage I had never read that it was a no no so ignorance was bliss. They still to this day love running in the buggy! I started running at 6 weeks but with number 3 I stuffed my pelvis/hip muscles for many months as everything was still too soft... Just keep this in mind - don't over do it as it takes a long long time to fix!. Off road is good but again be careful of the jarring.
    Baby bootcamp is the best and such a fantastic way to get fit, socialise and increase energy levels! Everyone should do this! I waited over a year before doing my first half as I didn't want the pressure of having to do the longer runs that are needed towards the end of the training for the half marathon. In saying that if you set you mind to it antyhing is possible! Keep up the almonds and your milk supply will stay good as well!
    Good luck! You are amazing - and love your blog x

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    1. Thanks for the great advice and encouragement Ang :)

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  4. I'm cracking up where you said you didn't wet your pants! I haven't had kids yet so I can't begin to imagine... anyway I ran 1 km last Tuesday and Thursday and almost passed out at the end of each run

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    1. Haha, thanks Becky. Good on you for getting out there and having a run :)

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  5. loving reading your blog- have even been insipired to run the half marathon in nov. post baby I was a bit worried about 'insides falling out' and went and saw a physio/pilates instructor for pelvic floor excercises - one of the interesting things she said re: running was that running downhill put more pressure on your pelvic floor. her advice was to run as much as i felt comfortable but take it super easy on the downhill until id done a few months of pelvic floor excercises. highly highly reccomend getting tailored pvf excercises tho. anyhoo- massive congrats to you an tim :)

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    1. Thanks Nadine, that's awesome that you are doing the half - will it be your first? Totally agree with the downhill thing, plus it's not good for ITB problems either.

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