1st post!!

Finally my first post! I had the idea for this blog since there's not a lot of information out there for women who follow a fairly intense workout regimen prior to becoming pregnant and want to maintain their fitness during pregnancy. I currently do Crossfit as my training method at an affiliate in my town. I have been training for approximately 18 months and don't want to lose all the fitness gains that I've made during this time. As many of us know, Physicians highly encourage a physically active pregnancy but the guidelines for such are not clear. I laughed when I read not to lift over 25 pounds! Now that would certainly apply to those who engage in light exercise but you have to apply some rules to what YOUR body is used to. My goal for this blog is to post my weekly workouts, how they felt, how I paced myself, etc. I will also post some educational tidbits as well.

HYDRATION

Since we're in the thick of the Dog Days of Summer I thought it was important to discuss hydration. It's always important to maintain adequate hydration regardless of being pregnant, but pregnancy is a special circumstance. Dehydration in pregnancy can bring on pre-term contractions and can also cause pre-term labor. Some physiology for the nerds: when the body senses a fluid deficit, the posterior pituitary gland releases ADH (antidiuretic hormone). What does that do? Makes you retain fluid. Well ADH is also similar to another pregnancy hormone known as Oxytocin. Oxytocin cause uterine contractions and possibly cervical changes, in effect leading to pre-term contractions/labor. So you want to start out your workout being adequately hydrated. A good rule of thumb is to drink enough to make your urine pretty much look clear like water.

What I do in the hour or so prior to a workout is drink 1 liter of water, drink 1 liter during my warm-up, and 1 liter during/post-workout usually mixed with a powdered sport drink preparation.

Happy Hydrating! JB