Upper and Lower Body Workouts

First of all, thanks for all the comments on our baby girl! 🙂 We’re so excited and looking forward to so many adventures with that little one. I still can’t believe it’s a she!!

Anyway, since coming home from Boston I’ve been focusing on other things besides running. In fact, I haven’t ran at all since I’ve been back. I’m not sure what’s going on with my knee (or whatever it is) and I’d like to avoid a doctor’s appointment if at all possible (smart, I know…but baby’s are expensive enough!).  I’m kind of assuming it’s a standard running injury where the doctor will say, “stop running, get rest, and ice it.” So, I’m kinda going with that. Wish me luck.

That being said, I’ve been told in the past that I have weak hamstring and hip muscles so maybe that plays a roll in the knee thing. If so, hopefully hittin’ the gym will help!

I haven’t worked on my legs in what feels like forever. I definitely prefer working on my arms so I need to kick myself to do leg exercises. Here was what my first day back doing lower body looked like:

First, I warmed up with 25 body weight squats and a 10 minute walk on the treadmill.

Lower Body Workout

• Alternating Lunges– 10 reps on both legs 3 times holding 10 pound weights. Since it was my first time back, I wanted to kind of ease into it. I also know it’s not recommended to go crazy high on the weights when you’re pregnant because you can get hurt easier and/or lose your balance…which would not be pretty.
• Deadlifts- 15 reps 3 times using 10-12lb. weights. I feel a little sturdier doing deadlifts so I upped the weight a bit. I love deadlifts. Definitely one of my favorite butt exercises. I love how you can always feel your butt and hamstrings working.
• Squats- 15 reps 3 times using 10 lb. weights. I felt a little awkward doing squats since I have a little belly now. When I squat down, I can kinda feel my belly hitting my thighs…it’s weird.
• Sumo Squats- 15 reps 3 times using 1 15 lb. weight.
• Clams- These I did on the floor using no weights. I did 3 rounds of 15 reps on each leg. This is a great move for your outer thighs and hips.

I also did a couple core exercises. I’m still figuring out the best ab exercises to do since we’re not supposed to lay on our backs. This time around, I focused on plank.

• Plank– 3 times 20 seconds each. Okay, so turns out, planks are way harder than they used to be. Maybe it’s because my abs are weaker but I’m gonna go ahead and blame it on baby! I definitely want to keep my core strong though since it’s easily forgotten in these 9 months. So, 20 seconds is a start!
• Lat Pulldowns- 3 rounds, 15 reps using 25lbs. Great move for those lat muscles!

So that was my plan that I did last week. Yesterday I actually did another lower body workout and incorporated a couple other moves:

• Hamstring Curls on Machine– I’m not a huge fan of using machines, but I wanted to work my hamstrings harder yesterday and already did some deadlifts. My original plan was to do hamstring curls using a swiss ball but that requires me to lay on the ground so I didn’t know if that was a good idea or not. So I did 3 sets of 15 on the machine using 20lbs. Sore today!
• Leg Press on Machine- This is an awesome exercise for your butt. So, I use the regular machine and push up with both legs, but lower slowly with only one. This will definitely make your butt sore I promise! I did 3 sets of 15 using 50lb. weights on both legs.

Okay, now onto arms. This was my arm workout from last week and today I plan on working them again (especially since I’m leaving town tomorrow).

Upper Body Workout

• Shoulder Press- 3 sets of 15 using 10lb. weights. I did these standing up although I’m sure as I get bigger, I’ll probably start doing them seated.
• Lateral Raises- 3 sets of 15 using 5lb. weights. Why are these so hard? I have no idea but they are!
• Hammer Curls– 3 sets of 15 using 10lb. weights.
• Alternating Front Raises– 3 sets of 15 using 8lb. weights.
• Chest Press on Machine– 3 sets of 15 using 25lbs. This is another one I moved to the machine for since I can’t lay down. I don’t mind machine chest presses actually. I could also use cables to do chest presses or pushups so there are plenty of moves I can do instead of bench presses.

For all of these workouts, I run through each exercise once, then go back through the entire circuit (usually a total of 3 times). I like that better than doing 3 sets in a row of 1 exercise. I feel like running through the whole thing once allows my muscles that I just worked to recover but keeps my heart rate up since I’m working another muscle.

Even in just these two weeks, I’ve noticed that I really want to push myself. I really want to do burpees, jump squats, heavier weights, etc. but I have to watch myself. It’s nice, because I feel really motivated to work hard…on the other hand, I’m pregnant so sometimes I need to simmer down.

I’ve heard people say you shouldn’t jump around while pregnant but I’ve also heard doctor’s no longer believe that. I’m sure it’s totally fine, the baby is pretty darn safe in there and if you can run, why can’t you jump? That being said, I’m still too nervous to actually do any plyometrics. I’ll have to ask the doctor during our next visit. I’m sure a lot of it is at some point, you’re huge so you’re not going to want to jump around or it’s easier to lose balance and you may fall, etc. We’ll see! I still don’t feel that big to the point where I’m losing my balance…but I suppose it could happen.

Since today’s upper body for me, what’s your favorite upper body move? I might have to try it out today!