CrossFitting Through Pregnancy: Trimester 1
During the first trimester there are a wide variety of potential symptoms you could be feeling: fatigue, nausea or sickness, shortness of breath, dizziness or light headedness, softening of the ligaments in the pelvis, inability to eat certain foods — these all can potentially affect your training. Or, at the other end of the spectrum you could be feeling completely fine and like nothing has changed!
Hormones are rapidly changing during the first trimester which could play a big factor in how we feel during this first tri. Estrogen alone is 30x times higher than pre-conception and is responsible for increasing size of uterus and breasts, signals to create milk ducts and relax the pelvic ligaments. Some other hormones that change due to conception are: hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), HCS (human chorionic somatomammotropin), progrestrone, estrogen, relaxin, pituitary hormones, andenocortical hormones, thyroid hormones, and parathyroid hormones. WOAH. Seriously? No wonder!
This is a great time to start reading and learning about the changes that will occur over the course of pregnancy and postpartum. Also, starting to implement a breathing and movement strategy that works for you going forward in your pregnancy will be a big help over the long term.
Mindset. Working on your mindset in the first trimester is a huge piece of the puzzle. If you are like me and fitness is a HUGE part of not only your life, but who you are, the idea of changing things up could be really hard. Now is the time to start reminding yourself that this is only a chapter in your life, and a very short one at that (although I know it doesn’t feel like it at the time!). Putting in the time and energy into some adjustments now will only create a stronger foundation to build on afterwards, and be a huge benefit to your long term athleticism.
Not working out is OK! If you are feeling exhausted and there is that voice in your brain that is telling you to go home and take a nap instead of heading to the gym — it’s OK to listen to that voice! Start listening to the voice that you’ve been trained to ignore. (Brianna Battles). If you need to rest in the middle of an AMRAP, do it! If you want to lighten the load, do it! Not going to the gym at all? That’s OK too!
You are not going to lose your gains, in fact you are going to be preserving your long term athleticism.
Resources! Head to my resources page if you need help locating a pelvic floor PT, great books I recommend on pregnancy and postpartum, and also some courses.
I would love to hear your takeaways and questions.. Drop me a comment below!
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If you’d like a more individualized approach to working out through your pregnany I am available to work with you remotely online or in person in Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts. For more information about me and how I can help you through this chapter, please schedule a FREE 15-minute chat here, contact me directly at hello@kerrigrace.co or visit KerriGrace.co
Stay strong, stay beautiful!
Coach Kerri
hello@kerrigrace.co
