Tag: fit pregnancy

Super Bowl Funday!

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Got my workout in early this morning so that I could enjoy the game (since our Broncos are going to win it! – fingers crossed). A couple pieces of advice I offer my clients on this crazy Super Bowl weekend…

  • Eat a meal before you go to a party if you are unsure if your host will have healthy options.
  • Stick to the meat and vegetables. Skip the chips, desserts and minimize the sugary drinks!
  • Make the game into your workout. Each touch down do 10 Squats, each turnover 10 sit ups, field goals 5 burpees, etc.

Today’s workout…

Leg Press – 10×3
Front Squats – 10×3
Overhead Press – 10×3
Incline Bench – 10×3
Dumbbell bicep curl to overhead press – 10×3
Seated Rows – 10×3
Lat Pulls – 10×3

Is it a Boy or a Girl?

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The next weightlifting Chavez will be….

its a girl

Happy Friday!

Workout of the Day…

400 meter row
10 Squats
10 RDLs
10 Overhead Press
Repeat 4 times

Bump-date!

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The picture on the left is from my 1st pregnancy and the one on the right is from this week. (I know they are different weeks, last time we forgot week 23). Do you think we’re having a boy or a girl?

How far along: 23 weeks!

Baby Size: A mango {11 inches, 1 pounds}

Weight gain: 15 lbs

Maternity clothes: Yes. Even my yoga pants are a bit tight.

Stretch marks: None yet.

Sleep: Good. Getting up typically once per night to pee.

Gender: Stay tuned this Thursday for the gender reveal!

Movement: Yep, little one is moving like crazy and loves kicking my pelvic floor!

Looking forward to: Meeting our sweat pea – SOON! Matt set up the hammock in the backyard this weekend so we have another little place to relax once the baby arrives.

Food cravings: Had a few sweet cravings this week, otherwise GREEN CHILI!Food aversions: Pork and strong spice smells.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Strong smells and plain water.
What I miss: Being able to sit up with my ab muscles! And I am really looking forward to an ice cold Hard cider.
Symptoms: Baby kicks, bloated after my meals and occasional Braxton Hicks contractions.
Nursery: Almost cleaned out and we are starting to pick colors and designs to paint on the walls.
Belly Button in or out? Out – and when I cough more out!

Wedding rings on or off? On and no swelling.

Mood: Fairly good. I have occasional moments of annoyance, typically when I need more food or sleep, but otherwise upbeat.

Workouts: Good, on hold till further notice from my OB, due to contractions.
January Distance Challenge – 28.25 miles down, 21.75 miles to go!

Men Will Never Truly Understand

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I have been taking it a bit easier the past couple days – my higher activity has been causing a few Braxton Hicks contractions in the evenings. I had this last pregnancy starting at 17 weeks, but until I see my doctor on Monday I don’t want to push it. This little one has some more cooking to do!

Now that I have crossed the half way mark of this pregnancy I am starting to notice my energy is draining. I am always a go, go, go person, but lately I have had to stop and rest. My husband on occasion even asks why I am so tired, of course my response “I don’t know, could it be the person growing inside of me?” Someday’s I really wish men could truly understand what women go through just to make a baby.

Don’t get me wrong my husband does help out more and is really looking forward to our newest edition, but there are someday’s I truly wish he could understand what it is like to be pregnant.

 

I am always joking with my girlfriends about guys needing to experience just three small parts of pregnancy – 1 Day of nausea, vomiting and the “morning sickness”, 1 day of being humongous (9 months pregnant) walking around with the extra weight and finally, just 1 HOUR of labor pains. One hour that is all I am asking! 🙂 If any of you haven’t seen the viral videos where guys are hooked up to electrical stimulation machines which simulate labor pains, it is definitely worth your while and a few laughs (Men in Labor) or the other great video is done by the Try Guys (Try Labor Simulation). While they will never truly understand what women go through, this could gets them just a little closer. Of course when I offered to find a location my husband could try this he quickly found a reason he would be unable to do so!

Needless to say pregnancy is not for the faint of heart and definitely takes a lot to endure. I even have a few girlfriends who, because of my fabulous stories of pregnancy, have sworn off babies and will simply “buy” them! I highly doubt when it come there time that they could not face the challenge, but it doesn’t sound a lot easier on the body that way.

 

January Distance Challenge – 16.25 miles down and 33.75 miles to go!  I have some catching up to do!!! Eeek

Home workout

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Today’s workout…

Warm Up: Jump rope – 6 minutes

Walking lunges – 20 each leg
Push-Ups – 20
Step-Ups – 20 each leg
Tricep dips – 20
Mountain Climbers – 40 each side
Jump Rope – 2 minutes
Repeat 3 times

Winter wonderland!

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It is sad how life seems to take over the truly fun things! Every once and a while you need to remind yourself what you love to do and how much it’s worth to you. My husband and I used to visit the gorgeous Colorado mountains at least 3 times a month, but with work, a house and now kids things seem to change. Sometimes we forget to make time for the things that truly matter to us.  With a blossoming business (strengthtrain4life.com) keeping us busy nearly every weekend, we were very surprised to not see anything on the calendar for this upcoming weekend.  Always having something to do at home, I know that we would have found something to keep us busy.  However, we decided to take a trip to our family cabin to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  I’m typing this with my feet are propped up in front of the fire as I lay back in a comfy recliner.  It sure feels good to relax.

Before you relax you of course need to move a little!  The family and I decided to take a hike/walk around the property with the dogs.  It was cold and blowing so we didn’t last long, but we’re glad we decided to make the trip. We won’t let a little wind and snow get in our way of a fun romp around the property. As seen above our little one was bundled to the maxes and stuffed into our pack to make the hike with us. He LOVED every moment of it, giggling and talking the whole 1.10 miles we walked. I am grateful for my beautiful and adventurous family – more mountain trips will be penciled into our schedule this summer!!

 

January Distance Challenge – 15 miles down, 35 miles to go!

Catching Up on Miles

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Today I tested the length of my bladder control. My goal on the treadmill today was to get in two miles.  I am not one who likes to stop mid-way through my workout to go to the bathroom, so I’ll push through till the end potty dance if needed!  My first mile today was a slow jog. By the end of this mile my bladder could not handle another full mile of jogging so I mixed it up. Second mile was intervals of jogging for 0.10 mile and walking 0.10 miles until I hit two miles. At two miles I realized I had energy to go a little further! Final results 2.5 miles on the good old hamster wheel.

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I then finished up my workout with a 1 mile (1600 meter) row on the Rower to get me to a total distance of 3.5 miles for the day!

January Distance Challenge – 10 miles down, 30 miles to go!

Chair Workout

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Today’s workout was inspired by one of my kitchen chairs. Yes, you heard right! What better way to get fit than with using the tools that surround you in your home. We’ve all said it – “I can’t workout at home, I don’t have equipment”. But that can be the furthest thing from the truth. Yes, you have to be creative and yes, it still takes time, but it CAN be done.

If you have equipment such as dumbbells or kettlebells it can make your workout more intense, but you can also do so by increasing the number of repetitions. With my workout today I used two 15 pound dumbbells and a mini band!

Today’s workout…

Chair Step-Ups –  10 each side
Decline Chair Push-Ups – 10
Lateral Step-Ups – 10 each side
Tricep Dips – 10
Single Leg RDLs – 10 each side
Squat Jacks – 20

 

Working Through Tired

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My workout today felt great! I felt completely lazy and tired while completing all of it, but I got it done. Sounds a little backwards right?  I have noticed lately, while I am not really in need of nap, I am just way more tire than usual. However, regardless of how tired I was, it felt great to sweat and get my heart rate up.  Here is what I did!

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My belly is starting to look like my workout equipment! 🙂

50 Jumping Jacks
10 Single Leg Stand Ups each side with 18lb medicine ball
10 Pull Ups
10 Bent over Rows with 25lb KB
10 Single Leg RDLs each side with 25lb KB
20 Bosu Sit-Ups

40 Jumping Jacks
10 Single Leg Stand Ups each side with 18lb medicine ball
10 Pull Ups
10 Bent over Rows with 25lb KB
10 Single Leg RDLs each side with 25lb KB
20 Bosu Sit-Ups

30 Jumping Jacks
10 Single Leg Stand Ups each side with 18lb medicine ball
10 Pull Ups
10 Bent over Rows with 25lb KB
10 Single Leg RDLs each side with 25lb KB
20 Bosu Sit-Ups

20 Jumping Jacks
10 Single Leg Stand Ups each side with 18lb medicine ball
10 Pull Ups
10 Bent over Rows with 25lb KB
10 Single Leg RDLs each side with 25lb KB
20 Bosu Sit-Ups

10 Jumping Jacks
10 Single Leg Stand Ups each side with 18lb medicine ball
10 Pull Ups
10 Bent over Rows with 25lb KB
10 Single Leg RDLs each side with 25lb KB
20 Bosu Sit-Ups

Finished my workout with 2 miles on the elliptical and 1 mile on the rower.

January Distance Challenge – 5.5 miles down, 44.5 miles to go!

Confessions of a Slacker!

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I must confess I have let my life take over my workout time the past week and I am guilty of slacking! It has been 6 days since my last workout, but as of today – no more slacking! First of all my body feels awful and neglected. Second, I have challenged all my clients to a distance challenge for January, so I need to get my butt moving. As of yesterday (January 4th) – zero miles, but as of today the 5th – 2 miles down and 48 to go. In June of last year I did this same challenge and took on 100 miles, but with two differences I had the outdoors to run and didn’t have to worry about ice and extremely cold temperatures and I wasn’t pregnant. Therefore, for the month January I feel that half of the miles (50) should be a challenge. If you are interested in participating in my challenge please email or comment below and I would love to help you stick to your goals. All of my clients have chosen a distance whether it be running, biking, swimming or using their pedometer to track their steps and set a number goal to achieve. Each week I will check in with your progress and post it on my website to help keep you accountable. Top two people will win a prize! Participation is completely free, so please join in!  Most important thing to remember about slacking is that it only last as long as you let it. We all have those days, sometimes even weeks, we just don’t feel like working out. Not to mention missing one day seems to make missing next day even easier. There are so many excuses to NOT do something, but we need to focus on the reasons you WANT to ACCOMPLISH something. It’s not about having time to workout, it’s about MAKING time to workout!!!

Today I made sure to schedule in a good workout. I wanted to get a bit of strength and cardio in to fire up my lazy muscles! Here is what I did…

8 Squats
20 Kettlebell Swings without stopping (if I stopped before 20 I had to do 5 Burpees for each rest)
400 meter Row
Repeat 4 times

I finished up my workout with a short 5 minute Tabata (sprinting intervals).  When I say sprinting this was not my usual graceful sprint, but rather slow run with a bouncing belly! 🙂 For the Tabata I did 30 seconds sprinting, 30 seconds rest and repeated 5 times. Keep in mind when you are pregnant to ensure you stay within safe range during your “sprint” should be able to say a full sentence while running and don’t feel strange in any way. If you have not sprinted in the past year these should only be a fast paced walk!!!!

 

January Distance Challenge Count: 2 Miles down, 48 miles to go!