Heavy back squats I miss you!

Before I knew I was pregnant I had already started sucking at the gym. The first signal was a lack of oxygen but put it down to being a bit out of sorts having just come back from a 2 week overseas trip that didn’t involve a lot of training.  I started to take twice as long as the fastest person to finish a workout that should have been easy for me. It was frustrating but I just wasn’t feeling right and looking back I'm glad I had the good sense to pull out of the crossfit regionals. I was only 5 weeks when I was supposed to compete having qualified as the 47^th fittest woman in Australia.  I was still lifting heavy in my training and feeling ok just out of breath. I remember doing a 100kg back squat and I’m still here. Obviously I’m not doing that now. Heavy back squats I miss you!

I found out at about 6 weeks and obviously started to scale back.  It was hard. Really hard. I was madly trying to find out info on what I could and couldn’t do, quizzed my doctor all through my first appointment, like a woman obsessed.  I had no morning sickness just felt a constant lack of energy. I didn’t look pregnant yet except for a thickening around the middle. I was losing my waistline. Bugger. My ego was taking a bashing in the gym and it seemed everything I had worked so hard to achieve were diminishing. My waistline, my lungs, my body fat, the loads I could lift, the speed I could run etc even the food I usually loved had no appeal. I couldn’t cope with the smell or taste of meat, my usual dietary staple. Cravings were leaning towards starchy carbs. Oh no! What is this about? Usually when you have cravings the mind can override the body but it felt different this time. I think I was craving sugar and bread to get some energy back, although mentally I knew this is not the case and it doesn’t work like this.  So my diet during the 1^st trimester took a bit of a bashing. Not ideal I know and I became frustrated in myself giving myself a hard time over it. I’m not perfect and stressing over the fact isn’t going to help anything. So I kept up the movement and did my best. My training routine stayed the same just with less intensity.

I took a 2 week holiday at about 10 weeks to the US to see my friend compete in the Crossfit games. Still got my training in but I admit to eating way too many Hershey Kisses whilst there J A group of us winded up doing a workout at Muscle Beach which was awesome fun and visited a few gyms to get some workouts in. All felt good.

I did an Olympic lifting course at 18 weeks preggers which had a large practical component. I just kept my lifts light and stayed hydrated. I hope to still keep working on my technique so that lifting doesn’t feel too foreign when I finally get back into full swing.

Here's a few pics of me at 12 weeks preggers...and I thought I had a gut then!