Sports with a baby in your arms? Yes

Prologue

For those who have been involved in sports all their adult life, temporary abandonment of their favorite activity can turn into real stress. Even in high school, I went to fitness, then there were sports dances, then the exercise machine, running, swimming, and finally, during pregnancy, yoga. It was pregnancy, and then such unfamiliar motherhood almost two years ago, immersed me - why hide it? - into gloomy reflections.

First of all, like most girls, I was, of course, afraid of gaining weight. I had no idea how much a kilogram it could be - on the "mom" forums, the numbers fluctuated in the range of 2-42 (!) Kg. Secondly, I had no idea how you can do anything with a baby, not to mention sports (this is now clear - you can do at least three things at the same time!). Fortunately, during pregnancy, I was lucky enough to find an intelligent yoga instructor specifically for expectant mothers - we met with her twice a week for the entire second and third trimester, that is, six months. Well, a subscription to a sports club with a swimming pool came in handy - again, twice a week I swam at least a kilometer. To be honest, in the last months swimming was difficult for me - for some reason after the pool I really wanted to sleep, I worked in the office, and I didn't want to look like a somnambulist … But I forced myself to swim and not sleep =) Plus, in the evenings on foot walked with dog. At least an hour and a couple of kilometers. In general, I think that during those 6 months that I could go in for sports, I was without fanaticism, but I kept my body in good shape.

And in front of her there was childbirth … And, as it seemed to me, unrestrained immersion in a child with the obligatory attributes in the form of an unwashed head, a stretched dressing gown and - oh, horror! - excess weight paired with the inability to get rid of it. After all, I was not supposed to have a nanny, my husband left for work at 8 in the morning and returned exactly 12 hours later, and my parents were far away. That is, it was not possible to leave the baby in someone else's care to go to the gym …

This is my story, in it 99% of the unique factors - heredity, everyday features, surrounding opportunities. But maybe she will inspire you, and between the lines you can see the way out in your situation.

Part 1

I think I was lucky. The terrible dream of all pregnant women - to recover after childbirth - remained nightmares. I left the hospital with a weight less than before pregnancy. But! Body condition was far from ideal. Abdomen - flabby, buttocks - "extinct", arms and legs - thin and lifeless …

When the first shock from the baby screaming in my arms passed, I thought: what to do ?! The doctor strictly forbade any physical activity in the next two months, but kamon! Women's ingenuity will find a way out of any stalemate!

As soon as I could go for a walk with the baby, I put on sneakers and tights and taxied with the stroller to the park, to the usual running distance. To diversify the monotonous walking, I included an audiobook. Here are three useful things for you at the same time! As a result, for the first few weeks, such walks became my only, but extremely useful sports activity. Firstly, the stroller with the child weighed about 20 kg, that is, walking with additional weight was obtained. Secondly, there were at least two such walks for one and a half to two hours a day, which means that I walked about 20 km! Now, as I remember, I will shudder =) The result is that the hips have noticeably tightened, the butt has regained its elasticity, and the "breather" has returned to its former endurance.

At the same time at home, I was able to pump my arms using the Shake weight vibrating dumbbell. It was presented to my husband, but he considered that THIS was not a dumbbell, and removed it from sight, until suddenly the sports device came in handy. Vibration provides a base load on the entire torso, in particular on the abdominal muscles, chest, deltoid muscles of the shoulders. The description also says that the principle of operation of the dumbbell is based on inertial resistance, which must be overcome by the muscles in order to complete the full cycle of the exercise. This effect is achieved due to the vibration of the dynamic parts of the dumbbell, which makes the muscles work at times more intense. In any case, the first few days I had a sore throat, and for two months, when it was impossible to play sports, my dumbbell worked its way - I put the muscles of my arms and shoulders in order. Yes, do not flatter yourself. The dumbbell looks simple, but it is not so easy to "vibrate" for a minute on each hand, as in the training video =)

And another secret exercise that allowed you to train the abdominal muscles and tighten the abdomen - Uddiyana Bandha from yoga practice. First I did it lying down, then standing, several times a day.

And girls, don't forget about Kegel exercises !!! Google =)

Part 2

That morning, when my son was two months old, the first thing I did was pump up the abs. Surprisingly, there was no dizziness, and … away we go! To my walking half-marathon “races” I added exercises on “cubes” (after several tried ones, the Ab ripper P90X complex turned out to be effective for me - it perfectly forms the relief), hula hoop, several hip exercises (unloved but effective lunges, deadlifts and squats) and buttocks (classic "bridge"). A rainy November loomed in the yard, followed by a chilly winter. It became more and more difficult to wind circles with a stroller due to weather conditions, as well as a change in the baby's regime - he began to sleep less and stay awake more, it was no longer possible to feed him on the street, and we began to spend more time at home. But even then there was a way out.

When the weather allowed, I put my son in an ergo-backpack and with a "weight" of 6 kg went out for the same race walking, to which lunges and squats in the open air were added. An important note: shoes should be non-slip, and pants should stretch well =)

Another surprise literally crept up from behind. During the first months of motherhood, my lower back, and, in principle, all the muscles were "clogged" and urgently required stretching. Then I remembered my "pregnant" yoga and began to practice asanas with my waking son as an admiring spectator. At three or four months, children are already aware of what is happening around them, are capable of "dialogue" with others, some even begin to turn over. I put the baby on the floor and amused him only by bending over, getting up, reaching for him, turning away, turning around - probably this is how yoga looks from his point of view =)

Bottom line: I finally got up in Shirshasana (headstand).

Part 3

Spring has come. The son turned six months old. Now he slept much less, and the rest of the time required attention and participation. This meant that I had even less time for sports and other personal life. But girls, we remember that the impossible is possible, right? In my case, the TRX training loops became the solution to the problem called "don't let yourself relax". Several years ago, the husband brought them from the United States, deciding to practice like the Marines - with a minimum amount of equipment and with the severity of his weight. But the simulator was gathering dust on the mezzanine for a long time, until one early morning during my next walk I appreciated the full potential of the trees growing in the park and the even glade under them. The hinges perfectly clung to the posts and branches of the trees. In TRX workouts on YouTube, you can find a lot of different exercises of different difficulty levels. So I carved out another 30 minutes for physical activity - during this time, I managed to work out all muscle groups three times a week. Two or three more times I was still engaged in race walking with a weighting device in the form of a wheelchair, or finally ran while my husband was "working as a dad." Since a run was rarely stretched out for an hour to get an objective benefit from a lesson, I practiced interval jogging - alternating between brisk walking, jogging, and acceleration.

Sometimes it was possible to do ab exercises right in the park - on a bench or pad right on the lawn. More often, I did them at home: either early in the morning, while everyone was asleep, or late in the evening, when everyone was ALREADY asleep, or in the company of a baby crawling next to me =) In the first two cases, the minimum required set of asanas was added to strength training. In the morning - Surya Namaskar (or Salutation to the Sun), in the evening - breathing practices and relaxing asanas for sound sleep. I played hula hoop during the day to the delight of my son, who enthusiastically watched me from his arena. It took me a maximum of an hour to complete everything about everything, but in fact these 60 minutes were divided into two or three parts.

Part 4

Summer is coming. And this is another challenge. With the baby we are moving to the dacha. Sun, air and water, in a word. There I plan to continue using TRX and finally try Sean's Tabata workouts and Insanity, or something like that with the Body Rock channel on YouTube. Fortunately, the "English lawn" allows you to jump without a twinge of conscience and limiting the range of arms and legs =) At home, on the sixth floor, the potential discontent of the neighbors from below held me back …

Secondly, I took out my ergo-backpack again - we will walk with a small one to the river and back while he sleeps. His dream is short and sensitive now. So, I hope, the closeness of my body - the native smell and beating of my mother's heart - will tune my son to the desired calm mood.

Well, I have already replaced my favorite run with one and a half hour walks with my son by the hand. Three hours of these walks take as much energy, if not more, than an interval 30-minute run.

Epilogue

As I said, each of us has unique circumstances. I, most likely, belong to the type of women who do not gain weight during breastfeeding, but, on the contrary, even lose weight. And thanks to the almost daily sports five minutes, my body is now even better than it was before pregnancy. What have I learned over the past nine months?

Everything is possible, you just need not to be lazy, and to think - HOW to carry out what was conceived. Excuses like "I have a baby", as you can see, do not roll =)

Be flexible. The mode and acquired skills of the kids change every one and a half to two months, the weather conditions are the same. The main thing is not to fall into despair from the fact that the just-adjusted life schedule suddenly again requires revision, but to approach this issue with imagination.

Do not be shy. Yes, at first I was embarrassed for my activity, atypical for most mothers with strollers. But after a while, when I got involved in motherhood and related attributes, I didn't care at all how I looked. In Alaska and moonboots in the ten-degree frost, I continued to squat, lunges and push-ups. WTF ?! This is my life, my body and my health.

Use the moment: child in good spirits - put aside the mop / dishes / iron - shake the press. You can remove / wash / iron and then. I often do exercises at home when my son is crawling somewhere nearby. And when he sleeps, I sleep with him. This is an acquired skill, but already from a different story - about how to start practicing a healthy lifestyle after childbirth.