My CrossFit Pregnancy

I decided that I had better write a post about my exercise during pregnancy before the hindsight goggles get too thick.  Twenty years from now, I will no doubt be telling stories about how I won an IronMan at 36 weeks gestation.

Let me start with a disclaimer:  Don't be an idiot.  Let me repeat that in case you didn't get it the first time, don't be an idiot...

"Lynne" at 7 Months Pregnant

This is MY story about MY pregnancy and MY opinions about exercise during pregnancy in general.  It is based on MY experience.  If you are 40 and pregnant with your first child with gestational diabetes and cervical incompetency, please don't attempt Fight Gone Bad; some light yoga or a walk in the park is probably more your speed.  If, on the other hand, you are a twenty-something, athletic individual who can't bear the thought of sitting still for the next nine months, I hope you find some inspiration or perhaps a sense of camaraderie in my story.


Regarding my pregnancy in general, most would describe it as "easy."  I remember thinking over and over again, "THIS is easy?!?  Man, I would hate to have a hard pregnancy."  I would say that aside from the obvious protruding belly, the only symptoms* I had were fatigue and some symphysis pubis dysfunction (more on that later).  That's it.  No morning sickness, no heartburn, no headaches, no cravings, nothing.  I attribute this to my diet and lifestyle during and before pregnancy.  Yes, I said before pregnancy.  There is growing evidence that what you do before you get pregnant (heck, even what your mother did when she was pregnant with you) can dramatically effect your pregnancy.  So, if you're not pregnant yet, get your shit together; your baby and your body will thank you.  (No references on that one... just something I've heard/read enough times from enough people that I believe it.  If anyone has any concrete references, I'd love to have them.)

Okay, let's start from the beginning, shall we?  In the beginning, pretty much nothing changed.  The only difference for me was that I felt slow.  I wasn't actually slow... I just felt slow.  My times and lifts were still improving, but everything felt so much harder.  Not hard enough to stop me from pushing myself, but hard enough for me to notice.  I was still working out five days a week, teaching four classes a week, and going to school full time.  School included three weeks of graveyard clinical shifts... so exhausting!

Around this time, I participated in the 2011 CrossFit Games Open.  I did all five workouts without any modifications.  During the Open, the gyms in my area all took turns hosting each of the five workouts.  When it was our turn to host at Olympic CrossFit, my judge was Amy Hollingsworth of Kitsap Crossfit.  I was feeling tired and slow that day and I told her that I was pregnant as a sort of pre-emptive excuse for sucking.  She said something that stuck with me for the rest of my pregnancy:

"Don't let anyone else tell you what you can and cannot do.  You know your body, you know what you are capable of.  Listen to your body and you'll do just fine."

YES!  This came from a woman who recently completed a 7:16 Fran Rx'd at 7 months pregnant.  Up until this point, I had felt pretty isolated and unsupported in my choices regarding CrossFit.  The only person who was truly on my side was Mr. Monster, and he was on the opposite side of the world (plus, he's a dude).  All I had heard thus far was, "be careful," and, "are you sure you should be doing that???" always accompanied by a look of pure terror.  FINALLY, here was someone who had been there, done that, was encouraging me to do what I felt was right.

Squatting to Full Depth

Let me take a moment here to talk about CrossFit Mom.  Before I became pregnant, I had heard of CrossFit Mom and I thought it was such a fantastic idea.  A resource for pregnant CrossFitters!  Great!  Yeah... not so much.  Unfortunately, CrossFit Mom has fallen victim to the same fear based thinking that everyone else has in regards to pregnant women.  A lot of the recommendations made are conservative to the point of being potentially detrimental.  For example, Andrea (CrossFit Mom's "mom") suggests that, beginning in the second trimester, women should not squat below 90 degrees.  She makes this suggestion as a blanket statement applying to all pregnancies.  When I asked her about this in her forum, she responded by saying:

"This is one of those, "does not apply to everyone" situations. I spoke with a CrossFitting OB and did a lot of research. For some women, squatting below parallel can overstretch the ligaments in the hip, because of the relaxin hormone. This doesn't mean it absolutely will happen, just that it's a possibility. My job here, giving advice to thousands of women I don't train in person, is to err on the side of caution."  

Okay, I get it, but I do not agree.  If it does not apply to everyone, don't suggest it to everyone.  It's insulting.  Unfortunately, we as a society seem to think that pregnant women are incapable of intelligent thought.  Our doctors and nurses cater their recommendations to the lowest common denominator.  How 'bout some common-sense informed decision making?  Just because something could happen, does not mean it will happen.  This type of litigation-conscious, worst-first thinking is the reason kids can't play tag anymore and everything I own has a warning label on it.  I vote for giving women the risks and benefits of their actions and letting them decide what is and is not appropriate for them to do.  Crazy concept, huh?

So, thanks to CrossFit Mom, there are a bunch of awesome athletes out there jerking PVC pipe, 1/4 squatting 35 pound bars, and calling it CrossFit.  It's silly.

(By the way, if you'd like more information about squatting during pregnancy, One Fit Mom has written a very comprehensive article on the subject).

Whew!  That was longer than I had anticipated.  Sorry.  Back to my story...

About the time I started to show (between three and four months), I began feeling better energy-wise.  I continued to workout five days a week and to teach my classes.  On off days, I would go hiking or skydiving (I continued to jump until I was about five months along.  At five months, I started to come in for landings a little faster than I liked so I  called it quits).  Then, I participated in the Warrior Dash (which was no big deal) and in the Ragnar Relay (which just about killed me).

The Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage

Long story short on Ragnar: our team was down two people and so an easy 14 miles turned into a grueling 23.  That was the end of my pregnancy running.  I developed Pubic Symphysis Dysfunction (PSD); a really gnarly sounding name for a not-such-a-big deal thing.  You see, your pubic bone is actually a joint; when you have PSD, that normally immobile joint starts to get loosey-goosey.  It can be incredibly painful (as it was for me) but it is otherwise benign.  My midwife referred me to a chiropractor specializing in the treatment of pregnant women and she SAVED ME.  Seriously.  I could barely walk into her office and was practically skipping out the door. (I highly recommend chiropractic care to every pregnant woman I encounter... it made such a huge difference for me).

Box Step-Ups

So, at this point, the real modifications started.  I replaced my runs with rows.  I hate rowing, but, it was world's better than that my-pelvis-is-going-to-crack-in-half pain that I got every time I ran.  I also started intermittently replacing box jumps with box step-ups.  I have a confession to make on that one: I could have done them but chose to use pregnancy as an excuse not to.  I HATE box jumps that much... I always have.  We do deadlifts from blocks regularly at my gym and somewhere around the six month mark I started pulling from the floor instead.  My belly was just too big for me to bend down that far!  I still did Olympic lifts but my giant belly prevented me from doing them well.  Pushups got really f-ing hard and I eventually started using a box to do them.  I also started using a band for pull-ups; I could still kip one or two at the very end, but any more than that was pretty impossible without assistance.  I also quit doing sit-ups but not for lack of trying!  If you want to see something funny, get your grossly pregnant friend to attempt a sit-up.  Hilarity will ensue.

That's it.  I still did every workout with as much intensity as I could muster and I still lifted heavy.  During my pregnancy I set personal records for back squat (205 pounds x 1) and deadlift (235 pounds x 2).  I scored 287 on Fight Gone Bad (up from a previous score of 250-something).  I felt great.

People ask me all the time about burpees and double-unders.  Yes, I did them.  For burpees, I simply started doing them with a little more control; no more flopping around like a hooked fish for me!  As for double unders, I took at them as a personal challenge.  Every time I did them, I was mentally chanting, "I will not pee my pants, I will not pee my pants, I will not pee my pants..."  I am proud to report, I could knock out twenty or so double-unders without incident up until the very end.

I can't write a post on CrossFit and pregnancy without talking about intensity.  If you were CrossFitting regularly before pregnancy and you are experiencing a healthy gestation, there is NO REASON not to continue to hit your workouts just as hard as you are used to.  According to the American College of Sports Medicine,

"The intensity of exercise should be regulated by how hard a woman believes she is working. Moderate to hard is quite safe for a woman who is accustomed to this level of exercise."

The idea that a deconditioned pregnant woman doing high intensity workouts will endanger her child makes perfect sense to me.  However, having been pregnant, I cannot imagine that she would 1.) feel up to it or 2.) be able to push herself that hard.  I found it incredibly difficult to keep my intensity level up.  I would regularly get to the point where I just could not move any faster; no way, no how.  It wasn't happening, not even if I was being chased by zombies.  What I mean to say, is that my body did a perfectly good job of reigning me in without much thought on my part.

So, that's that.  My experience CrossFitting through pregnancy.  One of these days, I'll get around to writing the complete story of my daughter's birth.  For now I'll just say that CrossFit is the reason I had a two hour labor that resulted in a robustly healthy, freakishly strong 8 lb. 10 oz. baby girl.  What more could a mother ask for?

Anyone else have stories to tell about their experiences working out during pregnancy?  I would love to hear them.

*I really hate using the word "symptom" to describe a state of health.  It just feels wrong...