a working mother’s journey to strength
I don’t think I’m any different than most people around DC who face multiple obligations on a daily basis–I work full-time, our son is currently adjusting to life in kindergarten, and we’ve got baby #2 on the way. In other words, I’m busy. Who isn’t?
In order to keep my head screwed on straight and my body functioning so I can keep up with the daily demands of life, I exercise. Truth be told, I have no vices in my life so I need some sort of outlet to minimize stress and keep my energy levels up. For me, motivating myself to exercise and stay fit has never been that hard because I’ve been an athlete since the age of 3. That’s when my dad sawed off the end of a squash racquet to make it child-sized and took me out on the court for the first time. From that moment on, sports were my activity of choice. I was a pretty good athlete, never the best, but that didn’t ever bother me since I had fun, got to be with my friends, and was lucky enough to play on successful teams, including in college.
Now fast forward a bunch of years and not much has changed other than the competing part. I still occasionally run a race but it’s really for fun or if I’m in the mood for a challenge. Winning has nothing to do with it anymore. It’s really about maintaining a lifestyle that I have always known.
One of the reasons I came to Fitness on the Run (FOR) a few years back was that I:
a) even as athletic as I’ve been, I recognized that my post-pregnancy body was not the same as my pre-pregnancy body, and
b) was totally unmotivated to strength train on my own. Cardio was no issue because it’s pretty mindless and takes less planning, but strength training is another story. Times have changed and cardio is no longer king. Conditioning is what athletes do to truly be fit and strong.
On the first point, I know the reaction to this may be “yeah, obviously, you just grew a human being so of course your body is different.” But anyone who has had a baby knows that your body just feels different and it takes time to retrain and strengthen muscles that are underutilized as the pregnancy wears on.
The workouts I “endure”–and I use that as a term of endearment–at FOR are great because no two are the same and I’m constantly challenged. Yes, I too love the Kettlebell. It’s not like that’s all FOR does, but when you start to get serious about this stuff, you learn they are truly superior to other methods of fitness. I appreciate the fact that, through my training sessions, I’ve become aware of both my strengths and my weaknesses. It’s a joke amongst the trainers and I that I have “lazy” glutes. They are a work in progress and probably will be for a while longer. But I could have never known that I sometimes round my back, or fail to activate my glutes if I hadn’t made the decision to get serious about strength training.
I’m lucky that my husband is supportive and allows me time to work out at FOR. He understands how important having exercise as an outlet is for me, and in turn, how beneficial it is for our growing family.
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[…] We often hear so much chatter about what to and what not to do regarding exercise and pregnancy. More, less, none. It’s a crap shoot. But all three of our clients have a story of strength. Alexander told her passionate journey for motherhood here and Eliza told her story here. […]