Hello hello friends! I hope this post finds you well and that you are having a great day! Today I am sharing a bit into my fitness and postpartum weight loss journey because I feel like this isn’t something that is talked about nearly enough and if it helps even just one of you get a better hold on your health, then that is a win!
For me, working out has always been a big part of my life. I started running cross country and track and field in high school, which then resulted in running track and field in college. Since then, I have always tried to keep up with a workout program. That has definitely waxed and waned through the years and season of my life, but for the most part, it has always been a constant. In addition, my husband played basketball in college (that’s is where we met), so working out together has been something we have always really enjoyed.
Because we both were college athletes (at the same college) we learned to train very similarly, even though our sports were different and learned to fall in love with certain types of training. Our favorites included high intensity and olympic lifting, which resulted in most of our workouts being a combination of both. In fact, if we were to seek out classes, this is also the type of classes we wanted, as well (think your Orange Theory, Barry’s Bootcamp type).
My husband still trains very similarly, while now incorporating yoga/stretching and just simple cardio (swimming and running). My story is a little bit different though…
When I got pregnant with my daughter I started having a lot of back problems. They believed this was all due to a prior injury and the hormones released to widen the hips during pregnancy, but as a result, two months into my pregnancy I was restricted from almost all my favorite types of exercise at the time. No running, no jumping, no sprinting, no heavy lifting…NONE OF IT.
Now, if you have ever experienced something like this, it can be pretty difficult to manage because not only was working out my way of staying in shape, but it was also my way of relieving stress. It’s safe to say I definitely struggled. I floundered when it came to exercise and became very bored by walking. At the time I didn’t know much about pilates but the little attempts I would make, I was not a fan.
After my pregnancy, the thought was that my back would feel better and I would get back to it and it would all be fine….well it wasn’t. Now my back pain was even worse because I had lost allll support through pregnancy, and now my abdominals had also been separated. Add on top of that that I was now caring for a baby who was constantly in my arms, on my hip, or being picked up or placed into and out of things.
So after a few months, I started seeing two physical therapists – one general to get me back in active shape, and one pelvic floor therapist. I did physical therapy for 8 months and as I neared the end of the my recovery, I knew I could never go through that again if I got pregnant, but in general I wanted to keep my back and core supported well.
This is how I ended up at Bar Method . I had done a little bit of Bar Method when I lived in DC, so I knew they had a big focus on core and deep core strengthening. I went to a few classes and immediately fell in love with not only the workout style, but also the community.
My thought when joining was that I would just simply do a few days, but majorly get back to my HiiT type training, but now my Hiit training is farrrr less and I have never seen my body change the way that it has with barre….but that is for another blog post 🙂
TO BE CONTINUED….
xoxo,
Melissa
*Disclaimer: I am a partner with Bar Method, but my opinions and experiences are my own. They do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated.
