CrossFiting while pregnant seems to go against everything doctors tell you about keeping your heart rate down and not lift weights.  However, if all is well and you feel good to keep up your training, the focus for you will now be to maintain your fitness instead of setting any PRs.  Now, I am NOT writing this post to contradict any doctors’ advice.  If there are circumstances where you need to keep away from the weights and any intense workout, listen to your doctor.  Nine months is a blink of an eye and sooo worth the wait.

If you plan on working out, get in tune with your body and listen to it.  Sometimes a nap will be much more beneficial to your body than a workout, and that is ok.  So, what do you scale and how?  Luckily, there are some great resources out there.  CrossFit Mom is owned and programmed by a trainer (Andrea) from CrossFit Brand X, where CrossFit Kids originated.  Her website is dedicated to training pregnant and post partem women, as well as women who are trying to conceive.  It’s a great source of information on what to scale and substitute for each trimester and post partem, and offers great substitute movements as well:

• First Trimester: Make sure you can stop in the middle of the WOD and say a sentence.  This will be a good indication of whether you’re not overheating or over-exhausting yourself.  Stay away from inversions (handstands, etc).
• Second Trimester: Relaxin starts to set in, so squatting to full depth will be harder. Also as your belly grows, it may be time to stop sit ups and bench pressing and sub out barbell cleans/snatches with dumbbell ones.  Continue to adhere to first trimester rules.
• Third Trimester:  Really listen to your body.  Back off of the intensity and continue to scale when necessary.

70s Big also wrote a great article about strength training while pregnant.  Here’s an excerpt:

Training while pregnant should exist to maintain, or slightly improve the health of the mommy, not the performance. Leaving the gym refreshed and rejuvenated is better than leaving wiped out. Why? Because we don’t want to require a major systemic recovery because the system should be preserved for developing the baby and staving off illness. The mother shouldn’t be in a weakened state because her immune system is now treating her plus the baby.

Bottom line is your body is now growing a little person or, in some cases, persons!  Respect it.  You have a HUGE PR to look forward to in less than 9 monts, so the ones in the gym can wait!  Maintain your fitness, listen to your body, and rest when you need to.

**Read more about the first, second, and third trimesters on CrossFit Mom.  You can also read more about scaling, post partem, and substitute exercises there.  Read the rest of the  70s Big article here.

WOD 04.30.13

Back Squat 3×5 or Wendler

30 Air Squats
30 Push Ups
20 Wall ball Shots
20 Pull Ups
10 Squat Jumps
10 Pullovers (sub Ball Ups on bar or rings)