Wonder Woman (in triplicate)

What. A. Week. The frenetic pace was set due to the practices, dress rehearsal, and finally tonight and tomorrow, the Ice Show, which will be followed immediately by the Birthday Party for a certain 3-year-old turning 4. All this on the heels of a weekend trip to my hometown of El Paso, Tx., to show off The Boy to my family. Somehow, I've managed to walk three times this week (four if you count speeding from one airline gate to another with a baby, car seat, diaper bag and suitcase). This wasn't possible because of some fitness master plan for the week. Oh no, I still haven't acquired enough sleep for that, nor am I that organized. Instead, I remained excessively flexible, leaving myself several options throughout the day in which to pounce on the opportunity if a workout presented itself. To dumb this down, it means I put off a morning shower, donned sweats and my walking shoes, and hoped for the best. 

My first workout option is early morning, before my hubby heads to work. This has always been my first and favorite choice, that is, until having a newborn and living off two to three hour chunks of sleep at a time. I realize, as a fit mom blogger choosing this opportunity would inspire you with a "seize the day" scenario. Ah, if only to prevail over sleeplessness and win that early morning workout. Come back and read this blog in a year. I'll be that kind of fit mom blogger. For now, sleep wins.

Second workout opportunity comes during preschool hours. I was hoping to accomplish another Moby workout. Life had other plans. That's a vague way of saying I was scrambling to get things done that should have been done long before, like buying the right color of tights the girls were required to wear for their Ice Show dress rehearsal. This is one of those silly little errands that sounds easy on paper, but with four kids and limited stores in the area that sell "flesh tone colored tights in kid sizes," it becomes a monumental task.

The third, and winning, workout opportunity came during the Ice Show practices. When I signed the girls up for skating last fall, I knew they weren't as interested in skating lessons as much as they were interested in the Ice Show. Fancy costumes, colored lights, music, adoring fans. What's not to love? Now, some $600 later (for parents, that's what's not to love) the girls have their fancy costumes and will perform to the theme of Wonder Woman, tonight and tomorrow. Aside from the major cash outlay for three daughters in an Ice Show, there's the time factor. Lots of ice time. And wouldn't you know, the weather in Minnesota has been glorious this week. So, rather than sit inside a cold ice rink I took The Boy out for a walk. I realize it's a bit unconventional for the parent not to sit around watching their child practice (this applies to every kind of lesson our kids do--think soccer, dance, martial arts, etc.). But, why do we do that? Why not seize those 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour, and get moving ourselves? I don't recall ever reading the rule that said I had to stay and watch the whole practice, so out I went and finally, after looking like I was ready to workout all day, managed to actually do it. 

And last night at the dress rehearsal, I watched my girls perform. I am not a sap, but I cried. Like many of the little skaters, each one of my daughters took a spill. Sometimes they got turned around. One of them accidently stepped on her red cape, which caused it to come off. With every mishap, they pulled themselves together and kept going, with all the determination worthy of a Wonder Woman. Yes, there's the fancy costumes, the lights, the music, but these little Wonder Women also pulled out their confidence and perseverance, and I was so proud of them.

I guess whether you're trying to squeeze in a 30-minute walk or a grand performance, confidence you can do it and persevering until you do pays off.

An addendum since starting this post. The Boy slept his first ever six-hour stretch. With that incredible amount of sleep I was able to write this post and take a 30-minute walk. That means I've now squeezed in 4 workouts (5 with the airport run). If he does that again I will heretofore refer to my son as Wonder Boy.

It's a Wrap

Today's workout was brought to me thanks to my Moby Wrap. I bought one of these a month ago because it became clear, soon after bringing The Boy home from the hospital, that he didn't much care for being anywhere other than in the arms of a warm body. This, I reasoned, was payback for having an active pregnancy. He is used to a lot of jiggling, bouncing, swinging, etc. He wants to be "worn." I've used baby carriers and slings, but both are hard on my already moody back and neck. The Moby Wrap, however, divvies of the weight of my growing baby--already 13 lbs!--across both shoulders and my hips. Divine. 

Typically I wear The Boy in the late afternoon/early evening while making dinner, bathing kids, and other end-of-day-get-these-kids-to-bed activities, that are all the more difficult if you have a screaming newborn on your hands. When I put The Boy in the wrap, he is asleep in seconds. Miraculous.

This morning, I put the Moby to work to help me get an honest to goodness workout. Which is to say a whole hour to exercise, versus five minutes to sneak in a few lunges or using The Boy as a medicine ball to twist side to side for a little extra core work. While happy to have started a Kegel Revolution, I am ready to expand my exercise repertoire. And so, I wrapped myself up (this looks more complicated than it is), stuffed The Boy inside and took off around a small lake with a 3-mile path around it. As predicted, The Boy was asleep in seconds, his heft adding a little extra resistance to my steps. And then, feeling so moved, I stopped to work in lunges and squats and push ups and tricep dips at every bench. There were a lot of benches. Invigorating.

I've always struggled to find time for strength exercise because I tend to place a premium on cardio when I work out. Typically, I'd go for a run, with every intention of doing my strength training upon returning home. But you know how it is once you're home. You walk through the door and it's "Mommy can I have some juice?" And on and on it goes until you realize it's 4 p.m. and you have yet to shower and you commit to those strength exercises next time. What I realized today is I could walk (or run once I'm back to it) and stop from time to time for 20 squat thrusts, walking lunges or push ups and be done before I hit my driveway. And for now, the best part of the deal is I can do this with a 13 lb. baby strapped to my chest. He is much cuter than a medicine ball. Come to think of it, if you're interested in working out with a weighted vest, a medicine ball in a Moby wrap would work just fine.

Filling the Void with Family Fitness

Have you ever arrived at preschool (late, of course) and noticed the parking lot was nearly empty? And you thought, "Huh." But you didn't let that stop you because, you are late after all. So you unload all four kids, who for once are wearing matching clothes and cute hair accessories (without making them) and you're secretly hoping all the other put-together moms will notice and not think you're a total slacker mom. Then you go into the dark building and proceed undeterred because, damn it, there is so much effort required in the morning to get you, the three girls and now the baby anywhere, you can't fathom that this effort could be all for nothing. Even when you see the first empty classroom you think, they must be in music. But no. They're not. And still, you head downstairs in the eerily quiet building to the next class because you can't convince yourself that the next semi-free three hours will not be part of your morning. But alas, you can't will the preschool teachers to show up. And you can't leave your three preschoolers there to just play on their own (OK, it just slid through my brain for a nanosecond but doesn't count as true consideration). Not sure whether to laugh or cry, you laugh (to make your kids feel better about the whole situation and to deflect the complete embarrassment you feel) and then secretly seethe that the preschool teacher did not remind you there would be no school this Thursday or say to you, "Hey, don't forget to read those silly little notices I send home every week, you never know when there will be a test!" Finally convinced there is no preschool, you pack up the four kids back in the car and sulk back home. Has this situation ever happened to you? No?

Me either (she said while crossing her fingers behind her back).

But if it ever did, I would sure be glad I read this guest post, "Fit Mommy, Fit Family" from Rachel who blogs at Fitness for Mommies, which is chock full of ways to engage kids in fun activities. The kind of activities you might need, say, if the children had to stay home on a day they expected to go to school and you needed to redeem yourself as a competent mother. For the game, "Put Up Your Dukes" I just let them punch me. Oddly enough, it felt right.

Kegel Exercises: My Main Squeeze

*****As of June 29, 2011, I gave this post a "make-over" because I've since learned that some of the information I provide in this post is wrong! Please check out the latest Mama Sweat post on Kegels!*****

Focusing on the positive here. Focusing on what I can do with this postpartum body of mine, and what's left of my time and energy. That focus then, is on the almighty Kegel -- just one more post folks, then I promise to move away from talking about exercising the nether region.

First one must know what a Kegel is before I go on. If you think a Kegel is something served at a Jewish holiday, this post won't make any sense. A Kegel is a contraction of the pelvic floor muscle; squeezing tight all those sphincter muscles. Its most famous purpose is improving bladder control. And so, almost always bringing up Kegel exercises make us giggle. And contrary to popular myth, Kegels aren't just for women. If you have a prostate, Kegels are equally important. And while bladder control is indeed a nice thing to have (I mean, wouldn't the ultimate insult of parenthood be to have to change your own diaper too?), a Kegel's influence on those pelvic floor muscles also set up a stronger foundation for a stronger core. I like to call it the core of my core. Without a strong pelvic floor, everything that attaches to it, going up your trunk or down your legs is compromised. Think lower back, glutes, hips, hamstrings, and then everything else that attaches to those and on out. Everything begins at the pelvic floor. It's ground zero for our musculature. 

So, if you've been injured or out of commission, or like me, just had a baby, which both weakens your pelvic floor and puts you out of commission, then starting with Kegels before you do anything else is important. I know this first hand, because trying to come back too soon after my first pregnancy resulted in painful running and a plethora of back, hip and IT band problems. And there are all sorts of remedies for those problems, but if you don't start with the core of your core--ground zero--then it's difficult to fully heal.

So how do you do Kegel exercises? The easiest explanation is to squeeze those muscles "down there" that would stop the flow of urine and those that would keep you "puckered up" in a tense situation. The pelvic floor muscles are like a hammock between your tail bone and your pubic bone. The idea is to contract or tighten up that hammock. Ideally we should all be doing 200 a day. There are two main ways to Kegel: Flicks are quick contractions and you should aim to do them in sets of 10. The other option is to hold a Kegel, ideally for 10 seconds or more. [Ed Note: Wrong! Don't do 200 a day as I explain here.]

The nice part about Kegel exercises is that they don't require workout clothes. They don't require a gym. In fact, you don't have to make time to Kegel, you can do it almost anywhere, anytime and no one is the wiser. The guy taking your order at Starbucks might wonder what's up with the strange look on your face, but still, he'll never know. [Ed. Note: Don't do them anywhere as I explain here.]

Sounds so easy. And perhaps because they're so easy we tend to overlook them, forget to do them. Plus, the pay off isn't quite as noticeable. While we might brag about how strong our quads are, or show off our cut biceps, boasting about the strength of our pelvic floor muscles is not something we normally do.

Normally. Allow me. I got some positive reinforcement at my six-week check up that my singular focus with Kegels and Sahrmann exercises are working. (By the way I'm up to Sahrmann exercise #4.) My midwife first checked my diastasis recti--the split that occurs between your abdominals when pregnant--and commented how nicely and quickly it was coming together. Yes! And, without going into too much detail she said, "You must be doing your Kegels." In fact, I could have held back the flood waters in Fargo with my bladder. 

With this new confirmation that my hard work is paying off, I'm doing my Kegel exercises even more. And with my eye on the prize--running again!--I'm applying a few running workouts to doing Kegels. Since most people have a hard time remembering to do them and, let's face it, they're boring, here is how I'm "squeezing" them into my day and making this workout more fun. 

Kegel fartlek. Now I have just put two funny words together. This is not passing gas between Kegels. Fartlek (in Swedish means speed play) is a running workout that allows you to spontaneously pick up the pace at irregular intervals. You get to decide when and how long to speed up. Say, you decide to run faster to the next stop sign or in between light poles. With a Kegel fartlek it's the same, but it helps to be traveling in a car, bus, or other mode of transport. Just pick some sort of landmark and hold the Kegel until you get there. Pick another landmark and repeat.

Kegel tempo. A runner's tempo workout might consist of a 10-minute or 15-minute run at their race pace sandwiched in between a warm up and cool down. The Kegel tempo is a little different. Using the car radio or your Ipod, Kegel to the beat of a song. This worked nicely to the tune of "Good Things" by the Bodeans.

And a strong pelvic floor is a good thing. If you happen to pull up next to me at a stop light, honk, wave, and give me a knowing smile.

*****Now go check out what I learned about Kegels and posted on June 29, 2011 in Second Annual Pelvic Floor Party: Kegels ARE invited.*****