Shine Shine Shine! – Student Spotlight

Last week in our Student Spotlight, we began our two week feature of inspirational women who have continued to train at Get Fit NH throughout their pregnancies. This week’s Student Spotlight is shining on Jill E. and Kim L. Both women have continued working hard and being healthy through their pregnancies and have written about their experiences.

Jill tells us about her top five reasons for continuing to train with her Get Fit Family throughout her pregnancy:

1. If it’s good for me, it must be good for the baby – This one is a no brainer. Obviously anything that is helping mommy stay fit and happy and strong will be good for the baby.

2. I will not let 4 ½ years of training go down the toilet – This is my second pregnancy and I have trained through both so far. Part of my reason for joining the Get Fit Family was to lose weight and get in shape to have kids. I will not let all of that hard work go to waste! Nor do I want to lose my Get Fit Family!

3. Support, support, support – Super Mom/Trainer Nancy understands when you break out in tears for no reason, and doesn’t hold it against you (Sorry Nancy!). She listens to everything and helps me remember that I am changing and can’t do everything I could do before! Coming to this realization was a lot harder with my first pregnancy. What do you mean I can’t hold a plank for 20 seconds anymore without wanting to pass out? I used to be able to hold one for well over a minute. Well, your body is increasing blood cells and blood flow and doing even more amazing things without you even knowing it, so deal. What do you mean I want to throw up in a pushup hold, or mountain climbers, or renegade rows? Hello heartburn! Let’s do those off the bench so your head is elevated. What do you mean my hips are moving (to prep for birth) and my SI joints are completely out of whack and everything hurts? Well, it’s time to avoid all those exercises that create discomfort for the SI joint, focus on stretching and strengthening your core. That last one has been especially frustrating with my current pregnancy, but Nancy has been wonderful at making sure I am not in any discomfort or pain during training and modifying exercises (and making sure I am not going to burst into tears again).

4. Cool technology – This pregnancy I am hooked up to a heart monitor during training. This may be the most interesting part because I am really able to control my intensity and workouts all while keeping my heart rate in check. Who knew band hammer curls could get your heart racing so fast! I like that I am able to control when I need to increase my intensity (quit being a baby, or ‘suck it up’ as Dean says) and when I need to take a breather.

5. Astonishing people – Some people are shocked when I tell them I train 3-4 nights a week while pregnant – my parents’ and grandparents’ generation especially. But I love being able to explain that training isn’t just for me. The lowering and raising of the heart rate when training resembles labor. I am not the only one who has to go through it, this baby has to prepare too! I had a C-section with the first pregnancy (my daughter was breech), so there was no labor involved, but there was a heck of a recovery afterward! Without having the core and the arm strength I’d built up previously, I am guessing that recovery would have sucked a whole lot more! It’s too early to tell with Baby Boy Edelmann what type of delivery I will have, but they are telling me he is going to be big and tall. Have you met my husband…eek! So the way I see it, the more prepared I am while he is still in the womb, the better!

 Jill and Karl, along with the rest of us, are waiting to meet their newest family member!

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Our next mom Kim explains how training with Get Fit NH has helped her through her pregnancy and in preparing for giving birth:

It gets increasingly hard to find the motivation to get to class but the payoff gets so much greater! I could be having the worst day – tired, grumpy, and not feeling well – but after class all of those feelings and emotions would be gone. Physically, I have had an incredibly easy pregnancy and I do not attribute that to luck. I attribute it to the fact that I have never really stopped moving. I refused to give up and chose instead to be tough. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but so far it has worked! (Although I can’t lie, I’ve had days where I wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, but we can blame that on hormones).

I am really curious to see how my recovery from childbirth will be and even more curious to see how I handle childbirth itself with our mottos from class running through my head – “Get comfortable being uncomfortable!”, “You can do anything for 15, 20, 30, 40 seconds!”, and “Last set is the best set!”.

Little Maggie was born in August. Congratulations, Kim!

Training when it is just yourself is difficult – we should all get a high five each day for making it happen. But when you are training while experiencing morning sickness or feeling uncomfortable at nine months pregnant, you deserve a second high five! Katie introduced us to Little Jonathon this past January and later this year Amanda is expecting her second child. Congratulations to Carolyn, Jill, Kim, Katie, and Amanda and everyone else in the Get Fit Family for working so hard!