On Maintenance, & a Great Workout!

It takes a LOT of work to get in shape. There's nothing like postpartum recovery to emphasize that point. It takes tremendous effort to gain improvements and to really see and feel results. Day in and day out it can feel like a relentless pursuit, neverending with only more days of continuous effort ahead. This can be an overwhelming feeling which lends itself to defeatism in our fitness goals.

The GREAT thing is that maintenance takes less effort; that is to say, once the improvements are made it takes less effort to maintain that level of fitness over time. This is very motivating! The push we make on a given day- over the weeks and months where we struggle to see results- has a lasting effect on our well being. Conversely, the poor decisions we make that result in regression of our progress equate to only more hard hard work! This is doubly motivating- to stay active and also to make good decisions in the day to day that do not thwart our hard efforts and dent our hard earned results!

Here is my Workout log for today. 0 days rest, 6th day consecutive.

30 minutes

Warm Up:

Dynamic Stretching with focus on Neck & Chest

Sets 20:10 Work:Rest x 8 = 4:00 minutes each set of rounds.

Monkey Push Ups: 2,3,3,3,3,4,3,4,3 (1 extra, oops)

Jump 1 Fwd 2 Back: 8,9,9,9,6,10,8,10

Modified Push Up: 6,6,4,4,4,3,3,4 *my form was deep, and I am very happy with that!

Lunge Jumps: 12,10,8,9,7,8,8,6 *my form was deep, and I am very happy with that!

Burpees: 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3

Cool Down: Child's Pose- I tried to do a sun salutation and my muscles were so spent I couldn't even complete one. Wow.

I am SPENT. I am extremely happy with my form this workout. Even though my reps are lower my form is better and I see that as the best progress, especially considering I wasn't able to complete the rounds with proper form in the previous attempts

It's always a great feeling when my workout for the day is done and I can get on with other things knowing that I have put the work in to my fitness. It's all downhill after that- working out is the hardest thing I do so everything after that just seems like cake!

Comments

I don’t have a Diastasis- Why is my abdomen still distended postpartum?

I get asked this question all the time! Here is my answer:
Research has shown that 100% of pregnant women will develop some degree of diastasis recti. A diastasis is a lateral separation in the abdominal wall between the recti or “six pack”, due to a stretching of the midline connective tissue or “linea alba”. Although some diastasis will heal postpartum, in many cases a separation will remain without restorative exercise.
Distention from DR will present as a doming in the midline. Women who heal a diastasis spontaneously or through restorative exercise may still find that their abdomens are distended, particularly after a meal and/or at the end of the day. If there is no diastasis, why is this?
This abdominal distention does not occur in the midline, but rather across the entire abdominal wall. This is due to a weakened hypotonic TVA- transverse abdominis muscle. The TVA is the deepest anterior abdominal muscle, wrapping around the midsection like a girdle, with a left and right side. T…

Hello Fresh- An Option for Healthy Meal Planning!

I had an opportunity to try a food delivery service called Hello Fresh. A lot of people have been talking about it and it is becoming a popular option for people who are too busy to shop and plan for meals. It is a much cheaper and healthier option to eating out. Most meals cost approx $12 per person and the portions are generous.

I am always nervous about subscription services, and in order to redeem the coupon I was gifted I had to signup with payment information. I reviewed the cancellation policy which seemed very uncomplicated. Further to, I can skip weeks as I choose, pausing my subscription. It seemed fair.

My resident kitchen helper Ben volunteered to blog about the meal preparation. Ben is a fantastic creative cook and hobby chef. As we have prepared more Hello Fresh meals he has “beefed up” the ingredients to make extra portions from the same recipe, as well as kid friendly (plainer) versions. Here is Ben’s review of our first Hello Fresh Meal, a Pork Schnitzel.

We received o…

BulletProof Coffee

I have a client who regularly makes us a cup of BulletProof coffee before our workouts. I have come to enjoy its flavor. BulletProof Coffee is simply black coffee blended in a blender (not mixed with a spoon), with clarified grass fed butter (Ghee) and a medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) oil (Coconut oil works).

Apparently there are benefits to brain function by blending healthy fats with your morning coffee. Also it has ketonic diet sympathies, as the fasted body in the morning continues burning healthy fat as energy, reducing hunger and helping with weight management. This is my understanding, anyway. I find it tasty and it perks me up :)

Interested in making this for myself, I went to Amazon looking for products. Here is what I found- typical of protein powders and health food supplements, I found a lot of packaging and marketing.

This BulletProof coffee package which costs $75.99 for coffee and some hyped up coconut oil? Then there is this Ghee at $57.99. As I added these items to my …

Kate Rita- Personal Trainer and Diastasis Expert

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